Free The Doctor's Wife by Luis Jaramillo Page A

next?”
    â€œShe showed me her hand. Oh, I felt so guilty.”

Halloween
    The Doctor’s Wife drapes a dyed black sheet around herself, cinching it at the waist. Looking in the downstairs bathroom mirror, she adjusts her warty green rubber mask. To finish off the look she places a white wig on her head, tying two long tendrils of hair under her chin. Confident the costume looks suitably scary, she pushes the mask to the top of her head, where it is held in place by the wig. She’s worn the same outfit for the past couple of years, but this year, she’s roped her mother in on the act. Petie is wearing a black dress and her long white hair, usually up, is brushed straight so that it falls to her waist. Petie is going to sit in the corner in view of the door and not do anything exactly but sit there and be creepy.
    When the kids were younger, the Doctor’s Wife threw a yearly party in the basement, leading their friends through the big door that leads from the outside. In the darkened interior, she set out bowls of skinned grapes meant to feel like eyeballs and noodles boiled to the consistency of brains. But the kids are too old for that now.
    â€œMaybe nobody will come this year,” the Doctor’s Wife says.
    â€œThey’ll come,” Petie says.
    The Doctor’s Wife steps outside to make sure the porch looks right. The curtains in the kitchen are drawn and the Doctor’s Wife has swapped the regular light bulb on the front porch for a blue light. She’s draped spider webby stuff over the screen door and along the railings. A lit jack-o’-lantern sits on a small table next to the door.
    â€œCome back inside, quick!” says Petie, who has been peering through a crack in the curtain. The Doctor’s Wife hurries in, shutting the door behind herself. She adjusts her mask and takes up her noisemaker, the kind that when spun around makes a loud crackling noise.
    There’s a knock on the door. She throws the door open and jumps out on the porch, spinning the noisemaker. The children run screaming down the stairs, piling up at the bottom. One brave kid, a pirate, stops his retreat, forcing the others back upstairs, where the Doctor’s Wife is waiting with a basket of candy. “I wasn’t scared,” says the pirate. But the Doctors Wife still has the mask on and the kid keeps looking in the corner, where Petie sits immobile.
    â€œYes! Yes! That was perfect,” The Doctor’s Wife says when they leave.
    Petie gives her hair a quick brush.

Football
    His senior year of high school, Bob is the center of the Lake Stevens High School football team. He likes certain parts of football, running, eating, lifting weights. He likes to push the sleds across the field. He likes the feeling of his feet digging into the ground and he doesn’t even mind getting tackled. What he hates is to hit the other boys.
    He’s sitting in the locker room holding his helmet in his hands, working himself up to go out onto the field. It won’t be long before the game is over. All he has to do is get on the field. All he has to do is block. He doesn’t need to hurt anybody.
    â€œYou ready to go, big boy?”
    â€œYes, Coach,” he says.
    He runs out onto the field with the other players. The lights shine down brightly on the field. There’s a big crowd for this game against Concrete High School.
    Right before half time, the huge middle linebacker on the opposite side looks through his helmet into Bob’s eyes. “I’m going to kill you,” he says.
    This isn’t necessary at all.
    The ball is snapped and Bob knocks the asshole flat on his back. He doesn’t move. Bob helps him up. “Are you OK?”
    The Concrete middle linebacker spits out blood and a tooth lands on the grass. “Get your hands off me.”
    After the game, a scout from the University of Washington is waiting. He claps his hand on Bob’s shoulder.