Kara Murray

Short Story, 5º

Wilson-Scott

Kleptomaniac:

-n.  A person who has an irresistible impulse to steal, stemming from emotional disturbance rather than economic need.

“Most girls masturbate”

            “Really?” I said as we rounded the corner up the street from my house.

            “Yah, jus’ no one talks about it.”

            “Oh, okay…. that makes sense” I responded letting my dog off the leash to run ahead of us into the backyard.

            In this first week of summer after ninth grade everything was the same as every summer before; my favorite cousin, Christina, came down from Vallejo and we would spend every moment we could together.

            We walked into the house, quickly heading for the fruit snacks and putting hot dogs on the stove, obviously very concerned about sticking to the food pyramid for our dietary needs.

            I watched her stroll into the living room. She moved daintily- the floor would soften to silence her steps. When I walked it was hard, each step sounded like I intended to wake the def with my stupid Paul Bunionesque feet.

“Can I get on the computer” She asked

No, it’s my turn…

“Yah, of course” I responded

I couldn’t say no to her. I told myself she was my dearest family member and I shouldn’t be petty about half an hour on the computer, that’s what I told myself, the truth was I idolized her and every move she made I likened to a deity in my mind. The lord is my Shepard, I shall not want.

While I waited I laid down in my living room at the spot near the window where the warmth engulfed me. I grabbed a near by stick that my brother had abandoned after a day at camp and dragged it through the different colored shapes present on the large rug. My mom had spent weeks looking for this carpet after our old one got too faded for her to stand any longer.

My mother was… well I don’t really know a word to describe her. She was hard to beat in an argument. I told her when I was about ten that it wasn’t fair ‘cuz she got to be the lawyer and the jury. She laughed at that. She was witty and could keep a conversation going with a deaf mute. She made me laugh at soccer games by commenting on the genius decision of the other soccer moms to pair their Capri length high waisted pants with their clogs. Still, in my family, she was a giver. If someone was referring to Auntie it was normally her and if they were referring to the house it was my mine, principally because it was the first house in the family. She graduated from Harvard as the first to go to college in our family and at the time was the only person with the economic standings to host a Christmas or Thanksgiving. And every year after my uncle moved to Washington DC and left his seven kids in California (including Christina) she’d make my little brother and I split up in the shopping mall to buy all of their school clothes.

It was dark when they arrived and as soon as she heard their car brake Christina disappeared out the door. I peered through the window and watched her talk to them and laugh sitting on the hood of the car, they did this for hours. It was strange to see them. I never got to meet her friends. Until now they were just foggy images I’d conjured to better comprehend the innumerable stories that Christina had told about them taking road trips or going out together. Suddenly, Christina hopped up and headed back for my house. I quickly found a magazine and was already pretending to gaze at intently by the time she made it into the house.

“I’m just grabbing some sodas for Annette and Jenna” she said without looking at me moving briskly towards the kitchen. I sat quietly, flipped the page: Bathing Suits for Your Body Type. She was now steps from the front door she grabbed the door handle, then let it go and looked back at me.

“Do you want to come meet them?” my heart sings

“Yes!” that was way to eager “I mean if you want.”

“Yah, come on.”

            I put on my shoes. Why hadn’t I done my hair? I walked down my two flights of stairs. With each step these creatures became closer figures of glamorous make-up and perfectly straightened hair I tried to look as cool as possible as I slid onto the hood with these two aliens.

            “This is my cousin, Kara.”

            “Nice to meet you” The girls said in unison, robotic aliens

            “You too.” I replied trying not to sound too invested in speaking with them

            “How old are you?” The taller of the robots asked

            “15”

            “No way” the other chirped “You look hella older.”

            “Yah I know. Hella people tell me that.”

            The girl smiled and before I had time to talk to either of them anymore my cousin began speaking again and I was lost as they talked about Kevin, William, Peter, John and countless other boys, I’d never meet. I didn’t mind though, I was happy to be in their company. Eventually though my attention waned from their conversation and I began to look around me, the car we were sitting on was a new red Dodge Avenger, which Christina told me jealously that Jenna’s dad had leased her as a graduation present. I noticed both girls wore black boots which definitely contributed to their unattainable awesomeness. After a few minutes I looked at Annette’s jacket it had folded back cuffs and a tailored body and huge buttons, it looked a lot like one I’d lost a few months ago… about the same time Christina was last over. I searched frantically for something to confirm my suspicion finally I saw what I was looking for a black dot on the collar, I’d accidentally dropped a sharpie on it when I was at school.

