1

THE HOUSE WAS SAD AND GREEN AND A LITTLE SICK. One simply did not say such things even as one leaned against a support and looked lonely while retrieving the mail. A letter. This was not the time to open it this was simply not the time to open it. Aqua folded the letter within the folds of her housecoat and retreated from the looming sky and the looming question in the mail person's look.

2

WHERE IS MY BLOODY DINNER. Lox was home and the house was angry. When Lox was home from the old country lunch was late and lunch was dinner and dinner was supper however on time. There was nothing Lox loved so much as a decent brew with his tea somewhere between all the rest. When Lox was not home the house was quiet and even angrier and often it was put to the walls that one day Lox would get his just desserts.

3

ONCE UPON A TIME TARA WAS A CITY AND THE MOMENT WAS THE GIRL NEXT DOOR WHO WAS NOTHING LIKE. She watched Lox whistle on his way out. It must be nice. Last time he leaned over the wall on his forearms and talked of going abroad. Abroad. Lox had a job and an accent that made him sort of sexy. All the shows and magazines said so. He whistled at the window and she shut the blinds. One day Lox. One day.

4

AFTER THEY HAD ALL GONE AWAY GERAM CREPT CLOSER. He crept on his hands and knees beneath the feet of the topiary zoo until he felt close enough. He knelt at the side of the house and peered over the sill of a window. His heart nearly stopped at the sight of a pie cooling before dinner. And what flavour was it.

5

THE HOUSE TREMBLED. The house was not in the habit of letting virtual strangers look into it. I am simply not in the habit of it it would have said but it had no mouth to speak of. The pair of eyes peering into it did not seem to care about its vibrating doors and windows. They locked upon Aqua who was doing something rather uncanny.

6

SHE WAITS TILL I'M GONE NO MATTER HOW FRIENDLY I AM. He wanted to call her a nasty name but he didn't. He couldn't. There was plenty of time for that. But what about the letters.

7

THE SOUND OF THE VACUUM DIED AND SHE COULD HEAR A BUZZING SOUND. O go away go away I am busy. It was Geram. What did he want at this time of day. What do you want Geram she shouted through the screen from habit. Geram said he wanted to say hello. Hello Geram she said. I suppose you want to come in.

8

IT'S MY DAY OFF ANSWERED TARA. They both turned toward the sound of the sound. It was Geram. Geram was trimming one of the animals with a hedge trimmer. Tara watched him work the trimmer on a dog or deer. Tara had never seen Geram doing stuff before like trimming and stuff like that so she watched him using Aqua's trimmer for over one minute. Zachariah the mail person made a remark Tara did not quite catch and he smiled at her. She smiled back.

9

I THINK WE SHOULD FINALLY MEET. He imagined she was very bad and she was not bad at all. In fact she thought herself very good. She covered the pie and put it aside for Lox that great lummox and sat down again. She reread the words in the letter and felt herself grow warm all over a second time. She hid the letter where no one would ever look in a thrillion years and sat down again to watch Geram grinning and trimming and grinning and trimming. He was young enough to be her son.

10

ZACHARIAH watched her pour the whiskey into a thimble of a glass. Her old man was sure lucky. He was lucky to nearly be a doctor and lucky to come home every night to this. Though Aqua was more his type he wouldn't mind. But Zachariah was not stupid no sir. She was just trying to loosen his lips he knew the score. But she was barking up the wrong tree. Tara poured another thimble and smiled and straight away he told the girl next door about the letter next door.

11

THE HOUSE WAS GROANING. And this time it was not settling no it was simply not settling.

12

GERAM LIFTED HIS ARMS FROM BEHIND HIS HEAD AND OBSERVED EACH WRIST AS IT WAS KNOTTED TO A POST BY A DIFFERENT COLOURED HERMES. He knew the name because of his mother and sister. He was surprised but you could not say shocked. No you could not say shocked. When Bert the big man on campus was a boy he had let him look at some pictures he found under a bed. And his whole life until now Geram had not forgotten those pictures. Now all his fantasies had come true and he said to her all his dreams had come true and she said hush. And he could not help grinning like a goofball because they were pretty much like the pictures.

13

LOX. Lox heard his name. It was the girl next door on her doorstep. Lox she said softly. Lox can I have a word with you.

14

THE YOUNG MAN RUBBED HIS LIPS WITH THE BACK OF HIS HAND AND HURRIED THROUGH THE BACKYARD. He struggled with the gate for a second and then unlatched it and then latched it behind him and then made tracks for godknows. Zachariah smiled and made a noise. He could put two and two together though godknows he was not one to do so. He was about to call her a nasty name but then he figured it was after all none of his beeswax.

15

MUST BE NICE. He agreed it was rather nice and something more the way he talked and talked about several trips and they were not at all boring like work they were exciting. She toyed with a buttonhole on her blouse. I am toying with a buttonhole on my blouse looking absent... He interrupted her thought and she nodded. Must be nice. But Lox there is something I have to tell you. And just then she remembered something she had heard on the tube. I am truly sorry but I felt obliged to inform you.

16

THE HOUSE WAS QUEERLY QUIET. Lox ate his supper in silence and Aqua stole a glance through the window. The girl next door was looking out of her window and then she knew she knew. There was nothing for it. She nodded as if to say yes I know you know. It was common courtesy.

17

WHO THE HELL PUT A HOLE IN MY BLOODY PIE. And then silence.

18

THE HOUSE WAS SAD AND GREEN AND BUZZING. A man lay face down on the table. There were a variety of smells and one of them was the odor of an indeterminate pie.

19

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR WATCHED THE SIRENS WHIRL AND WHINE TO A STOP. And then one of the officers swaggered up the front steps. He has a gun and a stick she thought. And my husband is not home. She unlocked the front door and told him right away.

20

I HEARD ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AND I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE. They nodded without smiling. We are very busy tonight is what they told him. All the crackpots and so on. But this might make all the difference he added. They asked him to please take a seat.

21

AND FOR THAT REASON I THINK WE SHOULD FINALLY MEET. She lowered the stained letter and her eyes met the schedule one last time. I cannot believe I am actually doing this. It’s now or never.

22

GERAM CAME TO THE DOOR AND NODDED. He was. They showed him an object he said he had never seen or at least he was not totally sure.

23

YES YES O YES I DO. Yes I do. No never in my life. Please. O yes.

24

ONE OF THE PAPERS SAID A LARGE QUANTITY OF LEAD NOT UNCOMMON IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD. Another paper picked up a link that lead to a lead pipe. One show said she was still missing and another show she was presumed gone for good although they were still optimistic. Yet another show lambasted them and said who are you kidding did they really think she had departed it made no sense she was alive and she had done it people. And people who had actually read the letter thought she was in the end alive.