narrowed her eyes as though she were trying to see wording from a far distance. “Is that ‘Grinch’?” She pointed to the word.
“Yes, see?” I stepped into her room and took the shirt from her. I went over each word, repeating it as I did so.
“Brando usually reads everything for me,” she said in a small voice. “I’ve never learned how to read.”
I sucked in a breath but let it out slowly, so she wouldn’t notice my reaction. Her eyes seemed sad as she stared at the words, her smile turning upside down.
She waved a hand. “Oh well, life is never perfect. We make the best of it anyhow. Come on.” She took my hand again. “Let me show you where you can change.”
We passed the second door and she opened the third. I stepped into a whole new world.
Brando’s room. Filled with his things, his smell, saturating the small place, which was filled with very little furniture. Two mattresses were in the center of the room, stacked one on top of the other against the wall.
A table littered with suckers stood next to the mattresses. In its center an old lamp stood, something to give the room a soft glow when turned on. A chair and a small corner desk. A couple of shelves on the wall. That was it.
My eyes narrowed when I noticed one of the pictures on one of the shelves. Slow steps took me there, my heart not ready to see my brother staring back at me, a lopsided smile on his face. Lisette had been seated on his lap, smiling at him.
Nick, the guy who left with my brother that fateful night, had a picture of his own, on the other side of my brother and his girlfriend. A holy candle, the wick almost burnt to nothing, separated the two photographs.
“Your brother was a good kid,” Maggie Beautiful whispered. Her hand trembled as she reached past me. Her finger gently swiped the glass, as though she were touching him in real time. “One of the best.”
I jumped a bit and choked down the hurt that had stuck in my throat. I strangled the shirt in my hands. “You knew? Who I was?”
She smiled at me, the sadness overwhelming. “I had an idea. There’s nothing outwardly that brings you together, but you seem to carry him with you.” She ran the same finger down my face. “It’s a terrible shame that this city didn’t protect him and those two kids. They should’ve had crossing signals for that track.”
I stared at my brother through eyes that burned. “He liked the rhythm of the music when it bumped through the speakers. He could feel the pulse of it.” I barely smiled. I wiped at my eyes though no tears came.
“I know, Doll.” She squeezed my shoulder. “I thought Brando was…” She looked at me with eyes that seemed to lose their light. “They came looking for him, that night, because they thought he was with Elliott. I lost part of him that night too. We lost a lot. The world lost fine souls that it’ll never be able to replace. Those kids lost out on their beautiful years.”
We both became quiet, staring at Elliott and Lisette and Nick. Three souls lost to the monster that still haunted my dreams. That whistling demon, also called a train. A huge part of me died that night. And parts of me still died when I thought of what could have been, if it wasn’t for that beast. If the city had put up crossing signals, perhaps my brother and his friends would all still be alive.
Maggie Beautiful sighed twice, as if she could hear my thoughts, before she took a deep breath in and then let it out. Her eyes widened and she turned to me, panicked. She squeezed my hand hard and quick.
“The cake!” She shoved the jeans at me. “Change! Meet me in the kitchen when you’re done.”
She went to hustle out of the door, but I stopped her. “Ms. Beautiful.”
She stopped and barked out a laugh. “No, Doll, just Maggie Beautiful. That Ms. business is terrible for the skin.”
It hurt, but I smiled. “Thank you, Maggie Beautiful. Thank you for not treating him like some awkward topic to be avoided.”
The light returned to her eyes. “I still feel him. He’s with you, too. I could feel him when you walked through the door. It was like old times again.” She blew me a kiss and then left