Part IV: Spin – The Mermaid Dress: #4 (Chapter 68)

Daddy would be gone a long time.

He made tuna sandwiches for us and left me orders not to answer the door or phone.

He was gabby tonight, and he and Mr. Bates would probably talk long into the night about music and other grown-up stuff.

But there would be no job. There never was.

I didn’t want to be by myself. I was used to roaming on my own during the day, but the world was different then: other kids to play with, places to go, things to do, adventures to experience.

At night, there was nothing, just strange men hanging around the Hamilton Arms, their laughter evil and scary.

And there was the monster hiding in my closet every night. Once, in Sioux City, my cousin Danny took me to see The Werewolf of London, a movie featuring a mean-eyed hairy monster dashing across the London bridge in a heavy fog.

At night, it would peek over the foot of my bed, those piercing green eyes glowing in the dark; the monster had followed me to California. During the day, it slept under my bed, only to slink around in the shadows when the house was quiet and dark.

But now Ruby was hungry and fussing.

She hated tuna, so I opened some tomato soup and spoon-fed it to her right from the can, the stove another monster to be feared and hated; no matter what, I wouldn’t go near it.

Ruby didn’t care; she gobbled down half the can.

I ate the other half, plus the tuna sandwiches.