            “Is that my jacket?” She looked stunned than looked at Christina and laughed

            “No”

lie.

 Christina shot her a death stare and Annette tried to look a little more solemn

“No, of course not” Christina added “That’s her jacket.”

lie.

            “Oh okay” was the only thing I could muster to say with out at least twenty expletives. “I’m going to go back inside… I’m cold”

            I walked as quickly as I could up the stairs without running and once the door had closed behind me I sprinted to the phone.

            pickup pickup pickup pickup pickup pickup pickup pickup.

            “Red Blue Yello” Ahlayna laughed into the phone, I couldn’t help but to laugh too.

            “What do you want?” she asked finally, but I was to worked up to respond with my usual “Don’t flatter yourself, I’m calling for your mom.”

            “Layna, Christina stole from me.”

            “That bitch did what?”

“She stole my Jacket!”

“No, she did not! I will put my foot so far up her ass she’s gonna be spitting shoelaces” Ahlayna was the sole person who could properly access how to deal with this situation, as my best friend she had been on the brink of deranged anger for any cause of mine for five years.

My mind began to drift and I began to wonder what else she’d stolen, every missing tutu, pair of jeans, piece of jewelry was now just possible substantiation to a kleptomaniac’s agenda. I finally wondered back into Ahlayna’s rant and caught the end of.

“You better go through her shit”

Without responding I quickly rushed into my bedroom and then… stopped. I told Ahlayna I’d call her back.  Looking at Christina’s suitcase helplessly sitting on the floor I felt awful, she took one jacket, I hadn’t even had the chance to talk to her about it outside of the situation, it’s possible that this was all a misunderstanding. I got ready to leave when I spotted something hanging from the side of the bag.

“Is that my t-shirt?!”

In that moment I realized that the suitcase had just been acting, it was clearly a part of Christina’s regime and now that I uncovered its secret it daunted me from it’s place on the ground. I think I kicked it once before throwing open the flap and beginning to shamelessly sift through her things. In the end all I found was that t-shirt and a bracelet, but it was enough. Suddenly my house had been transformed from a cozy haven from the impending doom of school to a battleground of its own with the enemy, a double agent who’d taken advantage of my trust, now infringing on my terrain. It was my job to hold down the fort.

In the subsequent months many changes occurred to solidify my newfound loathing of my cousin. She moved in across the street from my house, ironically with Will, who when introduced to him she claimed to me that he was the scum of the earth and was now boasting him as the best boyfriend ever. Because of this I wasn’t the only one upset with Christina. Four of her five brothers didn’t have the highest opinion of Will or two criminal strikes and a couple made visits to his house to inform him of this sentiment. But, most importantly Christina still had no idea I knew that she’d been taking my clothes and unknown to me at this point was still taking them.

 The way I found out about the more recent thefts was that a family friend had come by to pick up a sweater she’d left at my house when I was out and Christina who’d observed her rapping on the door came by and offered to let her in. This would have been a very sweet gesture had it not meant that THAT A STEALING PHYSCO MANAGED TO GET A KEY TO MY HOUSE.

We got the lock changed the next day and I pulled all of the clothes out of my closet and laundry and tried to remember if anything was missing. Surprisingly despite a memory that often forgets birthday and school materials I found that a lot of my clothes were missing and with that realization so came the notion that it was time to get all my shit back. My mother though warned me to be careful. I recall sitting on her bed complaining as I often did about the “Christina issue”.

“How could she do that to me.” I whined “I’d never even think of taking her things” I was whole-heartedly expecting my mother to back me up, but instead she responded saying. “Kara, has it occurred to you that you’re a very lucky little girl and perhaps Christina just wants a piece of your happiness, I know Christina and I think she may just need to realize how much she’s hurt you.” Despite my mother’s idea my mind was already made Christina didn’t need empathy, the only problem here was that I had been using the wrong battle tactics: Trying to be stealthy in retrieving any of the things she had, calling her younger brother to see if he noticed anything, checking in with a mutual friend of mine and Will’s. But while I was strategizing she was capturing half my troops right under my nose.

