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CAIN
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Mark Bell
All that drama and now everyone’s silent. What happened?
Comments:
Atticus Thompson: I don’t know. I kinda just want it to go back to normal.
Jade Clark: Seriously. I’m not here for petty stuff like that.
Marjorie Brown: Kerry is quiet for the first time in her life, and you’re COMPLAINING?
I didn’t wantto have to go into the school, but there was a message to all of the parents saying the kids needed help bringing home an art project, so I begrudgingly walked in.
The last thing I wanted to do was see anyone. Especially Nicole. And especially Kerry.
I was hoping I could keep my head down and leave, but ofcourse, Kerry was in the classroom, whispering to Nicole in the back corner.
“Hey,” I said to Eric. “Where’s your project?”
“Back there.” He pointed to the one corner I wanted to avoid.Fuck.
I gritted my teeth and walked over.
Kerry jumped when she saw me. “Oh, Cain! Hi!”
It wasn’t like her to act nervous. She usually walked through life without a care in the world, especially when she’d found a new nugget of information to share.
“Hi. I’m just here to grab Eric’s project. You guys can go back to talking about ... whatever it was you were talking about.”
I searched for his name, feeling both women’s eyes on me.
“Cain,” Nicole said. “I have a question to ask you.”
Great.Perfect.
I grabbed Eric’s project and tried to keep my face neutral. “Yes?”
“Let’s say you’re driving down the road one day and see a cold kitten. You’re allergic to cats and hate them, but you spot it. What do you do?”
What kind of test was this? “I take the kitten home and make sure it’s okay. Why?”
“Okay, and now Eric wants to keep it.”
“Is there a kitten outside or something?”
She shrugged. “It’s just a hypothetical.”
Kerry watched intently, and I wasn’t sure why she wasn’t throwing what she’d learned in my face.
Unless this was some roundabout way to do it.
Still, I knew I needed to play along.