Read Online Getting Old Is Criminal by Rita Lakin - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Rita Lakin
Tags: Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Women Detectives, Florida, Gold; Gladdy (Fictitious Character), Older People, Fort Lauderdale (Fla.), Retirees
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is peeking in women’s windows.
You were his latest victim.”
“I didn’t see much. All I saw was a mask and his hand wagging his little peepee at me.”
That’s that. “Someone told me you might have gotten a good look at him.”
“With my eyesight?” She indicates the closeness of the TV set.
“Your neighbor, Jack Langford, didn’t see him either, I suppose.”
7 8 • R i t a L a k i n
She waves her hand at me. “Shhh, World of Our Dreams is on again. They sure got sexy actors on this show.”
“Well, thank you anyway.” I move to leave.
She grasps my sleeve as I pass her chair. “Ask me anything. I’m an expert. This is my favorite show. I’ve been watching it since it came on in 1951. They started in kinescope and went to tape in 1964. Ask me who broke Victoria Ainsworth’s heart in 1972. Errol Forsyth, that’s who. He slept with her sister, Evangeline, and she tried to commit suicide.”
“Very sad,” I comment.
“And in 1987, Eugenia Huffington got the first face-lift on live TV.” She cackles again. “That was something else. The producers on this show sure likes stuffy character names, though. Evangeline, Eugenia, Moira . . .”
Loneliness, I think. Let me count the ways people keep themselves going. Whatever gets you through the night. I should talk. I don’t have anything to help me. My eyes look upward again.
How did I let myself care this much? Is the pain worth it?
I can no longer breathe. I carefully extradite myself. “Gotta go, Dora. Need to check some facts with Jack upstairs.”
I head down her hallway. “I’ll let myself out.”
She calls after me, “Don’t waste your energy climbing the steps. Jack ain’t home.”
I turn back. “He’s gone out for the day?”
G e t t i n g O l d I s C r i m i n a l • 7 9
“No, he’s just plain gone. Took his suitcase this morning and left. Didn’t say a word to nobody.”
My stomach starts churning. No, it’s not possible.
“But he did come and say good-bye to me and that he hoped I was okay after my close call with the pervert.”
Gone. I can’t believe it.
I walk outside, head down, lost in my troubled thoughts. Where did Jack go? Maybe to finish an unfinished romantic vacation on some other beautiful island with someone else? What was my crime? That I ruined our vacation? Wasn’t I just as frustrated as he was? So I worried about my girls.
Thanks a lot, Jack, for being so understanding! I’m so mad I want to spit.
“Gladdy?”
Startled, I look up and Jack is standing there.
Right in front of me. Dressed for traveling. With a suitcase. For a second I think I’m hallucinating.
But, no, it is him.
I try to cover my astonishment. “Coming or going?” I say sarcastically.
His eyebrows rise and he stares at me for a moment. “I’m going away for a few days. I came back home to pick up a couple of things first.”
He doesn’t offer to tell me where he’s going and I’ll be damned if I’ll ask. “I was interviewing Dora.
About her Peeper.” God forbid he should think I was there looking for him.
Even though I really was.
8 0 • R i t a L a k i n
“Come on up,” he tells me. “Let me drop my suitcase and I’ll make us a cup of coffee.”
I am torn. What should I do? Play hard to get?
Indifferent? Show him how upset I am? Or just see what happens?
He doesn’t wait for my answer. He assumes I’m following him, that egotist! What am I having de-bates with myself for? I came here to see him and here he is. Huffing and puffing, I hurry after him up the stairs.
*
*
*
The few times I’ve been in Jack’s apartment, I’ve never felt at ease. I’m still not comfortable even though it’s a pleasant place, tastefully done, definitely with a woman’s touch. His late wife, Faye’s.
And I know he’s uneasy for the same reason. As he makes coffee, I glance yet again at the family pictures of earlier times. Jack and Faye smiling up at each other with Morrie and his sister, Lisa,
You were his latest victim.”
“I didn’t see much. All I saw was a mask and his hand wagging his little peepee at me.”
That’s that. “Someone told me you might have gotten a good look at him.”
“With my eyesight?” She indicates the closeness of the TV set.
“Your neighbor, Jack Langford, didn’t see him either, I suppose.”
7 8 • R i t a L a k i n
She waves her hand at me. “Shhh, World of Our Dreams is on again. They sure got sexy actors on this show.”
“Well, thank you anyway.” I move to leave.
She grasps my sleeve as I pass her chair. “Ask me anything. I’m an expert. This is my favorite show. I’ve been watching it since it came on in 1951. They started in kinescope and went to tape in 1964. Ask me who broke Victoria Ainsworth’s heart in 1972. Errol Forsyth, that’s who. He slept with her sister, Evangeline, and she tried to commit suicide.”
“Very sad,” I comment.
“And in 1987, Eugenia Huffington got the first face-lift on live TV.” She cackles again. “That was something else. The producers on this show sure likes stuffy character names, though. Evangeline, Eugenia, Moira . . .”
Loneliness, I think. Let me count the ways people keep themselves going. Whatever gets you through the night. I should talk. I don’t have anything to help me. My eyes look upward again.
How did I let myself care this much? Is the pain worth it?
I can no longer breathe. I carefully extradite myself. “Gotta go, Dora. Need to check some facts with Jack upstairs.”
I head down her hallway. “I’ll let myself out.”
She calls after me, “Don’t waste your energy climbing the steps. Jack ain’t home.”
I turn back. “He’s gone out for the day?”
G e t t i n g O l d I s C r i m i n a l • 7 9
“No, he’s just plain gone. Took his suitcase this morning and left. Didn’t say a word to nobody.”
My stomach starts churning. No, it’s not possible.
“But he did come and say good-bye to me and that he hoped I was okay after my close call with the pervert.”
Gone. I can’t believe it.
I walk outside, head down, lost in my troubled thoughts. Where did Jack go? Maybe to finish an unfinished romantic vacation on some other beautiful island with someone else? What was my crime? That I ruined our vacation? Wasn’t I just as frustrated as he was? So I worried about my girls.
Thanks a lot, Jack, for being so understanding! I’m so mad I want to spit.
“Gladdy?”
Startled, I look up and Jack is standing there.
Right in front of me. Dressed for traveling. With a suitcase. For a second I think I’m hallucinating.
But, no, it is him.
I try to cover my astonishment. “Coming or going?” I say sarcastically.
His eyebrows rise and he stares at me for a moment. “I’m going away for a few days. I came back home to pick up a couple of things first.”
He doesn’t offer to tell me where he’s going and I’ll be damned if I’ll ask. “I was interviewing Dora.
About her Peeper.” God forbid he should think I was there looking for him.
Even though I really was.
8 0 • R i t a L a k i n
“Come on up,” he tells me. “Let me drop my suitcase and I’ll make us a cup of coffee.”
I am torn. What should I do? Play hard to get?
Indifferent? Show him how upset I am? Or just see what happens?
He doesn’t wait for my answer. He assumes I’m following him, that egotist! What am I having de-bates with myself for? I came here to see him and here he is. Huffing and puffing, I hurry after him up the stairs.
*
*
*
The few times I’ve been in Jack’s apartment, I’ve never felt at ease. I’m still not comfortable even though it’s a pleasant place, tastefully done, definitely with a woman’s touch. His late wife, Faye’s.
And I know he’s uneasy for the same reason. As he makes coffee, I glance yet again at the family pictures of earlier times. Jack and Faye smiling up at each other with Morrie and his sister, Lisa,
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