The People in Rossford

Claire Anderson was dreaming that it was raining. And then she was dreaming that there were rocks on her window, and then she knew she was dreaming, and she knew she was about to float up out of that dream place, and then she was awake, and there was the rattling on her window.

East Carmel was a town where people rattled on your window and crawled on in, so she wasn’t scared. Rapists did not generally knock on the door. At least, she didn’t think they did. She got up out of bed realizing she really had to pee, and crossed the room to open the already half cracked second story window.

“Noah!” she said. Then, “Noah, get on in here!”

She pulled Noah Riley, who was the same size as her through the window and said, “Watch your knees,” as he tumbled onto the floor.

“You never wear shorts when you’re going to crawl into someone’s window.”

Noah chuckled and, rubbing his knee said, “It wasn’t in my plans to crawl into your window, Miss Anderson.”

She clicked on the light and sat on the edge of the bed.

“It just came to you to visit me?”

“I was on my way to Rummelsville.”

“Ick,” Claire made a face. “What the fuck for?”

“Because it’s my home,” Noah said, sitting beside her, “and by the way, we say the same thing about East Carmel.”

As if her bedroom, covered in posters of Pre Raphealite art and posters of classical musicians were the entirety of East Carmel, she looked around critically and said, “And I don’t blame them.

“But it doesn’t make Rummelsville any better. I’ve been going with Fenn Houghton’s nephew a while now, and I’m suddenly suspicious of any place that has more brown cows than brown people.”

She stood up. “Have you eaten?”

“Not really.”

“I’ll got downstairs and get you something. We had pizza tonight. Sausage all right with you?”

“Sausage is perfect.”

“And don’t be upset if I’m not back right away. I have to visit the little girls’ room and take a very feminine piss.”

When Claire finally returned, she said setting the plate down, “Why of all the places in the world did you come here? Be careful. It’s hot.”

Noah burnt his fingers anyway and Claire commented that, “Some people don’t know how to listen.”

“I came because I knew you’d treat me this way.”

Claire looked at him.

“We met like once, weeks ago—,” Noah began.

“In all fairness it was a couple of days ago, and on the first one you had a gun in your mouth.”

“But you act like I’m this old friend you’re really happy to see, and I just knew you would. I just knew we were friends. And to tell the truth, I don’t really have any.”

“Paul.”

“That’s different. Plus, he was busy.”

“Busy?”

“With Kirk.”

“They’re together again?”

“Apparently.”

“Well, good. What about that Brian?”

“Oh, I don’t know what’s going on with him.”

Claire frowned and then, her mood changing, she said, “But we are friends. We’re like… I was about to say soul sisters. But number one, you’re not a girl and number two, I’m not Black.”

“Well… I get what you’re saying,” Noah said. “And I feel the same way,” he said between bites of pizza. “That’s why I wanted to see you. Have some of this. It’s really good.”

“I know,” Claire said taking a slice. “I microwaved it myself.” She made a small bow.

They munched on pizza for a while and Claire, swallowing the cheese said, “I should have got something to drink. I’m going to get some juice. It’s pomegranate, Mom’s on a health kick. You want some?”

“Is it good?”

“It’s sort of… it’s like drinking health. That’s all I can think of. It’s like someone crushed a bitter seed and turned it into juice, the whole time you’re drinking it you’re thinking Damn, I’m healthy.”

“Oh, sure then. I used to drink plenty of weird shit in the name of health.”

When Claire came back this next time she said, handing him a glass of the dark juice:

“I’ve got an idea. How about I come with you to East Carmel?”

“Shit!” Noah said putting the glass down.

“My idea, or the juice?”

“Definitely the juice. You really wanna come with me?”

“Yes. But I need to go back to bed. We’ll leave in the morning.”

“You want me to get a hotel?”

“Don’t be stupid. You’ll sleep on my bed, or on my day bed, or you can even sleep with me.”

“What’s your mom gonna say tomorrow morning when she sees a twenty-three year old guy come out of your bedroom?”

“Nothing. Because you’re gay, and in East Carmel that means you have no sexuality whatsoever.”

“She should see one of my movies.”

Claire shook her head and put the empty, greasy plate on her desk, before climbing back onto the bed.

“Not if my brother’s in it with you.”

“Claire, Julian’s here for you all,” Naomi said.

“And let me tell you,” she whispered, coming into the room, “He’s a real nice looking one. Like Denzel. Why couldn’t the one running for president look like that? Not that he isn’t a good looking one too. I mean, they do make some nice looking ones.”

“Thank you,” Julian said over her shoulder, and Naomi Riley jumped up in the air.

“I’ll just get Noah,” she said.. “I’ll just go tell him everything’s done.”

Julian Lawden closed the door behind him, and stood with his back to the door, an eyebrow raised, and a grin coming across his face. Then he came to the bed.

“I can’t believe you asked me to drive out here and pick you up.”

“Well, I had to get to school somehow,” said Claire.