The day I decided to confront her was an early Thursday in September. I was feeling sick that morning, but was feeling fine by 9:00am. As I prepared to get ready for school I noticed Christina’s car parked across the street. I saw my golden opportunity.

Not unexpectedly when I knocked on Will’s door Christina answered, she looked astonished to see me. This may have been because that with all of the drama with her new boyfriend, it had been months since she’d made contact anyone in our family. However, it’s more likely that she was just surprised to find me at her door while she wore one of my shirts and a pair of my earrings.

“Oh hey.” she said, it sounded contrived.

“Hey, Chrissy! How are you?” I said unintentionally mimicking her tone. Damn, even now I can’t stop imitating her.

She quickly told me she had to grab something from upstairs and left me sitting alone on the couch with Will. He truly was repugnant, even though I was undeniably angry with my cousin seeing this greasy looking man sitting spread eagle on the couch enthralled with the TV with no job, living in his parents house and who, at twenty five, was seven years Christina’s senior disgusted me.

Will took a moment from his crappy reality television to say hello.

“Hey Kara… you look nice.” he said looking me up in down

I had to fight back my ego waffle from creeping up and becoming vomit all over the carpet.

Christina returned she’d put on a sweatshirt and had removed my earrings. I almost laughed. She must have truly believed that I was stupid to think that I would not notice that little redeeming outfit change. I almost laughed, I couldn’t help, but feel like it was incredibly ironic that this girl who’d known me my entire life, could believe that I was so unaware to not recognize my own belongings. If nothing else could make me believe that there was no time like the present than this was it.
            “I really wanna catch up, Tina. But first where there is the bathroom?” I said trying to set a tone of urgency as not to be questioned about why I didn’t simply return to my own house to pee.

“Oh right down that hall.” She said pointing a skinny manicured finger down the hall “and to the left.”

“Okay, thanks.” I said popping up. I followed her directions taking the left at the end of the hall, but I was in no way looking for the bathroom. By luck only right next to the lavatory door there was a flight of stairs that took me right outside of the door of Will and Christina’s door. I then felt the gravity of what I was doing, fully entrenched in enemy camps, what I did in this moment could compromise all of the work done up to this point. Well, no turning back now.

I slowly opened the door. Of course it creaked and when you’re trying to be quiet it sounded like the Stanford marching band was performing on the hinges. Nonetheless I entered, I surveyed my surroundings, it was messy clothes thrown everywhere, but I didn’t let it distract me. My objective was clear. I quickly began to walk around the room my eyes locking on to any piece of clothing that I knew was mine. Jeans, Jacket, shirt, shirt, shirt, belt, underwear (eww, she can keep those,) jeans, shirt, jeans, bag. Before I knew it I’d walked the entire room and had a stack of my things that nearly reached eye-level. The last thing I saw was a Coach bag on the back of the door, I knew I recognized it, but couldn’t place it so I left it hanging on its hook. This was the easy part.

The more difficult aspect was leaving. I gingerly walked down the stairs trying not to drop anything. When I turned the bend Christina was already standing up and laughing with Will, she caught me out the corner of her eye. Her eyes got big, but she didn’t say anything and somehow just by seeing her looking guilty a great since of daring came to me.

I walked right up to her and said curtly “I’m going home, can you bring my earrings and shirt over to the house.”

I have no idea what she was thinking, but what she said was “Yah, sure.” and she did and we talked. She promised she wouldn’t take my things anymore.  

lie.

And I told her we would be close again.

            lie.

I later realized why the purse on the door looked familiar; it was my mother’s, a gift. She would never spend that much on a bag for herself. From that it became apparent that this ridiculous fight with my cousin wasn’t about a bunch of trivial clothes, it was about integrity and what I once saw so clearly in Christina was gone and I’ve found some of my own poise. Still, but I hold on to the hope of reconciliation, history tells us truces must follow all major wars.