Free Alien Rites by Lynn Hightower

pig, so forget it.”
    â€œHow do you play uncle to a pig?” David said. Pid nosed his arm, and settled back in his lap.
    â€œLike that, I think. You coming or what?”
    David frowned, wondering if they should go into the office or straight to Miriam’s. “You talk to Miriam’s sister yet?”
    â€œJust called her. She says she hasn’t heard from Miriam, but she isn’t worried.”
    â€œShe friendly?” David asked.
    â€œCordial, I guess.”
    David shrugged. “You know sisters. If one robs a bank, the other hides the loot and gives an alibi. So if you make one of them mad, the other’s going to hit you. Did she seem cold?”
    â€œNot so much cold as weird. But you know, we got history there, so it’s hard to figure.”
    David stroked the pig’s back, running a fingertip along the leather harness embedded in the hide. “What did you and Miriam really fight about?”
    Mel opened his arms. “I told you last night, toilet seats.”
    â€œYou haven’t spoken for two weeks, her sister’s acting weird, and she doesn’t return your calls. Sounds like more than toilet seats to me.”
    Mel rolled his eyes. “All I did was ask her not to slam the lid, and she freaked. Started crying; I mean it was silly.”
    â€œYou say that?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThat it was silly.”
    â€œHell, no. I look stupid?”
    â€œMaybe it was something else. You been getting along lately? She been acting upset?”
    Mel bent down, gave the pig a pat. “See, I have a philosophy about women, and up to now, it was working pretty good.”
    â€œUp till now?”
    â€œLast few weeks Miriam’s been really weird.”
    â€œWeird how?”
    â€œIt’s hard to put my finger on. Say, like we go out to eat and she says she’s got to have Chinese, she’s craving eggrolls, right? We get there, sit down after a forty-minute wait, then she’s like, can’t stand the smell, doesn’t want Chinese, wants to leave and go for Italian. I figure she’s trying to pick a fight. And I’m no doormat, but, I don’t know. I don’t get mad. She looks tired these days, gets upset over little things. I been trying to go easy, but I got to tell you, I have to watch every word comes out of my mouth.”
    â€œShe working long hours?”
    â€œAlways—you know Miriam—but she don’t complain, loves the work. But now she’s falling asleep at the movies and stuff, so she’s tired or I’m boring as hell, and we know that’s not it. Plus she’s had some kind of stomach virus, can’t seem to shake it. Throws up all the time.”
    â€œAnything else?”
    â€œI don’t know. That’s not enough? I mean, all of a sudden she’s insecure. Asks me do I love her, and how much—like am I going to be any use in a crisis or something. Usually a woman talks like that, you think, oh, marriage hints. But that’s not it.”
    â€œYou sure?”
    Mel shrugged. “I offered, and she turned me down.”
    â€œSorry.”
    Mel waved a hand. “I just asked ’cause I thought it would make her happy.”
    David looked at him, wondering if he should be the one to tell his partner that Miriam was pregnant. He wondered how Mel was going to take being a dad.

FIFTEEN
    David noted the level of dust in Miriam’s living room and realized that things were very wrong. Mel’s instincts had been right; they should have gone straight to her apartment last night. He went to the kitchen sink, dragged a finger across the stainless steel, dipped into the drain and the garbage disposal. Mel stood in the doorway, back against the doorjamb.
    â€œDry?”
    David nodded. He opened the refrigerator.
    â€œShe don’t cook,” Mel said.
    â€œNot much to cook with.”
    Inside were fruit juices, boxes of soda, fridge crackers.
    â€œThe