scare the crap out of anybody who comes around to mess with the place.â My sister turned away and started rummaging through the closet.
The news should have made me feel safer. But that dog would also keep away ordinary trick-or-treaters, like my happy hookers, spoiling what little fun I looked forward to. I didnât bother saying any of that, though. âSo are you going to the party with my sister?â I asked Cora.
She gave a tight-lipped smile. âGuess thatâs probably breaking some sort of code. But itâs just one party. You donât mind, Sylvie, do you?â
I shook my head then remembered Louiseâs warning about speaking up. âNo.â
âHere we go.â Rose unearthed two brooms, buried so far behind the coats it made me realize how seldom we swept. One had a wooden handle and cinched straw at the base, the other, a lime-green plastic handle and stubby plastic bristles. Rose handed Cora the bad broom before opening our front door and stepping into the dark. On the top step she paused, adjusting her hat so it didnât blow off in the wind. Then she stuck her broom between her legs and leaped off the stairs. She went so high that for a second it seemed she might actually keep on soaring before she landed on the mossy lawn.
âNot bad,â Cora said, taking her place on the step.
âWell, I did date a former track star. Itâs how I learned everything I know.â
âCome on!â my sister called to Cora. âYour turn!â
As the wind whipped the dead birch leaves into a whirl, Cora hesitated. I could tell she felt nervous about jumping, even if it was just three measly steps. But then she surprised me by letting out a cowgirlâs âYeeehaaaw!â and leaping off the step. She didnât soar nearly as high as my sister, and she made a crash landing, stumbling as leaves spun around her feet. But she managed to regain her balance and danced around the lawn, cackling.
Once they released the Hulk and hitched her to a tree, Rose and Cora climbed into the car. The engine started, and I noticed that one of the headlights was out. Isnât that a game for some people? I wondered. When you see a car with one missing, you punch the person youâre with. Or maybe you kiss them, I was never sure of the rules. Either way, I realized theyâd forgotten to leave water for the dog. I went to the kitchen and filled a bowl. Before taking it outside, I opened the freezer and dug out a bone behind my fatherâs glass tumbler that I saw every time I reached for a Popsicle. My mother had frozen that bone to make stock for her beef barley soup.
When I put both the bowl and the bone by her paws, the Hulk didnât growl or bark. She didnât drink or bother with the bone either. She just sniffed my toes and slobbered on my flip-flops before rolling on her back in an invitation to scratch her belly.
âYouâre real fierce, arenât you, girl?â I said, kneeling and rubbing her velvety fur.
It was early enough that we had hours ahead. I stared off into the woods, thinking of Albert Lynch in a holding cell not twenty miles away, because of the answer Iâd given Rummel that day in the hospital. And then I thought of what I heard those boys talking about while Iâd been tucked in a study carrel at the school library days before.
âWhat would it take?â
âYouâve seen the dudeâs picture.â
âItâs not like Iâve jerked off to it. I didnât memorize what the hell he looks like.â
âI guess we need a skullcap to look bald. We definitely need his weird âstache. I could grow one. But you might need help, pansy. Use burned cork. Plus thereâs those glasses. Little round things that make him look like a bug. Then all we need is a weapon.â
âA weapon?â
âNot a real one, moron. But you know, like a rubber hatchet.â
âDude, a hatchet isnât