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“Another time, then. Meanwhile let’s have a toast. To Anna!”
I leave at the end of the afternoon with a feeling of having reached the pinnacle of happiness. I savor every second as I walk out onto the street because I want to remember it all. I want to relive it any time I like. I want to be able to say,Remember the day I won the Pentti-Stone? It was in the fall and the tupelos had turned bright red and the air had that smell of wet leaves, remember?
I’m laughing to myself as I swing my satchel back and forth like a child but, as I approach my car, my key already pointed at it, I freeze, the grin still plastered on my face, my hand suspended in mid-air, my finger poised over the unlock button. At first I think someone threw dirt on it. Then as I get closer I see it’s graffiti. But no. It’s not graffiti.
Across the driver side, in big sharp letters, someone has scratched the wordWHORE.
I stand there, jaw slack, mouth open, my satchel banging against my legs, then slowly walk around the rest of the car looking for any more vandalism, but there’s none. Just that one word. I glance at the other cars on the street, walk up and down a few lengths, but the vandals picked mine, and mine only.
“Anna?”I spin around. June is walking towards me, smiling. “Where’re you off to? Oh, wait, of course, you’re celebrating.”
“I thought you left ages ago,” I say. “Didn’t you leave ages ago?”
“I did, then I decided to do some shopping around here. Everything all right? You look worried.” Then her gaze leaves my face and her hand flies to her mouth. “Is this your car?”
I had been trying to stand in front of the word so she wouldn’t see it. Now I turn with a sigh to inspect the damage. “Yes, it’s my car. I can’t believe this happened. I knew I should have parked in the parking lot.”
She bends down to take a closer look and I see the word in its entirety again instead of as a series of angry score marks. My high from moments ago has crashed like a bad trip. Now I feel like I’m going to cry. I bite the side of my thumb, expecting her to say something like,Whore? Why? What did you do?But she stands up straight and says, “Kids. Unfortunately it’s a bit of a problem around here.”
“It is?”
She sighs. “They’re bored. There really should be more youth facilities for them. We really need it in this neighborhood. But look, it’s just the surface. There’s a good auto body place on Bellaire; I’m sure they’ll fix that easily.”
“Do you think?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
We both stare at the car for a moment.
“Don’t worry,” she says finally. “They’ll have it as good as new, you’ll see. Go to your dinner, and have fun. It’s nothing.”
“I know, it’s just that I’m supposed to meet my family now and I just don’t want to do it withthat!” I point at it. “My son is only ten,” I add.
She makes a face. “No, you probably shouldn’t.”
The sky turns gray, suddenly, and a gust of wind sends dust into my eyes and I screw them shut, rub my fingers over them. “I’ll have to leave it here. I’ll call an Uber.” I take out my cellphone and start tapping.
“Would you like me to take your car to the auto body place? It might be a good idea not to leave it here too long, and you can probably pick it up from them tomorrow.”
“Oh my god, June, would you? I mean, I wouldn’t be putting you out?”
“No. It’s no problem, really. Go on, you’ve had such a great day. Don’t let this thing get in the way.”
I put my hand on her arm. “Thank you. That is so good of you.”
“It’s no problem at all. Hey, there you are.” She turns to point at a black car that has stopped beside us. The driver is leaning to signal to us through the passenger window.
I motion to him to wait and hand her my car keys. “Thank you, June. I’m so grateful to you. I really am.”
“Hey, it’s no trouble, really. I’ll ask them to call you when it’s ready. See you tomorrow, Anna. Have a great time!”
I step into the back of the Uber, waving at her. June is right, of course, I think, as I click my seatbelt in. It’s nothing, just kids. A prank. Then I close my eyes and remind myself that I’m a winner, and a little bit of vandalism is nothing, and I would be stupid to let it ruin my evening.
Sixteen
It always fills me with pride when I go out with my family. I imagine the other diners glancing at us and thinking,What a lovely family. Look at those children, so well-mannered, and so sweet. And what a handsome couple they make.
Luis says we were lucky to get a table, that they were full, even though this is mid-week, but he explained his wife had just won a mathematics prize for work that’s going to change the world, and they shuffled a couple of reservations around to make room for us.
