Eddie, tall, black-haired, to-die-for Eddie, shoved the cardboard box (ripped halfway down one corner and impossible to carry more than a block or two without the whole thing splitting and spilling all over the sidewalk) a little further along the floor with his foot. Barb, short, round, plain, and boring Barb, could hear grit underneath the box, scratching the wood floor. She almost yelled at him--Dammit!--to knock it off before the floor was all scratched up, but then she remembered it wasn't her floor anymore, and he hadn't cared about it in the first place. The view ov the lake! The hardwood floors! The ceilings!

"This is yours," Eddie said. "Your stuff."

"Where's the rest of it?" Barb could see some of the rest of it over his shoulder. He probably didn't realize it wasn't his.

Eddie shrugged. "Just take it and go, okay? She doesn't want you around here anymore."

"I don't care whether she wants me here or not," Barb shouted.

"It's just stuff," Eddie said.

"It's my stuff," Barb said.

Eddie looked around in the hallway. When he saw that it was empty, he gave Barb a little push into the hallway. She stumbled back a couple of steps and drumped down onto her bum. "Eddie!" Eddie shoved the box into the hallway and shut the door behind him, gently, as if his mind were already on other things.

So there she was. Dumped. Another woman already living in their apartment, making claim on her stuff. Jeez. What kind of bitch? would want another woman's stuff around all the time? Barb pulled her box over to her lap and started crying. Maybe if she cried long enough, Eddie would come back out and...

Nah. He wouldn't. Not Eddie.

Had he put the mask in the box? That was the important question. Without the mask, how was she going to start over again?

Yes, it was there. Blue satin that had rubbed down around the edges. Oriental stitching around the sides, a phoenix on one side and a dragon on the other. A place on the left-hand side where a feather had broken away. The man at the junk shop had grinned at her when she'd picked it up.

"It's almost as good as reading the lines on people's palms, watching what they'll pick up," he said. "The mask. Always nice to see that piece brought into play."

But she hadn't really listened then, only thought to herself how the mask would go with her new pumps and the long black dress she'd had since she was a senior in high school. She'd lifted it to her face and looked at herself in an antique mirror on the junkstore wall. Hm...she liked the effect the mask had on her. It didn't make her look any taller or prettier, but it made her feel more...sanguine about herself. More confident. "Meow!" she told her image in the mirror.

"I'll take it," she said. "How much?"

"Eleven fifty," the man said. "It's marked on the back."

Barb looked at the price tag. Fifteen bucks. "Eleven fifty it is," she said. The guy had tried to protest when he pulled the sticker off the back of the mask and put it into a ledger, but she made him line through the price and write it in: eleven fifty. She'd met Eddie the next day at a party. He couldn't take his eyes off her. But as the months wore on, her confidence failed her, and Eddie was able to see her as she truly was. Disappointing.

Well, she had it. And that other bitch didn't know what she was missing out on. Barb put the mask back on her face for the length of a few breaths, then lowered it and knocked on Eddie's door.

"Oh, Eddie," she purred. "I'm sorry. I've been falling to pieces lately. I haven't been paying enough attention to you. No wonder you've been looking for someone else."

She could hear Eddie talking, but it sounded like he was in the other room. She pressed her ear against the door and listened:

"Yeah, yeah. I kicked her out. It wouldn't be good for her, either. I mean, imagine it! No, bring her up. It isn't going to get any easier on either one of us." The click of the phone in the handset. Footsteps coming toward the door.

Eddie opened up the door. When he saw her, he inhaled deeply--as if her scent had become something worth taking the time to savor again. "What?" he asked.

"Eddie, I--" Barb stopped.

"Sometimes I forget how good looking you are," he said. "But I don't have time for this. Go away, Barb. Find somebody who has time for you. My parents died a couple of days ago, and my sister's moving in with me. Don't you understand? This isn't about you. Go away."

"I can help you. I can be there for you. Eddie, I love you!" Barb said.

Eddie sighed. "No, Barb. I don't have time for this." But he didn't shut the door.

Someone tapped Barb on the shoulder from behind. Barb turned around, the mask still in her hand. A guy who looked a lot like Eddie stood behind her. A little girl with long, curly black hair stood with him, holding his hand.

"Excuse me, miss," the other guy said. "Hey, Eddie."

"Hey, Bob," Eddie said. "Hey, Nina."

The little girl rubbed her face with the back of her hand, dragging snot across her upper lip.

Eddie reached over, pulled the mask out of Barb's hand, and handed it to the little girl. "Hey, sis, look what Barb wants you to have. It's her special mask, see? Whenever you wear it, you'll be the most beautiful woman in the world."

The little girl wrapped her dirty fingers around the mask. "Thank you," she said, in that singsong voice that kids use when they're pushed to do polite, adult things. Wouldn't bring her parents back. Wouldn't make her happy. But hey! She'd be the most beautiful woman in the world.

Of all the things Barb could have said, "You're welcome," was what came out.

By De Knippling

Links:

• Bitch?
• Invisibility

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