Document of Expectations

Monday, 2:30 p.m.

100 monDaY, 2:30 p.m. Heavy traffic caused the trip to roxanne’s house to take thirty minutes. “Damn city,” said monique. there were only two main roads going east and west, and the shortcuts were no longer secret. at any time of the day, cars were backed up at the poorly planned intersections where the train tracks crossed. “another earthquake or two in california and we’ll really have problems ,” she said. “all those rich people on the West coast will come here and drive the prices up so high that cops won’t be able to buy affordable housing.” “Looks like roxanne lives as far away from campus as she can get without leaving the county,” clarke said. “smart kid. i wouldn’t mind living out here.” moose city weather was almost perfect, although not as nice as the oklahoma springs. monique longed for the intense green of the rolling countryside, and she missed watching the scissortail flycatchers diving for bugs. she missed the dark calm before the raging spring and summer storms. Devastating tornadoes caused most oklahomans dread, although many citizens secretly enjoyed the excitement of listening to the rain pound their roof and watching the Weather channel to see the twisters skirt their town. monique’s parents had a storm cellar in the backyard where she and her brother played as children. the small underground room had two twin beds and plenty of toys, like pick-up sticks, pencils, and crayons. the moist cellar was safe and private and the perfect place to think. a twister once swept through their neighborhood and her family holed up in the cellar for half the night, telling stories by light of the lantern. it was one of the best times of her life. the most significant weather she’d seen since moving to moose city was cold, blowing snow. they left the congested city behind and entered the road that took them up the side of mt. felix, named after one of the men who christened the town. after six miles, monique turned onto a paved road with a line of mailboxes by the corner. Large pines stood on either side of the road. underbrush and smaller trees had been recently cleared out by the forest service in an attempt to manage fires. mule deer ran in front of their car; the four does and one buck stopped when they reached the fence and turned to watch the car. 101 “neat place,” said clarke. “Lots of animals out in the evenings.” “Yup. the herds come around that big lake up the road. one night i came out here with steve and stopped counting at eighty elk. this road’s a bitch to plow in winter, though.” a log cabin with a green metal roof appeared first. flowers in the porch pots sat strategically on blocks of wood behind each other so it looked like they were planted on a hill. a white-tailed deer archery target stood next to a fake wishing well. the owners tastefully separated their portion of the world from their neighbor with dowel and range fencing. “Good fences make good neighbors,” monique observed. “Hey, look at that deer target,” clarke laughed. “they put the horns on backwards.” “this used to be a dirt road,” said monique. “now they have cable tV.” “Looks expensive.” “it is now. ten years ago it was easy to get a place here. that’s when roxanne bought her home, i bet. she could probably sell it now for twice what she paid for it.” three properties away stood roxanne’s house. a carved wooden plaque on top of the wooden fence had the address carved into it. a padlock on the chain around the gate only looked locked, but it wasn’t. monique and clarke saw a large tan duelly truck parked in front. “Looks like renell the eccentric lawyer’s here,” monique said. Yeah, i’ve seen her in action in the courtroom. and she’s won the health club’s annual racquetball tournament for the last five years. “crazy redhead.” “i’ve seen her argue, too. crazy, but smart.” clarke got out and opened the gate and felt a poke in his rear, then another in his groin. two large gray malamutes came out of nowhere to smell him. another little dog came running from the house. it jumped up to clarke’s waist, and he realized the funny-looking cross between a spitz and a chihuahua...