Chris Adrian - The Best American Mystery Stories 2007

The hospital couldn’t save Cole’s eye so they made him a glass one. Police went around arresting people for disorderly conduct and child neglect. Cole was sent to a foster home and Cole’s daddy found refuge in the church where he tried his best to apologize through cheap religious cards on which he wrote, Son, I’m so sorry, I’m really proud of you, God loves you and I do, too! in sloppy cursive.

Cole finished growing up quietly. He made few friends and had trouble looking people in the eye. His closest relationship was with God. After Cole understood that he wasn’t born from a serpent, he tried to figure out who his mother was. Through hospital records, and with reluctant help from his daddy, Cole learned his mother lived in Florida and worked for a theme park there. Cole turned eighteen, took a bus to central Florida, and paid for a ticket. Information directed him to the Hop Along Trail! His mother was a costumed, pink-furred rabbit who sang a happy song and hopped from foot to foot. Cole watched her in the thin crowd and munched on a candy apple. She was good at her job, a group of children clapped and danced to the song. The tune was catchy. Cole hummed along with the children. Nearby, a tall, young couple with a video camera glanced over disapprovingly. Cole realized he was out of place, all grown-up with candy apple on his mouth trying to have a moment with his mother in a sea of children. He blew a kiss and left.

An ad in the paper mentioned big bucks for capturing venomous snakes and selling them to pharmacies in order to make antivenom. Cole became a hunter and aged. On good days, he’d gather a dozen serpents. Once in a while the law gave him trouble for trespassing while he was wrangling snakes in private property. He bought a trailer out in the country and tried to mind his own business. He had girlfriends here and there. He attended a Methodist church. His Daddy passed away Godless and broken. On the television, Cole learned about the missing boy and made a mental note to keep an eye out for him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jakob caught sight of a frog at the waterline. It was a white frog. Jakob couldn’t believe it. He had never seen a white frog and as far as he knew, they didn’t exist. But here one was. Setting the gun aside, Jakob crept closer to the frog and dove for it. He missed, slid half into the water, getting his pant leg soaked, and leaned against the mound to wait for the frog to reappear. It popped up on the other side. Jakob stalked it more carefully and when he got close enough, he wiggled one hand out as a distraction and plunged his other hand in after the frog. This time Jakob was successful. He pulled it from the water by a long white leg and clutched it to his body. His heart pounded and he tried to catch his breath. A white frog! Tommy wasn’t going to believe this. Jakob had to keep the frog to show Tommy tomorrow after school. The frog was slippery and he nearly dropped it as he climbed over the mounds and away from the pond. He’d leave the pellet gun there for now, find an old soda can or something to put it in, and show it off tomorrow. Then he’d set it free. It wasn’t dinnertime yet, the sun still had some life in it. All he had to do was find a container.

I’ve been seeing this woman named Samantha for a while, and the other day she says she wants to spice up our lovemaking, Cole says to Therm after a considerable pause in their conversation.

The rain turns to a wet mist. Cole leans his shoulder against the side of the house. Therm sets the axe between his legs.

Of course, I don’t know what this means, Cole continues. She says the ways we’ve been doing it is how she’s always done it and she wants to try bondage.

Bondage? Therm asks.

That’s what I said. I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly the most experienced rooster in the coop.

Therm nods. Maddy never mentioned bondage.

So, I go over to her place around noon to see what she has in mind.

She had handcuffs planned, huh?

Yes, and a blindfold. She cuffed me and called me a filthy bastard. I thought she meant it, but she explained this was role-playing and told me to wait in the dungeon while she freshened up. The dungeon was the bedroom, but I was supposed to use my imagination. I waited a long damned time sitting there on her bed. When you can’t see and you don’t know what’s coming to you your mind starts thinking awful things.

It does, Therm says, it sure does.

I tried to get out of the handcuffs but couldn’t. I wondered where she got the handcuffs and where she put the key. Hell, I even started thinking that she was going to chop me up like you read about in papers. Lovers get chopped up for one reason or another.

True, Therm agrees.

Then I heard some shouting out in the front yard. There was another man’s voice. This made me nervous, as you can imagine. I didn’t know if she was going to bring some guy into this bondage experience or what.

So what did you do?

I put my face into the bed and rubbed that blindfold off. Out the front window I saw Samantha arguing with this big guy, bigger than you, about something. Come to find out, it’s her husband.

She’s married? Therm asks.

Cole blows a low whistle.

That’s awful.

I thought so, too. I looked for the handcuff key, but it wasn’t in the bedroom. About the time that big boy comes busting in the front door, I manage to get out the back door and run for my life. I had to leave my car there. I imagine he had it impounded.

Therm rubs his fingers on the ax handle. After a moment he says, You shouldn’t have run.

He probably would have given me a good whupping.

Maybe you deserved it.

Not in handcuffs.

How long have you been cheating with her?

Oh, I don’t know, a month.

And you never thought to ask her if she was married?

It never came up.

Couldn’t you tell a man lived with her? Men’s shaving cream in the bathroom, shoes under the bed, trophies? Therm shifts the ax from hand to hand.

Most of the time she came to my place. She didn’t wear a ring.

Of course she wouldn’t wear her ring. Cheaters know better than that, Therm says.

Well, whatever. I just hate being caught up in this mess. I’d like to go back and sort it out with this guy. He’s probably rational enough. I’ll apologize. Is that what you think I should do?

It won’t be enough, but it will be a start. The major damage is done. Don’t even think about seeing her again, though. How would you feel if your wife was bonding with some other man?

I’ve never been married.

Yeah, well.

But I didn’t know she was married.

Now you do.

I’ll talk to him.

Therm sucks on his teeth.

I’ll go right now. I just wish I didn’t have these damned handcuffs on.

At approximately 3:15 P.M., Officer Ferris noted, a man in a blue Chevy Nova, 1986 or so, drove by with a busted taillight. Ferris had been instructed to stop any vehicles that drew suspicion and might possibly be carrying the missing boy. A busted taillight suggests a struggle; the boy could be in the trunk, tied down and helpless. Ferris flipped his lights on and pursued the blue Chevy Nova.

The afternoon was calm with heavy, low clouds above harboring rain. Since the boy disappeared, the weather had been somber. Ferris had tried to stay objective about the disappearance, he didn’t want to rule out all the possibilities. The boy could have run off or fallen into a sinkhole or just gotten himself really lost. But Ferris had dismissed these considerations after combing the woods with the boy’s mother a few nights ago. Ferris had been assigned to survey the woods with the mother while other officers worked deeper in the woods and the surrounding neighborhoods. After nightfall, the mother and Ferris followed their erratic flashlights around the soft sounds of crickets and distant shufflings. The first time the mother cried her son’s name, Ferris had flinched. The immediate loudness of her pain-filled voice frightened him. The more she called out, the more serious the situation seemed. Ferris eventually yelled for the boy, too, as much to hear his own voice responding to hers as to hope for a feeble reply from the woods. By sunrise, Ferris was spent and hoarse and convinced the boy had been nabbed. The mother’s doomsday worry had seeped into Ferris throughout the night. A mother knows, she said, and Ferris knew better than to disagree.