Face
Blind - Prologue
Martin
got out of the car and pulled up his hood. He was glad the parking lot was
empty. He didn’t want to have to face
anybody. The tension he felt in public
was exhausting. Here he could let down
his guard and breathe free.
It was getting dark and the air felt cold and
damp. They’d had a surprisingly mild
fall but now in November, winter was looming.
Overhead trees creaked as they swayed in the wind. Leaves spiraled away like miniature
helicopters. He took a deep breath and felt the cleansing power of the cold air
fill his lungs.
He opened the back door of the car
and Jack, his golden retriever, bounded across the parking lot and into the
undergrowth. Undoubtedly he was onto the
scent of a rabbit or squirrel. Martin
pulled on his gloves and headed down the dirt path whistling for Jack to
follow.
He
had had to get out of the house for a little while. This had been one of those bad days. That morning, after Kate had left, he’d
hustled Rosie upstairs to get dressed for school. Meanwhile eight month old
Stevie had spilled water from the dog’s bowl all over the kitchen floor. After he’d mopped up, Rosie still hadn’t come
down. So he’d picked up Stevie and gone back up to check on her. She was sitting on the floor in her
underpants and socks playing with Lego.
He glared at her and she glared back.
“Come
on Rosie, we have to get going. You’re
going to be late. Here, put on these
striped leggings and your pink daisy dress.
“Those
leggings are too tight and that dress scratches.” She scowled at him.
He
reached into the drawer for another outfit. “How about these polka dot tights?”
“Daddy,
I don’t have a dress that matches them.”
After
extensive negotiations, he’d finally got her dressed. They had barely arrived at Banner Bluff
Elementary on time.
Then
he’d gone over to Appleby’s to pick up a few groceries. They were going to have tacos for dinner and
he’d found the box of taco shells and the taco seasoning packet. Stevie was sitting placidly in the grocery
cart mouthing an animal cracker. Martin
left the cart in the aisle for just a second to run back and grab some grated
cheddar and a gallon of milk. When he
came back, he smiled at Stevie and started to push the cart towards the
checkout counter. Just then a woman came
up behind him screaming,
“Hey! What are you doing? That’s my cart. That’s my little boy.”
He
turned as this woman pushed him away and grabbed the shopping cart. Her cheeks bore bright red spots and her
mouth formed an angry slice across her face.
“What are you anyway; some kind of pervert?”
To be continued.....
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