Even a security door can be slammed if enough force is applied.
"Vicki? It's your mother. Didn't Mike Celluci give you my message? Well, never mind, dear, I'm sure he has a lot on his mind. While I'm thinking of it though, I did wonder why he was in your apartment while you were out. Have you two been getting more serious? Call me when you get a chance. There's something I have to tell you."
Vicki sighed and rubbed at her temples as the answering machine rewound. It was ten after twelve and she was just not up to a heart-to-heart with her mother, not after the day she'd had. "Have you two been getting more serious?" Jesus H. Christ.
First Celluci.
Then Henry.
The powers-that-be had really decided to mess up her life.
"Whatever happened to men who just want to get laid on a regular basis?" she muttered, flicking off the light and making her way to the bedroom.
The pitcher of draft she'd downed in the gay bar on Church Street, the one place in the city safe from testosterone cases, churned uneasily in her stomach. All she wanted to do was go to sleep. Alone.
She'd call her mother in the morning.
The night had been filled with dreams, or more specifically, dream, the same images occurring over and over. People kept coming into her apartment and she couldn't get them to leave. The new staircase to the third floor bisected her kitchen and a steady stream of real estate agents moved up it, dragging potential tenants. The back of her closet opened into Maple Leaf Gardens and the post-hockey crowds decided to leave through her bedroom. First she tried the voice of reason. Then she yelled. Then she physically picked up the intruders and threw them out the door. But the door never stayed closed and they wouldn't, any of them, leave her alone.
She woke up late with a splitting headache and an aching jaw, her mood not significantly better than when she'd gone to sleep. An antacid and an aspirin might have helped, but as she'd run out of both she settled for a mug of coffee so strong her tongue curled in protest.
"And why did I know it would be raining," she growled, squinting out through the blinds at a gray and uninviting world. The sky looked low enough to touch.
The phone rang.
Vicki turned and scowled across the room at it. She didn't have to answer to know it was her mother. She could feel mother vibes from where she stood.
"Not this morning, Mom. I'm just not up to it."
Her head continued ringing long after the bell fell silent.
An hour later, it rang again.
An hour of conscious thought had done nothing to improve Vicki's mood.
"I said no, Mom!" She slammed her fist down on the kitchen table. The phone rocked but continued to ring. "I don't want to hear about your problems right now and I sure as shit don't want to tell you about mine!" Her voice rose. "My personal life has suddenly collapsed. I don't know what's going on. Everything is falling apart. I can stand on my own. I can work as part of a team. I've proved that, haven't I? Why isn't that enough!"
It became a contest in volume and duration and Vicki had no intention of letting the phone win.
"Odds are good Celluci's about to propose and this vampire I'm sleeping with... Oh, didn't I tell you about Henry, Mom? ...well he wants me as his... his... I don't know what Henry wants. Can you deal with that, Mom? 'Cause I sure as shit can't!"
She could feel herself trembling on the edge of hysteria, but she wouldn't quit until the phone did.
"Celluci thinks I'm angry about the way dear old Dad walked out on you. Henry thinks he's right. How about that, Mom? I'm being fucking double-teamed. You never warned me about something like this, did you, Mom? And we never, ever discuss Daddy!"
The last word echoed around a silent apartment and seemed to take a very long time to fade.
With a trembling finger, Vicki slid her glasses back up her nose. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, Mom. I promise."
An hour later, the phone rang again.
Vicki turned on the answering machine and went for a walk in the rain.
When she got back, late that evening, there were seven messages waiting. She wiped the tape without listening to any of them.
The phone rang.
Vicki paused, one foot into the shower, sighed, and got back into her robe. Welcome to Monday.