Flowers in a Dumpster Read Online Free PDF Page B

shoulder.
    “The backdoor,” Al said, shrugging off his lover’s hand and running through the archway and down the hall. At the end of the hall was a large kitchen, bright yellow walls with a rabbit theme. Rabbit salt-and-pepper shakers, rabbit-shaped oven mitts, a large rabbit cookie jar. On the far side of the kitchen was a door, a sheer curtain covering glass panels at its top.
    “Al, wait,” Steve called out, right behind him. “You’re panicking.”
    Paying Steve no heed, Al threw open the door and ran headlong toward the backyard. He collided with the invisible blockade and rebounded into the house, his feet slipping out from under him, tumbling to the linoleum with a soft thud .
    “Al, are you okay?” Steve asked, kneeling next to his lover.
    “This isn’t real. It can’t be real. I refuse to believe it’s real.”
    “Come on now,” Steve said, placing his hands under Al’s arms and raising him to his feet. “Have a seat.” He positioned Al on one of the wooden stools aligned beneath a counter by the refrigerator.
    Al leaned forward, burying his head in his hands, and muttered repeatedly, “Isn’t real, can’t be real, isn’t real, can’t be real.”
    Steve opened several cabinets until he found the glasses. He filled one with water at the sink and took it over to Al. “Drink this. I’m going to go look around.”
    Without looking up, Al took the glass and sipped the water, still repeating his mantra like a prayer.
    Steve left his lover in the kitchen and walked down the hall, checking all the rooms. Besides the living room and kitchen, the downstairs also contained a full bath, a spacious walk-in closet full of coats and shoes, a large room filled with wall-to-wall bookshelves and a huge roll-top desk in the center, and a dining room with one of those exaggeratedly long tables that Steve only ever saw in movies. All the windows were sealed shut, and although Steve banged on the glass until his knuckles bled, the panes remained whole and unbroken.
    Steve ascended the curving stairwell to the second floor. Here were four bedrooms, the master bedroom with the four-poster bed, larger than Steve and Al’s entire apartment, and another full bath. Same story with the windows. A narrow flight of stairs led up to a musty smelling attic. The circular window that looked out onto the street was as impenetrable as the rest. Steve noticed as he tried the window that the Celica was no longer across the street.
    As Steve turned to leave, he caught sight of something from the corner of his eye. At first, in the failing light, he couldn’t make sense of what he saw, but when he stepped closer it became clear. “Holy shit,” he said under his breath.
    Deflated, Steve made his way back to the kitchen. Al stood by the open backdoor, glass of water clutched in his hands so tightly Steve was afraid it would shatter.
    “It’s real,” Al said, looking into his lover’s eyes. “We’re trapped in this house like they said.”
    “It would appear so. I don’t know how, but there doesn’t seem to be any way out of here.”
    Al lowered his head and began to cry, soft but powerful sobs that racked his body. Steve hugged him close, kissing him on the forehead and whispering meaningless assurances that everything would be all right. Steve was wryly amused by the way he and Al were reacting to this impossible situation. Al was the one who thrived on tales of the absurd and impossible, yet it was Steve who had managed to maintain his wits in the face of their otherworldly predicament.
    “What are we going to do?” Al asked, his well of tears finally running dry. “I mean, what can we do?”
    “I guess there’s nothing we can do right now. We need to think this through, figure a way to get out of here.”
    “Did you find anything upstairs?” Al asked.
    “Um, no. Nothing useful.”
    Al studied his lover’s face for a moment. “Steve, what’s up there?”
    “I told you, nothing.”
    “Bullshit, there’s