A MEMORY OF WHEN SQUALL LEONHART HAD LAUGHED WITH JOY.
They walked with their mother along the sidewalk, before she had moved on. The morning was cool , the sun weak through light fog, and the greenery damp with dew. She knocked the branch above Squall so water spilled from the waxy green leaves like rain.
A PICTURE OF SELPHIE IN THE WORN LEATHER JACKET SHE SHOPLIFTED FROM AGRACE HOSPICE THRIFT SHOP WHEN THE ELDERLY VOLUNTEERS WEREN'T LOOKING
The sun set yellow in the crisp blue sky. The air was chill. Selphie's nose was caked in dandelion pollen as she looked through the scraggly skeleton trees to the cooling heavens. Squall ate simple Lays potato chips inside Selphie's home. The bathroom still had not been cleaned, and Squall was stuck waiting for Selphie to come in and work on it. Squall was moral support, not a maid. With every bite, they checked for insects – no longer did they trust the integrity of Selphie's house.
The opossum hung by its tail from the cabinet handles and said, "What do you think you're doing?"
"You know, adult possums can't do that. They are too burdened and will fall," said Squall.
"Young possums can do it," said the creature, "and I am timeless, so all attributes belong to me. Pride, dependence, the cry of the newborn, the wail of the mother, the keen of the dying."
Squall said, "Stop bullshitting me."
The opossum laughed and fell to the floor with a smack as the doorknob clicked and Selphie walked in. She had not eyes for the opossum; rather, the immediately focused on Squall's slightly oily face (the pores visible in the shadowed light). Selphie's features were dark in the silhouette of the sun's last rays behind her, but her nose was still noticeably pollen-yellow. Even as the opossum's claws scrabbled on the plastic fake-wood floor, she did not look away.
"I'm going to go clean the bathroom," said Selphie. She turned on the yellow light as she entered, and then shut the cheap wood door. Squall turned off the kitchen light, closed the curtains, and sat back down on Selphie's mother's bed to eat the rest of the chips. They could hear the opossum's flat feet trotting around beneath.
