She did not waste time on the niceties but got right to the point.
“This is Wilma jerzyck, dear. I called to tell you that if you don’t shut that dog up, I’ll shut him up myself.”
“He’s already stopped!” Nettle had cried. “I brought him in as soon as I got home and heard him! You just leave me and Raider alone!
I warned you! If you don’t, you’ll be sorry!”
“Just remember what I said,” Wilma told her. “I’ve had enough.
The next time he starts up that ruckus, I won’t bother complaining to the cops. I’ll come over and cut his goddam throat.”
She had hung up before Nettle could reply. The cardinal rule governing engagements with the enemy (relatives, neighbors, spouses) was that the aggressor must have the last word.
The dog hadn’t popped off since then. Well, maybe it had, but Wilma hadn’t noticed it if so; it had never been that bothersome in the first place, not really, and besides, Wilma had inaugurated a more productive wrangle with the woman who ran the beauty parlor in Castle View. Wilma had almost forgotten Nettle and Raider.
But maybe Nettle hadn’t forgotten her. Wilma had seen Nettle just yesterday, in the new shop. And if looks could kill, Wilma thought, I would have been laid out dead on the floor right there.
Standing here now by her muddied, ruined sheets, she remembered the look of fear and defiance that had come over the nutty bitch’s face, the way her lip had curled back, showing her teeth for a second.
Wilma was very familiar with the look of hate, and she had seen it on Nettle Cobb’s face yesterday.
I warned you… you’ll he sorry.
“Wilma, come on inside,” Pete said. He put a tentative hand on her shoulder.
She shrugged it off briskly. “Leave me alone.”
Pete withdrew a step. He looked like he wanted to wring his hands but didn’t quite dare.
Maybe she forgot, too, Wilma thought. At least until she saw me yesterday, in that new store. Or maybe she’s been planning something (i warned you) all along in that half-stewed head of hers, and seeing me finally set her off.
Somewhere in the last few moments she had become sure that Nettle was the one-who else had she crossed glances with in the last couple of days who might hold a grudge? There were other people in town who didn’t like her, but this kind of trick-this kind of sneaking, cowardly trick-went with the way Nettle had looked at her yesterday. That sneer of mingled fear (you’ll be sorry) and hate. She had looked like a dog herself, one brave enough to bite only when its victim’s back is turned.
Yes, it had been Nettle Cobb, all right. The more Wilma thought about it, the surer she became. And the act was unforgivable. Not because the sheets were ruined. Not because it was a cowardly trick.
Not even because it was the act of someone with a cracked brain.
It was unforgivable because Wilma had been frightened.
Only for a second, true, that second when the slimy brown thing had flapped out of the darkness and into her face, caressing her coldly like some monster’s hand… but even one single second of fear was a second too much.
“Wilma?” Pete asked as she turned her flat face toward him. He did not like the expression the porch light showed him, all shiny white surfaces and black, dimpled shadows. He did not like that flat look in her eyes. “Honey? Are you all right?”
She strode past him, taking no notice of him at all. Pete scurried after her as she headed for the house… and the telephone.
4
Nettle was sitting in her living room with Raider at her feet and her new carnival glass lampshade on her lap when the telephone rang.
It was twenty minutes of eight. She jumped and clutched the lampshade tighter, looking at the telephone with fear and distrust.
She had a momentary certainty-silly, of course, but she couldn’t seem to rid herself of such feelings-that it would be Some Person in Authority, calling to tell her she must give the beautiful lampshade back, that it belonged to someone else, that such a lovely object could not possibly have accrued to Nettle’s little store of possessions in any case, the very idea was ridiculous.
Raider looked up at her briefly, as if to ask if she was going to answer that or not, then put his muzzle back down on his paws.
Nettle set the lampshade carefully aside and picked up the telephone. It was probably just Polly, calling to ask if she’d pick up something for dinner at Hemphill’s Market before she came to work tomorrow morning.
“Hello, Cobb residence,” she said crisply. All her life she had been terrified of Some Person in Authority, and she had discovered that the best way to handle such a fear was to sound like a person in authority yourself. It didn’t make the fear go away, but at least it held the fear in check.
“I know what you did, you crazy bitch!” a voice spat at her. It was as sudden and as gruesome as the stab of an icepick.
Nettle’s breath caught as if on a thorn; an expression of trapped horror froze her face and her heart tried to cram its way up into her throat. Raider looked up at her again, questioningly.
“Who… who…”
“You know goddam well who,” the voice said, and of course Nettle did. It was Wilma jerzyck. It was that evil, evil woman.
“He hasn’t been barking!” Nettle’s voice was high and thin and screamy, the voice of someone who has just inhaled the entire contents of a helium balloon. “He’s all grown up and he’s not barking! He’s right here at my feet!”
“Did you have a good time throwing mud at my sheets, you numb cunt?” Wilma was furious. The woman was actually trying to pretend this was still about the dog.
“Sheets? What sheets? I… I…” Nettle looked toward the carnival glass lampshade and seemed to draw strength from it. “You leave me alone! You’re the one that’s crazy, not me!”
“I’m going to get you for this. Nobody comes into my yard and throws mud at my sheets while I’m gone. Nobody. NOBODY!
Understand? Is this getting through that cracked skull of yours?
You won’t know where, and you won’t know when, and most of all you won’t know how, but I… am going… to GET you. Do you understand?”
Nettle held the phone tightly screwed against her ear. Her face had gone dead pale except for a single bright streak of red which ran across her forehead between her eyebrows and hairline. Her teeth were clenched and her cheeks puffed in and out like a bellows as she panted from the sides of her mouth.
“You leave me alone or you’ll be sorry!” she screamed in her high, fainting, helium voice. Raider was standing now, his ears up, his eyes bright and anxious. He sensed menace in the room. He barked once, severely. Nettle didn’t hear him. “You’ll be very sorry!
I… I know people! People in Authority! I know them very well!
I don’t have to put up with this!”
Speaking slowly in a voice which was low and sincere and utterly furious, Wilma said: “Tucking with me is the worst mistake you ever made in your life. You won’t see me coming.”
There was a click.
“You don’t dare!” Nettle wailed. Tears were running down her cheeks now, tears of terror and abysmal, impotent rage. “You don’t dare, you bad thing! I… I’ll…”
There was a second click. It was followed by the buzz of an open line.
Nettle hung up the phone and sat bolt upright in her chair for almost three minutes, staring into space. Then she began to weep.
Raider barked again and put his paws up on the edge of her chair.
Nettle hugged him and wept against his fur. Raider licked her neck.
“I won’t let her hurt you, Raider,” she said. She inhaled the sweet and clean doggy warmth of him, trying to take comfort from it.