Read Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel for Free Online Page A

"She
don't want to be bothered. Go away." He makes shooing motions with
his hands.
    "No one tells me to go away!"
    "Go away. Go away," the clerk says.
    Kim stuffs her hand into her purse to find
some money and leave. But the soldier runs out the front door. She
now counts out the exact amount, smiles at the clerk, and says
“thank you.” At that moment something explodes behind her!
    She jumps, then swivels towards the bang. The
soldier stands in the doorway, a rifle in his hands. He whirls and
runs out. Kim turns back toward the counter as the clerk moans and
slumps over. A circle of red slowly balloons across the counter,
mixing with the candy and gum lined up in neat rows.
    She screams and screams! From somewhere the
older clerk appears. He looks at her, then at the other clerk. Then
he screams too. "Jesus Christ! He killed Marvin!"
    Kim sinks down onto the floor and rocks back
and forth on her knees. The older clerk explains, "Marvin was
harmless – just a bit touched in the head. He didn't mean nothing."
She keeps rocking.
    The clerk says, "I have to call the MPs. It
won't be that hard to find the guy. His name was on his fatigues.
You'll just have to wait to give a statement, then you can go
home."
    "No, no!" She jumps up and runs out the door,
clutching the grocery bag to her chest. She drives off as the
balloon of blood spreads itself farther and farther in front of her
eyes.
    She can't believe what has happened. It is
like a movie, or maybe the news on television. What will she tell
Jim? He'll be able to tell she's upset, that something has
happened. He'll think the worst if she says nothing.
    She'll tell him ... the truth, someone shot
the clerk. She won't tell him why, won't say the soldier had been
pestering her, the clerk had tried to protect her, that she's
responsible for his death.
    She parks the car in front of their apartment
and bends her head over the steering wheel.
    The first stabs of a migraine jab above her
eyes.
    **
    She must go in. She has sat here too long.
Jim could come out of the apartment any minute looking for her.
    She opens the apartment door and puts the
grocery bag down on the table. "What took so long?" Jim says.
    Then he must notice her tear-streaked face
because he flings himself off the couch. "Did someone mess with
you? Who did it? I'll kill him." He turns towards the bedroom where
the gun is as she screams, "No, no! Sit down and I'll tell
you!"
    She clasps her hands together. "The clerk at
the store was killed by a soldier. The soldier just shot the
clerk."
    "While you were there?"
    She nods, staring at her hands.
    "Oh, honey, it must have been terrible for
you,” he says. He jumps up and hugs her. “Some of these guys, they
get crazy, all that killing they see in Vietnam, makes them do
crazy things. “ He nods his head as if agreeing with himself that
this happens.
    "Besides, even down home people do go crazy
with their guns," he says. "Happens all the time. Just sorry you
had to be there." He asks no other questions.
    During the next few days she stays in the
apartment, afraid to go out except when she has to go with Jim to
the post to get her ID. While there Jim insists she call Susanna
Norris to thank her for the dinner and tell her where they found an
apartment.
    Now, on the first day of Jim’s AOB class, Kim
sits in the living room, hot even with the room air conditioner
running, and crochets little squares of green yarn and yellow yarn
that will become an afghan for her sister Diane's Christmas
present.
    And over and over again Kim wishes for a
phone. She wants to call her sister, be reassured that things are
fine at home. Without a phone here she would have to go out to make
the call, the closest phone at the little store. And she sure isn't
going there – not ever again.
    Kim squeezes her eyes shut to block the
mental picture of the ballooning blood just as the doorbell
rings.
    "Hi," Susanna says, ushering her children
through the door. "Thought you might like a little