The Lizard Eye
Also posted at my GiveSendGo campaign.
This short story was intended to be part of another novel I had planned. Life got in the way of fleshing that one out, but I really liked this excerpt and I want potential contributors to be able to measure my story-telling abilities. Of course, Tale of the Tigers is also available for that purpose.
I don’t intend for these characters to be a part of the new novel.
*****
"So, your Italian side is in effect today, I see," said Cordelia.
"Yeah. Next week, when my black side is talking to me, Deanna and I are going to head up to the new soul food restaurant that's by the apartment."
"Make sure to bring me a plate."
"That's what Deanna said about this place when I said what I was doing tonight. All you two think about is food!"
"Well, that's not all we’re thinking about," she grinned.
Cordelia loved Arlen, but there was no yearning or jealousy to it. It was friendship, the enjoyment of his company, and hope for his happiness. And it was moments like these, that she realized a fascinating thing: she had a better relationship with Arlen than she had had with any boyfriend - or with her ex-husband. She knew that Deanna loved him, too and she suspected that the same was so for her.
Arlen gave her a look.
"You'll get a good price in Addis Ababa."
"Addis Ababa? They'll look at me and laugh their asses off. They could go over any border and get ten of me for a hundred dollars. Younger. Virgins, even."
Arlen considered this. "You know you're right. I'll sell Deanna’s white ass in Addis Ababa and sell your black ass in Moscow."
"Speaking of Deanna, tell her to give me a call. We need to plan our caper. She can probably point me to some resources.
Arlen began to reply, then broke off at the sight of a short, muscular black man approaching their table.
The two of them recognized him; Arlen, because he had seen the man's photo on Cordelia's nightstand when he painted her bedroom two years prior, and Cordelia because she knew the man personally - at this point in her life, more than she wished was so.
"Ah, Cordelia," the man said as he briefly gave Arlen the once-over.
"Hello, Charles," she said.
"It's no surprise to see that you reverted to hanging out with small-dicked white boys."
Cordelia looked at him without expression. "Charles, how's your walk with God going?"
"That's none of your business."
"Well, the size of my friend's penis is none of your business, but you seem unusually interested in that."
Arlen chuckled.
Cordelia took a split-second look at Arlen's face. The smirk was still there, but his eyes were hazel slits - a look that sent a chill through her. She had to get Charles away from the table. He did not know what he was starting.
"Charles, just go away." She glanced in the direction from which he had come. There was a pretty black woman at a table across the room, looking on helplessly.
"Don't worry, I will," he sneered. "I just wanted you to know this: I'm embarrassed for you, sitting here with some fat white boy. You’ve really sunk to the bottom."
"Look here, parasite," said Arlen. "Nobody at this table cares what you think. Now run along and go suck the blood from your latest host."
Charles turned to answer Arlen and then stopped. Cordelia heard his teeth clamp shut. She looked at Arlen again.
His smirk was gone and there was more there than just his standard 'lizard-eye,’ much more. That look made her afraid - not for herself; she knew Arlen would never hurt her. She was afraid for Charles.
Involuntarily, Charles took a step backward. He felt it, too.
"Charles, you are the one who broke up with me, not the other way around. You once told me to move on. I now give you the same advice," said Cordelia.
Charles tore his gaze away from Arlen's face and looked at her. The sneer was gone.
"I'm sorry … take care, Cordelia."
Charles turned and rushed back to his table. He signaled the maître’d and, within minutes, he and his companion left the restaurant.
"Well, I see that the ‘I'll-kill-you-and-bury-your-body-in-my-backyard’ face is all you said it was."
"I don't know what you're talking about. Besides, that asshole's rotten carcass would poison my flowers."
Cordelia shook her head. "Crazy man."
Charles and Cordelia had been engaged. Sometime after the breakup, she found out that he had been engaged to another woman at the same time.
"I used to imagine a moment like that, but gave it up around the same time I realized what a fraud he is. Appearance is everything to him."
"Why did he do that, Cordie?” Arlen seemed as shaken as Cordelia and Charles had been. “What was the purpose of even coming up to the table and starting some shit? I do not get that at all."
"I do. He was ticked off to see me happy without him. Thanks for not killing him."
"The night is young. And I'm hungry."