A Hole in the Universe - Mary McGarry Morris [73]
“It’s Neil’s business,” he said quietly.
“Oh, fuck, yeah, right.” Thurman laughed.
“Just put them back, and that’ll be the end of it,” he said.
Thurman was already heading out through the store.
Neil had enough trouble, he didn’t need this, Gordon thought as he followed the boy onto the street. “What’re you, in some big rush to get in a cell? Because that’s what’s going to happen. You know that, don’t you?”
“Fuck off!” Thurman kept saying, trying to get away, until Gordon finally yanked the backpack from his shoulder. He took out the cigarette cartons and brought them inside. The women had been watching from the window. Without a word Gordon put the cartons back on the shelf. That night Neil called Thurman’s grandmother and fired him.
Delores was ringing his doorbell. He came quickly onto the porch so he wouldn’t have to invite her in.
She had just made oatmeal cookies. “Here, have one while they’re still warm.” She started to open the tin, but he said he wasn’t hungry right now. “I’m not disturbing you, am I?” she asked.
He said it had been a long day. Across the street two men were trying to light the grill they had just carried onto the strip of grass in front of their house. The door above them kept opening and banging shut as women carried platters and bowls of food onto the porch.
“I read about the holdup. And I kept calling to see if you were all right, but you didn’t answer, so then I started worrying,” Delores said.
“I’m fine.”
“That’s good. So, what have you been up to? What have you been doing?”
“Nothing much. I don’t know.” He knew by her hungry smile that she wanted to talk about the other night.
“The paper said the guy had a gun.” She paused. “Have they caught him yet?”
“No. Not that I know of, anyway.”
“Did you see what he looked like?”
“No, he had a mask. Plus I was outside.”
She asked if he thought there was any connection to the attempted break-in at his house the other night. He assured her there wasn’t. She asked if that girl Jada had come around again since that night. That night. So that was how she would get to talking about Dennis cheating on his wife.
“She did, the other day with her dog. But I was eating, so I didn’t go to the door. She always seems to come at dinnertime.”
“She thinks you’re lonely. Aside from me, she said she’s your only company.”
“I don’t like her thinking she can just run over here anytime she wants,” he said slowly, as pointedly as he could without coming right out with it. “I feel like telling her it’s not very polite.”
Delores laughed. “You can try, but I don’t think polite’s in that girl’s dictionary.”
“I know, but it’s annoying. I mean, I have things to do. And you know how it is, after being around people all day, you just want to be quiet when you get home. And alone.”
“Alone? Around here?” Delores said as a flurry of children sped by on bikes.
If I could go inside, I would be, he thought. Across the street, family members continued to stream from the house onto the porch steps. Below them a young man in baggy army pants was grilling sausages and hamburgers. The old woman, Inez, sat on the top step. She kept reaching back to serve everyone from the salad bowls and platters arrayed behind her on the porch floor. Salsa music blared from a second-floor window. A dog was barking. A woman with long black hair backed out the front door now with drink coolers and a stack of paper cups under her chin. A thick cloud of greasy smoke hung over the sizzling grill.
“Smells good,” Delores said.
A passing car blew its horn, and the young man waved his spatula overhead.
“Yo!” Delores laughed when he did it again as another horn blared in greeting. “It’s so muggy tonight.” She blew the hair off her forehead. “Do you mind if I sit down?” She was dragging a white plastic chair closer to the railing.
“It’s dirty,” he said, but she had already plunked herself down.
He continued to stand, holding out the