Karolina Waclawiak - The Invaders

“They’re just kids,” I said.

“First the fancy sand and now this shit,” he said, offering me his thermos. I took a sip, not even asking what it was.

“We always watched the race together, as a community,” I said.

“The days of civility are over. Now it’s just mine, mine, mine,” he said. “It’s dangerous here with the fence. The kids can’t get around it and they can’t get out here safely. It’s all over.” He watched as I drank more and asked, “Are you going to save me any of that or what?”

I handed it back to him. “What is it, anyway?”

“A special blend from the Bahamas. You don’t need to know more.”

I rolled my eyes at him and turned my attention back to the fence.

“You’re right. She has to be stopped,” I said.

“Do you want to kill her or should I?” Tuck stared at me with all seriousness and I burped up my drink in fear.

“You look like you could do it,” he said.

He took a long swig from the thermos. He stared out across the water and said, “She doesn’t even have a soul, so it’s not even a big deal.”

We both looked across the water at the absence of boats and I said, “A person is capable of doing just about anything when they’re desperate.”

“That’s what I like. A little mystery. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?”

“I’m not telling you that,” I said.

“It doesn’t make you a bad person to do bad things,” he said.

“She can’t help herself,” I said.

“I’m talking about us. I’m talking about you. She’s a terrible person every day of her life.”

“Why do you keep insisting I’m a bad person?” I asked.

Tuck smiled and said, “I’m trying to tell you that you’re not.” He turned to me, “I pee all over her sand at night, on purpose. I fight, in my own way. I’m devaluing her property and she doesn’t even know it.”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Seems tame, actually.”

He shook his thermos, checking to see if there was anything left. “Don’t think I can’t be more extreme,” he said.

“You can do it because no one will ever tell you to stop,” I said.

He smirked at me and said, “I’m a Hoover, not a Kennedy.”

“I’m not the type of person who would know the difference,” I said.

He turned his bike the other way, toward his house, and said, “I’ll let you know what I decide.”

“About what?”

“This is my neighborhood, too, Cheryl. I was born here.”

He wheeled away without saying another word.

I was worried he was going to do something crazy, but I didn’t have the energy to try to stop him. Maybe he was just trying to shift the balance toward the little people.

As I approached my lawn, I noticed that all my plants were wilting and dying. The hydrangeas were parched, the dahlias blooming with dead, browning petals, the black-eyed Susans petal-less. The peonies had been knocked down and were lying on the yellowing grass. I kneeled and cradled the flowers in my arms.

TEDDY

PAULINE AND I WERE going to my least favorite island. It was a dump really, just a gutted-out red barn on some sand and rock in the marshes, only accessible by boat. It was where we had spent our high school summers, stepping through sand with layers and layers of broken glass and other discarded things you didn’t talk about. The glass clinked when the small waves crashed in the sand, over and over again like bells.

Pauline shut off the engine of the Boston Whaler and floated it onto the sand next to the other little boats. Six wasted girls were walking in the sand ahead of us. They were already taking off their shoes and I was cringing because I knew their feet were going to get all torn up, but I didn’t say anything because I was trying to navigate off the boat with my one good arm. There were lights floating past the broken windows of the barn. Pauline hung back, wanting to kiss me. I was surprised. This is what settling felt like, I thought. I tried and failed to get aroused, so I gave her a little kiss and walked on. All the girls were falling all over themselves to get to the coolers of beer and the guys were pretending to be helpful but just wanted to get into their panties. Don’t get me wrong, these girls wanted them grabbing at their panties.

No one looked familiar to me.

Pauline pointed at me, from arm to arm, and said, “Which one?”

I lifted up my good arm and she kept looking at my immovable arm, and I think I caught her grimacing. She pressed something hard and small into my palm and closed it up, then stood back. I opened it and saw a little pill and she smiled widely. Suddenly, I felt like I could love her.

We walked farther down the beach, away from the people, and sat down. I thought about how I could end up with Pauline now. I couldn’t believe it. There was something deformed about me that I didn’t think I could fix and maybe that was good enough. I slid down onto the sand, getting the seat of my pants wet, but at that point I didn’t care anymore. Everything felt wonderful all of a sudden, numb and warm. I looked at Pauline and she was staring at the reeds vacantly, in a holding pattern.

Then Pauline started to touch me and kept apologizing about it.

“I can’t help it,” she said. I wanted to push her away but no part of me could move. We sat back and stared out at the ocean and I was hoping the tide would come in and take me away finally.

“I don’t feel high anymore,” she said after a little while. I didn’t, either, but I knew it would come back. She started kissing me. I kissed back halfheartedly. No, I didn’t think I could love her, actually. Anyone, really. I needed to stop fooling myself about that kind of shit.

She felt around for my penis, but I was flaccid.

I started laughing at the thought. I was flaccid all over. She pulled back, thinking I was laughing at her. It wasn’t her at all, I told her. I couldn’t even form the words to tell her what was happening, so I just kept smiling and letting out laughter like I couldn’t control any part of me. I couldn’t. My arm didn’t work. My penis didn’t work. I could hardly even use my hand to make my penis work. This is it, Teddy. This is the new you.

“Why haven’t you ever come to see me?” I asked.

Pauline stared at me blankly and said, “What do you mean?”

“You’re always up on me, but when I needed someone after the accident, you were MIA,” I said.

“It’s summer,” Pauline said.

“What does that even mean?”

“It means, like, no one wants to be sad in the summer,” she said.

“Are you fucking serious?”

“I’m high, shut up. Don’t get all heavy on me.”

“It would have meant something, that’s all.”

She started touching me again and said, “I’ll visit you now.”

“It’s too late.”

I lay back on the sand and said, “Cover me.”

“What?” Pauline asked, confused.

“Erase me off the face of the earth,” I said.

“You’re so dramatic,” she said, laughing

“Do me one solid, will you? Be useful.”

“How much?” she asked.

“All of me,” I said.

I closed my eyes and waited for her to make me disappear.

“Teddy. This is fucking weird.”

“Please.”

I said please over and over again.

CHERYL

JEFFREY HAD COME BACK and moved his things into the guest room in the middle of the night. I walked by the room and saw him bending over his suitcase.

“Are you leaving again?” I asked. “You just got home.”

“They need me.”

He turned and looked at me, then sat down on the edge of the bed. “Teddy’s getting better, it looks like.”