The Umbrella
I
Mari Dinelli walked alone under the moonless sky, through the soupy
air, her chest twisting as if filled with smashed glass. A gleaming,
milky man slid his arm into the crook of hers, sliding hot fingers
down her forearm. The shattered pain in her chest lifted, and the
relief turned into pleasure so intense it slicked her groin. Even her
mouth moistened and filled with a taste like melting chocolate.
Into her hand he slipped the handle of an umbrella.
“It will rain again.”
A strong gust tore the umbrella right from Mari’s fingers; it spun
onto the roof of a building across the lot. The slicing pain in her
chest returned.
Just as she knew the pleasure was Satan, she also knew, the pain was God.
II
The election results, decided after 12:23, sent Luca Dinelli’s family
and friends into a frenzy of excited perspiration. Paper plates of
gnawed pizza crusts hit the ceiling. A searing wall of human flesh
pressed in, lips both male and female smearing kiss-spit over his
cheeks.
“It’s to the moon from here, Luca-boy!” His florid brother-in-law
howled, hands cupping Luca’s face, his Irish blue eyes varnished like
marbles.
Luca smiled but made eye contact with no one; squishing and weaving
through the crush. Mari stood alone by the door amongst the empty
pizza boxes. Her dark eyes were wide, her smooth, large forehead
creased as she stared at the wall.
For a moment, he saw her fleshy limbs whittled spindly, her soft belly
caved in, and her honey-touched auburn curls gone, leaving only a bald
scalp.
The next morning, as Luca took the garbage out, he met a white rabbit
of a man in a pale pink shirt and holding a pink and white striped
umbrella. The man smiled, his features were smooth and his eyes a
watery, indigo blue. “Congratulations, Mr. Dinelli.”
Luca thanked him.
The man held the umbrella to him, “Mari will be fine, as long as you
get her help to cut down on the work she does around the house. The
public will rally around you now; just get her the respite she’s
earned.”
Luca took the umbrella and stared at it.
“She dropped it last night,” The man said.
Luca whistled as he went back inside, leaving the umbrella on the doorstep.
Just as he knew the man was telling the truth, he also knew the man
was an angel.
***
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