over the region like a fog. He sweats through his pastel button-down. He drives to the JC Penny and buys another one. He goes back in and returns it.
Stacey is yelled at by a thin woman with bracelets up to her elbows. The woman doesn’t like how her plate turned out. She wants to paint a new plate. Stacey smiles and explains that is against store policy. The woman calls Stacey a homophobic slur. Stacey is taken aback. She doesn’t know what to say. The woman storms out. Stacey retreats to the back room. She smashes the woman’s shitty plate. She regrets doing it before it even hits the floor. She sweeps up the broken plate and continues working.
Margaret drives to Henry’s house with the baby still in the car seat. She parks at the curb. She knocks on the front door. She sits on the front steps for forty-five minutes. It is too hot for leggings. She rips them off. She waits thirty more minutes. The tops of her thighs get sunburned.
Henry camps out at a Starbucks for the next two and a half hours. He calls Stacey but she doesn’t answer. He decides to leave a voicemail. He decides not to leave a voicemail. He tries to remember what the baby looked like. He drains three cups of coffee.
Stacey eats a pretzel in the food court and watches a gay couple sitting by the Panda Express. Their shirts are very tight. She can see one of the men’s nipple rings. She likes the idea of adoption. She likes men adopting babies. She likes households run without women. She imagines women on an island. She imagines owning a sword. She imagines herself with curly black hair. She finishes her pretzel.
Margaret finds a key under the potted ficus by the door. She grabs the baby and slips inside. She sets the baby on Henry and Stacey’s bed. She looks through cabinets. She looks through drawers. She flips through a Better Homes & Gardens magazine. She undresses. She tries on Stacey’s clothes. She lies on Henry and Stacey’s bed. She tries to guess whose side
Steven Wolf | 21