All of this washed out like a wave receding, leaving behind a sense of being covered by warm, dry sand, cozy and heavy.Then the wave returned, turning everything to darkness and moon-haloed clouds and distant stars, and there was no sense of danger, only peace, as Corinthia went quietly under the tide of sleep.
5
Uponwakingthefollowingmorning to the sound of Beaufort pawing at the back door, Corinthia bolted upright from a vivid dream of flying over the Refuge.She had never meant to fall asleep on the couch, and everything that had felt so easy and comfortable the night before now felt like a massive error in judgment.
A stranger!Inside her own little house, decimating her Cabinet of Chocolate, using some kind of silly mumbo jumbo and ignoring Corinthia’s carefully guarded personal space.
It seemed like a good idea at the time, Corinthia of the previous night whispered, ghostlike, in her memory.
“Nonsense,” Corinthia said aloud.
After taking care of Beaufort and getting her own personal appearance into some semblance of order, Corinthia left for the library.Instead of waiting for Stevie to intrude upon the sacred circulation desk, Corinthia marched into the environmental center, right past the taxidermied hawk, who seemed especially surprised to see her.
“Stevie!”
Stevie whirled around from where she had been feeding the turtles and the baby alligators.“Christ on a cracker, woman!You scared me.”
The story tumbled out: Halloween, trick-or-treat, Rosemary on the doorstep, the dog’s odd reaction, the chocolate, the scalp massage, their goodbyes.Sleep.
Corinthia finished the story and waited for laughter to come like a lash, a fitting punishment for her foolishness.
Instead, Stevie’s mouth had fallen open.The aquariums burbled in the background.Finally, she said, with the air of the amazed: “Whoa…”
“‘Whoa’?”Corinthia said.“What do you mean, ‘whoa’?I let a stranger come into my house and touch my—myperson—and got so bedazzled I passed out on the couch, and all you can say is, ‘Whoa’?”
Finally, Stevie laughed.Then she threw her arm around her friend.“I’m proud of you, Corinthia.”Stevie gave her a little shake.“You actually did something fun for once.”
Corinthia extricated herself, crossed her arms, and turned away.She watched a turtle lazily propel itself through the water.“I don’t even remember dropping my wallet.”
“Why would you?You were running from a snake!”
“What if that woman stole it?”
Stevie scoffed.“Stoleit.Right.She sidled up to you in the Refuge, picked your pocket like the Artful Dodger, and disappeared.And all of this without you noticing a thing.”
Corinthia paced in front of the hawk, whose head didn’t move, but the light reflected in its glass eyes made it appear that its gaze followed her anyway.“I walkedbackthe same way I walkedin.I would haveseenmy wallet if it fell out.”
“You’re overthinking this.”Like you overthink everything, Stevie didn’t have to say.“If some beautiful woman brought me back my lost wallet—heck, maybe even if she stole it in the first place—and then went into ecstasies over the contents of one of my kitchen cabinets and massaged my head and gave me the best night of my life—”
“Best night ofsleepof my life,” Corinthia corrected.
“Whatever.I know whatI’ddo.”
“What’s that?”Corinthia said, suspiciously, half-expecting something inappropriate.
“Marry her.”
This was too ridiculous to address, and therefore Corinthia did not address it.“I want to go back.”
“Back where?”
“The Refuge.”
“Why?You fulfilled your end of the bet.Why would you do that to yourself again?I mean, you don’t even like the outdoors,andyou got chased by a snake.”
“I feel like I’m missing something.”
“You were missing your wallet.”
