The key on the rose trellis was easier to find. It was mid day on the 27th of July. I had been gone one day shy of 4 weeks and had cut it close. Laura would probably come in sometime during the night and spend until Saturday the 31st with me. As I entered through the back door I saw the telephone on the kitchen wall.
Having made the commitment to take Laura to see a doctor, to be with her, to share her life, I had brought most of my possessions. I made several trips to my car, dumping my stuff in the middle of the floor in the second bedroom.
To my surprise, the bed had been made. She must have done that when she let the guy in to install the telephone. I wondered when that had been, before I told her I would take her to see a doctor or after? I had not seen the second phone on the floor next to the bed until it rang.
“Hi Honey, when did you get there? Did you have any trouble?”
“Just got here, everything is fine, how are you?”
“Do you want to pick me up? I mean, I can take a cab, should I do that?”
We met at the same corner where I had dropped her off a month before. She wore the same loose fitting clothes. She attempted a smile, the shallow look in her eyes would not allow it. I got out of the car to open the door for her. She was soft and small in my arms. We did not kiss.
“I’ve been wondering about something,” I said when we were under way.
Laura sat on the far side of the seat. She stiffened; alarm came over her face. She was on guard, bracing herself for a subject too sensitive to discuss.
“Is Stone your married name?”
I saw her guard drop and the shadow disappear from her face. “I’ve never been married, why do you ask?”
“How are you going to explain me? This is a small town, there will be gossip, two people with different names living in the same house?”
“Are you suggesting we should get married?” she asked, smiling for the first time.
“Would that suit you?”
She reached for my right hand and placed it on her cheek. “That’s just what you need, an old prostitute to take care of,” she said sarcastically, moving my hand against her cheek. “I’m going to take care of you,” I said seriously.
Laura dropped my hand and looked out the window. We rode in silence.
“Want to come in?” I asked, parking in front of the only grocery store in town. There was nothing in the house to eat.
We shopped together, consulting the other about each item we tossed into the cart. “I’ve given this some thought, this is how it will work. I’m a widow and you’re my brother. My husband, C. C. Stone, was killed at sea two years ago and you came to live with me because our parents are dead.” She looked my way to see if I was following the plot.
“What does C. C. stand for?”
Laura had a blank look on her face but soon brightened. “Christopher Columbus,” she smiled, then added, “But we call him C.C., never Chris.”
“How do you explain your long absences?”
“Simple, I have a job that requires a lot of travel,” she said, picking up a loaf of pumpernickel and looking to me for approval.
“But what’s your occupation? Here’s your chance to be anything you like, what will it be?”
“It would be easier to just tell people I’m a prostitute,” she said, fluttering eyelashes at me.
We had a battle over who would pay for the groceries. Laura won, telling the cashier, “My little brother is too young to buy his own groceries.”
“Did you see how good I was? I didn’t touch you once that whole time in the store. Do you think the cashier believed me?
“She probably had her doubts,” I said, “just from the way we were looking at each other she probably thought, incest.”
“I’ll give you incest. All the other little boys will wish they had a sister like me.”
We took off our clothes and lay on the bed, she wore her plain panties and put her head on my chest. We talked about our living arrangements, refining our story, trying to think of suitable employment for Laura.
“We’ll go shopping tomorrow, okay? I want to get curtains for the other windows and we can get a TV set if you want. We should buy a bed for the second bedroom, for appearance sake, if someone comes inside it won’t look like we sleep together.”
“I’m not going to let you pay for all this stuff. We don’t need a TV, If I go to school it would be a distraction,” I said.
“Are you going to go to school?”
“Don’t know, I’m going to look into it but first I’ve got to get a job.”
“No you don’t. I don’t want you working if you go to college.”
“So, I’m going to be a kept man? I never thought it would come to this, fucking my sister and letting her support me.”
“Sis has her needs. C C has been gone a long time.”
I stroked her hair. Seeing Laura in a jovial mood was giving me hope, false hope. During the night she tossed and turned, kicked and flailed. At one point she sat up and screamed, “MY ASS, MY ASS, NOT MY ASS!”
She wouldn’t let me touch her. Each time I tried she jerked her body away she struck me with her slim hand. I was wide awake; she was still asleep.
It was 3:47 a.m. I went to the kitchen and made coffee, wanting to be near if she needed me but not near enough to catch a fist in the eye. I walked from room to room, waiting for the coffee to make, wondering what I was going to do.
“Honey, are you here?” She had awakened. I was standing in the kitchen drinking my second cup of coffee. I went to her.
She stretched out her arms to me. I put down the coffee cup and went to her. She wanted to be held. She wore the long night gown, looking small in the dark. I stroked her hair and let her hold me. She brought me down to lie on top of her.
“You feel good,” she said, running her hands over my back. Afraid I would crush her, I supported my weight on one elbow. In the dark I could make out the serious look on her face.
“I had a bad dream. You were in it. Then I woke up and you weren’t here with me, when I called for you and you came I was so relieved, are you okay? You didn’t really drink the poison, did you?”
“No, it was coffee, I had two cups of coffee,” I tried to assure her that I was fine.
“I’m going to do you, what is that thing you like, what do we call it?”