Show THE INFINITE CAGES By Lynn Kilpatrick eo- eo Al J r sue J T n J 3 world wa was t too o big Elaine thought Her head was f full ll of lilacs and the nearly inaudible scraping the beetles made as they moved across the basement basement basement base base- ment floor With her front door wide open nearly anyone could enter She considered this From the basement she would be beable beable beable able to hear his footsteps as he stomped across the floor This someone could be almost anyone even a husband Under the kitchen table felt bigger than it actually was Mia had loved it as a p child brought all her stuffed bears and the blanket that was white on one side and pink on the theother theother theother other and hid under there for hours Elaine hardly knew where she was except occasionally Mia asked for juice or some kind of cracker A girl could live there for days The man had kept them in the basement behind the locked orange door for forup forup forup up to two weeks one girl at a time Inside he had wire and metal Elaine imagined a large drain in inthe inthe inthe the middle of the floor and lots of cement She com com- piled this image from news hews reports and a detective show she watched once She invented horrific images of rope b bums ms on I IW W a Small d Bruises j is I just beginning to rise iise ori o on inner thighs or the tender skin just beneath the armpit When she closed her eyes she saw the color of ripe plums and the yellow yellow yellow yel yel- low of a tornado sky At the grocery store near her house Elaine stood transfixed in the magazine aisle She found a magazine magazine magazine maga maga- zine entitled True Crime with articles about missing girls and men who were doing life in prison Even the glossy women's magazines magazines magazines' magazines magazines' maga maga- had articles about the missing girls or girls h h h h d a cad no e a nd wo o nau llau a es vau p u what they were doing now While she was standing there a man came up beside her and started looking through the magazines magazines magazines maga maga- finally picking up a Seventeen Elaine turned to look at him She studied studied studied stud stud- his profile If she ever had to ID him in a lineup she decided she could She memorized the way his graying hair curled around his ear and the slight raise in his nose around the bridge Medium height she thought About the same weight as Jack The Theman Theman Theman man turned to her and forced a smile He turned back to his magazine uncomfortably That's not yours said Elaine and snatched the magazine e f ou of f r hL ha h hands i l S ST ds T She Sheb She tS Li LiM from M jf b Walked away away from away from him him slowly turning back to look at him once reassuring herself that he felt the full weight of her glare They called her courageous the way she sat straight up in court her black cardigan snug around her shoulders how she looked him right in the eye and said it Elaine tried not to hate her for being so beautifully alive her white skin glowing on the TV her blonde hair hairr r tinn Plaine Elaine's Q bones 1 i u ly 9 iw w i w ached She studied the black frame of the TV set and the way the girl looked frozen there alive and shiny He was there with a knife and she was at the table drinking wine He pointed the knife at her herand herand herand and at himself He gestured gestured gestured with the knife and he laughed His skin covered him like a film of milk she could see right into his bones She kept sipping the wine He was chopping chopping chopping chop chop- ping mushrooms and complementing complementing complementing com com- her haircut When he grabbed her wrist too firmly she did not stop him |