“You are an evil, spiteful girl.”

“And Noah’s car broke down.”

“Noah keeps leaving Rossford,” Julian told her. “And it seems like he keeps on being unable to stay away.”

Noah tapped on the door and said, “You kids aren’t being frisky in there, are you?”

“What if we are?” shouted Julian.

Noah opened the door, hopped on the bed between them, and said, “I would have to ask to join in.”

“Wow,” Claire said while Julian shook his head.

“I could probably teach you both a thing or two.”

“You could probably teach us a thing or three, actually,” Julian noted.

“So are we ready to go?”

“I’m ready to go,” Julian said, and he got off the bed, while Noah headed out of the room saying, “I’m going to get my bag.”

“Goodbye, Mom,” Noah reached to hug Naomi.

She received him stiffly and said, “I don’t know why you’re running off again. You always ran off. I don’t know why you just can’t stay.”

“Stay and what? Be like I was in high school? Always angry, always wanting to go away to something’s better? No. I came, I saw. I Rummeled. I better go back to Rossford now.”

“What’s in Rossford?” Naomi wondered, looking at Julian and Claire.

“Well, school for one,” Claire offered.

“But this one isn’t going to school,” Naomi said, gesturing to Noah. “He never could do school.

“You never could do people. Why was that? What happened to you? You never could trust people.”

“I gotta go, Ma,” he said. “They gotta be on campus tonight, and we’ve still gotta stop at Claire’s house.”

“Well, fine,” she said. “It’s just… I love you, Noah. And you’re so ass backwards. You’re what my father would’ve called backasswards, and I don’t know how to straighten you out.”

Noah raised a quizzical eyebrow and said, “There is not straightening me out, Ma.”

“Oh, you don’t have to be nasty like that. Just kiss me and go.”

When they had arrived in Rummelsville a week ago, in the middle of the night, Naomi Riley opened the door and Claire was surprised by her beauty. It was tired beauty, but she couldn’t have been much older than forty, if that. The little house told the story quickly, before Noah ever elaborated. Single young mother who had liked her men, or if she hadn’t like them, had at least depended on them. They hadn’t come from the town. They had come in and out, some of them truckers. Noah was often with his grandparents or cousins. Naomi was a woman who loved her son, but didn’t have much skill as a parent.

“You’re Not-His-Girlfriend,” Naomi said. This was the way Noah had introduced Claire. “You’re real pretty, and Noah’s real pretty too, but I’ve known him my whole life. I remember he used to play with little boys under the bridge and back in high school they used to talk about him, how he nearly got beat up for turning tricks for the basketball team.”

“Shut up, Nay,” he said.

“I’m just saying,” Naomi went on, oblivious to Noah’s embarrassment. “I know how you are. Just like how you know what I am.”

“I know you’re a slut.”

“That’s right,” Naomi said. “I’m a real slut. My being a slut brought you into this world, and you being what you are made all those movies Dena Lawry showed me. She says, this is your Noah, isn’t it? That dirty ole bitch. She tries to make me look bad, but she found ‘em. And where’d she find them? Found you fucking this one boy, on her son’s computer. So, I says, at least he makes money. Your son just wastes yours. Bet your credit card number is all over that site.”

They stayed in the same room, and Noah was strangely quiet. He seemed a little stunned actually, steepling his fingers together again and again, staring off.

“Noah,” Claire said approaching him, putting an arm over his shoulder, “We should get some rest.”

“Now you see what I come from.”

“She… doesn’t seem like a bad person,” Claire said, diplomatically.

“If you’re mom found that movie Brian sent…”

“She’d be devastated. That’s Marilee.”

“Naomi… my Mom. And how could she say that about me? All of that?”

“Is it true?” Claire said. She didn’t know why she said it.

Noah turned his back to her, and beat his pillow, lying down solidly.

“I don’t want to talk about that, Claire.”

Claire took her arm from around him. Noah had suddenly gone stiff, and she wondered if she should have come.

“I’ll go to bed, now,” she told him. “I’ll be right in the next room.”

He nodded, not looking at her.

At the door she finally turned around and said:

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“If we’re really friends, then I need an answer. Is it true? What she said. And if it’s true, why didn’t she do anything? And if it’s true… why did you do it?”

“She took a bar of Dial and stuck it in my mouth for an hour at a time and told me to wash the cock out of it, until I got sick and had to go to the hospital. She made me take off my clothes and then beat me with an electric cord until child services nearly took me away and then she said she’d beat the fag out of me. But she was hardly twenty-five years old. And she’s ignorant. Everyone here is ignorant.

“I don’t know what I was. Curious? But I couldn’t have been the only curious one because it takes two to fool around and there was a lot of fooling around. Folks knew I would do it. It’s like, if they call a little girl a slut because she does stuff, is she worse than the boys that ask her too?”

He said it all once, in a breath.

“I hate this fucking town. I’m really, really, tired Claire.”

Claire nodded and went to bed.