Torsade Literary Space An Odd Man Out (part three)
The Resident
Chapter Four
An Odd Man Out
[rerunning the last several entries to help readers catch up, because I haven’t added to this story for months]
John’s parents were divorced. His father did arrive at holidays, and might…
He wanted to be normal in Claudie’s eyes. “Come to my house I mean, not my house, my mother’s But I’ll pick you up if you tell me where you live ”
“I’m wondering if I should.”
“Oh. No. Please. I never meant to misread you. No, no, I don’t really even…”
Celebrate. While blathering, John discovered Claudie talking. He shut himself up by stepping on his own foot. Someone…a friend…didn’t want her to give her address or invite people over. But did their rule make sense? Because she had this little place over a gas station, with back stairs. Who was even peeping, literally, the stairs were up against an alley fence with trash bins…?
“Is that safe?”
“Trash bins?”
“It just sounds…but I don’t want to say…slummy…” You’re beautiful, and you dress like a magazine model, and why…?
“Slummy? I never heard that word. I love having an apartment! But why don’t you pick me up at…right here? I’ll walk, and I’ll wait right here.” She pointed to his parking spot.
He forced out words, rhyming, a mortifying tic, “Whatever you’d rather. But you’ll have to give me your phone number.”
She dug, and muttered, writing: “Phones. They’re so crazy.”
So Claudie. He knew her takes by now.
He drove her past the sign, and she remarked—people did—on Oathbreach. Is that a business? Is oathbreach a word?
“To pledge something and go back.”
“Break your promise. What do they do, then? The opposite of wedding planning?”
Her solemn face scared him from laughing. If she joked. Possibly she didn’t. “It’s a kind of venue. I mean… They have weddings. Maybe Mom would like us to go there…” He found the idea stupid, midsentence. His mother had baked; she had a turkey breast braising in her Pyrex casserole. She didn’t even know she had a guest.
“What, get married?”
“At Christmas. Oathbreach does a holiday buffet.”
Claudie said, “It’s too early. But I would marry you after we’ve been friends for a year.”
His mother opened the door, in her standing-in-the-gap fashion. “John, do you have someone with you?”
“Claudine.” He nudged. “I don’t know a last name for her.”
“I never picked one,” Claudie said.
His mother stepped back, and the dining table, her cloth with the leaf-print border, came into view. “Are you a dancer? Some kind of performer? John, is she a dancer?”
“She. I’m. We’re learning computers.”
“Claudine, did you bring a dish…? Oh, well, that’s fine. I’m Gina Rancilton.”
39
Tithonians
An Odd Man Out (part one)
(2022, Stephanie Foster)
Welcome! Questions?