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“What were they arguing about?”
Dan chuckled. “Her engagement ring. She said he had to go out and buy a bigger one or she would hide her left hand in the photo. That pissed the brother off, and I couldn’t blame him.”
Adrienne laughed heartily. “That union is off to a great start.”
“She decided to sit on both her hands while I took the picture!”
The two of them laughed some more.
“If it were me, I’d call the whole thing off,” Dan ended.
Adrienne set two steaming plates of food on the table as her brother gathered the utensils, napkins, and soft drinks. When they sat down to eat, Adrienne said, “This place is so quiet when Charlene isn’t here.”
Dan nodded. “That’s because my wife likes noise. The TV or radio always has to be on. She doesn’t value solitude at all.”
“Leave my girl alone,” Adrienne chided him.
“I think you sometimes forget who your sibling is,” Dan teased. “Every time I turn around, she’s on the phone with you. What do you find to talk about all the time?”
“Charlene is my friend, and we talk about woman stuff. Do you want to hear some of it?”
Dan held up a hand as though he were warding off an evil spirit. “No way.”
Adrienne chuckled, and the two chatted easily until their stomachs were full.
Delilah was sleeping soundly when Adrienne left. Mel took a shower, slipped his pajamas on, and crawled wearily into bed. He awakened hours later to Delilah’s furious screams. Cursing, he got up. She must have been crying for a long time, because her face was contorted, her body was rigid, and the baby pillow was wet from her tears. Mel lifted her out of the crib and held her close until she stopped crying. “What do you want?” he asked her in frustration. “Daddy needs some sleep so he can go back to work.”
Once calm was restored, he laid her back in the crib. As soon as his hands were removed from her body, the little face scrunched up and she began to wail again.
“So that’s it,” Mel chuckled softly. “You don’t wanna sleep in this cage. Come on. You can lay down in the bed with me.” He placed the baby on the bed beside him. She closed her eyes, and Mel sighed in relief. All he needed was a cigarette, and then he could settle down again, too. Mel hoped that Delilah would sleep until Adrienne returned from the hairdresser. His face sagged with weariness, his eyes heavy with fatigue. He reached over and grabbed a cigarette from the pack on the nightstand, then fumbled around on the crowded surface until he found a book of matches to light it.
The cigarette was still lit when he dozed off. It fell out of his hand, igniting the sheets and acrylic blanket that covered him and his daughter.
Delilah’s cries woke him a few minutes later. Shit! he thought, the bed is on fire. He dashed to the bathroom, ran some water into a pail, and careened back into the bedroom just as a whoosh, followed by brilliant, soaring flames that danced rapidly, almost daintily from his side of the bed to the other.
Mel charged into the glow, trying desperately to reach Delilah.
By the time they finished eating, it was nearly dark outside. Adrienne glanced at her watch. “Goodness, it’s eight o’ clock!” she said, grabbing her purse. “I’ve got to get going.”
“Why don’t you stay for dessert? Charlene baked a chocolate cake last night.”
“No. Mel has to leave for work at ten. Maybe he can catch a few winks before then.” Adrienne paused with her hand on the doorknob. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” She blew her brother a kiss and was gone.
r /> Adrienne took the midtown tunnel onto the Belt Parkway east and reached Rosedale in a half hour.
When she turned the car onto 147th Avenue, a smile flitted across her beautiful face as she thought of her husband, and she speeded up slightly. She hated it when Mel worked the night shift. Lying in bed alone, she longed for his gaze, his touch, his scent. Adrienne grabbed a tube of matte red lipstick out of the glove compartment and glided on a fresh coat. Mel loved that color on her because it accented the small round mole near her mouth. Smoothing back her hair, she stole another glance in the rearview mirror. She couldn’t wait for Mel to see how beautiful she looked.
Since the car windows were up, Adrienne didn’t smell the smoke, but two fire trucks and an ambulance whizzing by forced her to pull over. The lights flashed and the alarms screamed their purpose as Adrienne covered one ear in a futile attempt to block out the noise. It wasn’t until she made a right turn onto 149th that she realized that the fire was on her street. Even then, it didn’t occur to her that the angry flames shooting into the night sky were coming from the peach-tinted two-family house on the corner. A fireman approached the car and motioned her to open the window.
“You’ll have to turn back, ma’am. No one is allowed past this point.”
Adrienne peered anxiously over his shoulder, and panic seized her. The fire trucks, police cars, and ambulance were all double-parked right in front of the house in which she and Mel rented a two-bedroom apartment from an Indian couple.
“I live on the top floor of that last house on the end. Is that where the fire is? Please, I have to make sure my husband and daughter are all right.” Adrienne’s heart beat furiously and her mind raced. Suppose Mel and Delilah were lying on the lawn suffering from smoke inhalation, or worse, had broken bones and internal injuries from leaping out the window?
The expression on the man’s soot-covered face changed from annoyance to sympathy. Adrienne opened the car door and stumbled out. Before he could say another word, she ducked under his arm and charged forward. Her arms and legs pumped furiously as she ran. She felt like a character in a silent movie. There was a lot of action and noise surrounding her, but she couldn’t see or hear it.
The neighbors lined both sides of the street, held back by police officers and blue wooden barricades. Some of them cried softly; others screamed Adrienne’s name. Consumed with terror, Adrienne was only dimly aware of them. The Indian landlord and his family stood by helplessly. His facial expression was one of shock. Adrienne couldn’t even remember his name as she looked up at the house. Flames and smoke poured from the top-floor windows of her apartment. A fireman caught her as she reached the house. Adrienne struggled in his arms, trying to get free. “My husband and baby are in there!”
