Back to the Good Fortune Diner by Vicki Essex

“So, this Neil, you ever been over to his place, with Ryan?” He looked absurd, perched on the edge of the sofa, his thighs nearly bursting like the Incredible Hulk’s through the close weft of his beige trousers. Lia hadn’t thought either, that police officers, like secretaries, scribbled notes onto little blocks of paper. Who would try and make off with Ryan? Ryan, who was mistaken in restaurants and shopping malls for a grown woman (department store clerks often asked if she wanted to establish a line of credit). It was totally different with little kids. Hadn’t there been a kidnapping? A small child spirited away just the previous summer from the park just blocks away? No. Perhaps it was normal for a girl, not yet fifteen, to approach the situation with a certain, stubborn obtuseness-for in the sage retrospect of a few hours, Lia had come to realize the grim fears she’d felt after initially being told about Ryan were nothing but hyperbole, paranoia. As it was, Lia could only fume quietly, furious with Ryan for leaving her holding the bag-for getting her into trouble while she suddenly slipped behind a curtain of mystery. A meeting taken at the police station would have made the dilemma seem even more real. Hands not meant for pulling pistol triggers or handcuffing undocumented workers, but thick, soft tools, better suited to more tactile pursuits, like kneading dough or chiseling the alphabet onto baby’s blocks.įor Lia, nothing the police officer said could redeem the situation from its patent absurdity. It seemed to her that they were fingers suffering from misuse. All the while, as he sat on the sofa opposite the Payne family, Lia’s eyes kept drifting to his lavishly dense fingers. In his early forties, his flesh was spread generously over his massive frame. The officer’s skin was an odd combination of beige and orange tones from excessive parlor tanning. Propped between her parents on the sofa, she felt like a child.

She imagined being escorted into a sparse chamber with a metal table and chairs to be questioned for hours under a harsh light. Lia had not imagined that the police made house calls. “Let’s go back for a moment to this Neil.

Back to the Good Fortune Diner by Vicki Essex