Mazie Baby Read Online Free PDF Page A

folding door. Safe bet he’d never clean anything. That was her job, after
all.
    She took the photos from that night,
and the ones she’d taken last time he choked her, and added them to the pile
she’d been accumulating the past two years. She made identical notes in two
journals. Date. Damage done. Escalation to the abuse of Ariel.
    Ariel.
    Mazie tiptoed into her daughter’s
room, drew the blanket down and pointed the camera at the hand print on Ariel’s
arm. She hesitated, her finger on the trigger. No. No pictures of Ariel.   
    Mazie covered Ariel back up, crept
back to the closet, tucked the photos and journals into the box and reapplied
the tape.
    ~~~~~~~~
    Mazie polished left to right, a
habit from her childhood when her mother insisted there was a process, a
specific order that must be maintained. Start in the corner of the room and
work left to right so there was no cross-contamination of dust and finger
prints. Mirrors gleamed when polished counter-clockwise with a soft cloth.
Clockwise left streaks on the glass.
    Mother was nuts.
    Yet here was Mazie, more than
twenty years later, following those same rituals. They’d served her well for
life with Cullen. A life where he was the only thing allowed to be less than
perfect.
    She picked up the first framed
photo on the mantle, one of many that bore witness to their shared lives. To
the unaware, they appeared normal. Happy, even. And they were. Once.
    She ran her dust cloth over a candid
Polaroid of the two of them on vacation, walking on the boardwalk in Atlantic
City just a few months after they’d started dating. Some random guy had snapped
their photo and then stepped in front of them.
    “Hey, mister. Carry this moment
with your beautiful lady forever.” He waved the tiny photo in the air until it
developed, then handed it to Cullen.
    Cullen leaned his head next to hers
and shared the photo with her. They strolled arm-in-arm, her head on his
shoulder, her long hair blowing in the breeze. He was so handsome — emerald
eyes, dark hair that normally hung free below his shoulder blades was pulled
back into a ponytail. His guitar, that ever-present giver of music and joy, was
slung over his shoulder. His other hand gripped the black guitar strap that
she’d bought him, tiny, bright beads of yellow, red, and blue embroidered along
its length. Cullen’s broad smile lit up his face.
    He had laughed with such ease.
    “Look at you, baby. You’re
gorgeous.” He turned to the man. “How much?”
    “A mere twenty dollars.”
    Mazie rolled her eyes. “Twenty
bucks? That’s ridiculous.”
    Cullen dug his wallet out of his
pocket and paid the man. “Totally worth it. I want to remember this day
forever.” He kissed her right there in front of total strangers, then tucked
the photo into his breast pocket.
    Later that evening, after a
beautiful dinner in a fancy restaurant he couldn’t afford, they shared a bottle
of cheap wine under the boardwalk. He played his guitar and sang to her. And he
proposed. She gifted him with an enthusiastic yes, and even more enthusiastic
lovemaking in the sand, the sounds of their passion drowned out by carnival
music and the hollow footfalls on the boardwalk overhead.
    A dull thud echoed in the front
entry. Her visit to a happier time was cut short by the daily sound of the morning
newspaper hitting the front door. She peered at the clock on the kitchen wall.
The paper boy was way late. Three damn hours late. The missing paper that
morning had been her fault. Everything was her fault.
    Mazie placed the polished frame back
on the mantle. Her reflection in the glass stared back at her, the difference
between now and then was jarring. Long hair was the only consistency, but now it
was flecked with too much grey hair for a woman of thirty-seven. Lines on her
face bore witness to life’s stresses, to the change in Cullen’s feelings for
her over the years. The black eye spoke of his hatred.
    ~~~~~~~~
    Cullen stormed in through the