Worm

25

Kathleen saw the two men out in the mud sea, but she was barely even aware of their existence. They might as well have been stumps. She was driven by one single overwhelming need and that was to get Jesse away somewhere safe.

When she got close to them, one of them reached out and stopped her. “Hey… Kathleen?”

She pulled away, snarling at them. They were not going to get the baby. She would kill them if they tried.

“Kathleen… easy now… it’s me, Marv. Marv O’Connor.”

She tried to make sense of this, but her mind was like a blender on puree: a great, ever-spinning mix of emotions and impulses. It took her a minute. Finally, she cocked her head like a dog. “Marv?” she said in a broken voice.

“Sure. Tony’s here with me. You know, Tony Albert.”

“Hey,” Tony said.

She just looked at them blankly. She could not connect the names with the faces, but slowly, slowly it started making sense to her. She swallowed, then swallowed again. “I can’t find Pat and my house is falling apart and I have to get Jesse somewhere safe.” She kissed what was in her arms. “Somewhere the worms can’t get us.”

Marv and Tony looked at each other.

“Well,” Marv said. “You better come with us. We’re going over to my house. It’s safe there.”

Kathleen hugged her baby and nodded. Safe. She liked that word. That was the word she wanted to hear and a place she wanted to go. Making a low humming in her throat, she followed along behind them as the blood continued to drain from her wounds.