Envious Moon(7)

I left the room the same way I had come in. I wanted to run. But I knew this was a bad idea. I needed to keep my head. I needed to get back down the stairs and out in the night where I belonged.

I crossed the foyer and began down the stairs. One at a time. I reached the landing. The longest part of the stairs were in front of me. It was not far now but it seemed like a long way away. I was looking to see if I could see the front door from here, the door I had left ajar, and if any of the night had spilled into the house. I went to take another step and as I did, the foyer behind me, where I had just left, filled with light.

My heart rose in my chest. I felt it flutter like a bird. I had been afraid many times but not like this. I was no longer alone and I knew I should run. For some reason I could not move. I leaned into the shadows and I looked back toward the light.

And what I saw was a girl, a girl surrounded by golden light and wearing a white nightgown. Through her gown I could see the outline of her legs. I could not see her eyes and I could not tell the color of her hair. But the part of her face that I could see, draped in shadow, was more beautiful than any face I had ever seen. Her high cheekbones and her full lips and her strong nose. Part of me understood that I should not be considering any of this, that I should just run, but something kept me completely still. I had one job in that moment, and that was to move my feet, to get back to the trail, to Victor, and then to the skiff. Back to Galilee. But I couldn’t stop staring at her. I was transfixed. And then she spoke.

She said, “Who are you?”

“I won’t hurt you,” I managed to say and then I repeated it. “I won’t hurt you.”

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“A mistake,” I said, and I wanted for some reason to explain it all to her but I knew this made no sense. I wanted to tell her how we thought the house was empty and that the money didn’t belong to anyone. That maybe it would help me get to college. I wanted to say something about how beautiful she was in the golden light and I wanted to ask her the color of her eyes. But I knew that I couldn’t do any of these things.

“I have to go,” I whispered, as if this was the reasonable thing to do now. I turned away and I began to bound down the steps.

I took them two at a time and in the dark I did not see the man until he was right in front of me. He came up the stairs as fast as I went down.

“Get over here,” he said, and I tried to sidestep him. He was bigger than I was and when he wrapped his arms around me I felt his breath hot against my face. I shook him off and he kept coming. For a moment he was gone and then I felt him again, and he was on top of me, on my shoulders, and he was trying to take me down. He was a very strong man and the weight of him drove me into the railing. I flailed at him with my arms and I think I cried out. I smacked at his hands and I wanted nothing more than to be free of him and then, all of a sudden, I was. He had gone over the railing and landed on the floor below. I heard him hit. It took a minute for it to register and I stood there dumbly looking into the dark.

I heard the girl now and when I looked up she was coming down the stairs toward me, quickly, two steps at a time. “Daddy,” she called, saying it over and over, and something inside me broke and I started to run. I ran as fast as I could. I flew down that staircase, and I raced for the open door and through it and I was out on the porch and then onto the lawn.

I tore around the corner of the house and sprinted across the dewy grass and when I reached Victor I said, “Come on,” and I kept running. His face looked empty, his jaw slack, brown eyes just staring at me. I ran so fast I almost went off the path and into the undergrowth that was the top of the cliff. I heard Victor panting behind me and when we reached the cove I said, “Get in” and Victor said, “Oh, Jesus,” but I barely heard that.

We shoved off from the beach and when the skiff was in water deep enough, I started the engine and it went on the first try. I pulled down on the throttle and turned the boat toward open water.





We rode straight out to sea and we did not talk. I pushed the skiff as hard as I could and when the island was no longer visible in the dark behind us, I cut the engine. The mainland was to our right now and we could see the dim lights from the villages of Galilee and Jerusalem. The boat rocked slightly in the wake. I turned to Victor and before I could say anything I saw in his eyes the fear and I knew it mirrored my own. I tried to tell him what happened but speaking was difficult and my words kept coming out mangled. Finally, I said, “There was a man.”

“Where?”

“On the stairs.”

“Shit,” said Victor. “They said it was going to be empty.”

“And there was a girl.”

“What? Where?”

“A beautiful girl,” I said. “I mean crazy beautiful.”

“Tony, I don’t get it.”

I ran my hand through my hair and I looked toward the point and to where the lighthouse beam cut a swath across the water. I told Victor everything at once. I told him about going into the house. About climbing the stairs. Knocking over the lamp and then finding the money. I told him how the light went on at the top of the stairs behind me and how I turned to see the girl standing there. How I could see all of her when the light passed through her gown. I told him how lovely she was. I tried to capture her shadow-draped face for Victor but words alone could never do her justice. There was nothing to do but to stare, I said, and this was why I did not see the man until he was on me.