The Venus Fix

Ninety

Before the door shut completely behind Nina, I stuck out my boot to keep it from closing. There wasn’t enough space for me to see much: Nina’s back, a section of theater seats, an empty patch of old wooden floor, the edge of a threadbare carpet.

“Stella? What’s going on?” Nina sounded disturbed. Something was wrong. What was it?

“It’s all right. It’s all right” came a brittle voice.

Long dark shadows flickered on the wall to Nina’s right.

“Stella, what are you doing? I don’t understand.”

“It meant a lot to me that you called today.” The emphasis on her last word was strong.

“Today?”

“I thought you knew what today was.”

Nina didn’t answer right away. She must have been trying to figure out what day it was. When she finally answered, her voice was laced with grief. “Oh, Stella, I’m sorry. Today would have been Simone’s birthday.”

“Her eighteenth birthday. Look…”

I heard paper rattling, then Stella’s voice: “I got her favorite cake. We’ll light the candle soon. I’ll make a wish for her. You’ll have some cake, won’t you? You always came to her parties when she was little. You were always a good friend to me. You can be my witness.”

I pushed my foot forward another half an inch and made the opening just a little bit bigger. What was wrong in there?

“Yes, of course. I’d love some cake. But, Stella, why don’t you come down off the stage and sit with me, and we can talk first. Why don’t we let-”

“I don’t need to talk.”

I didn’t care what Nina had said. Or how fragile Stella might be. They say you can smell trouble. I didn’t know what scent I was sniffing, but I knew it was dangerous.

As quietly as I could, I nudged the door farther open.

There was a creak. I froze. I was so still I could feel my own heart beating. My teeth started to chatter. I had to bite down on my cheek to stop them. Leaning forward, I looked into the room.

Nina was standing to the right of the block of theater seats staring up at the stage, where Stella stood looking down at her old friend. It was very dark inside. The stage was lit with only one dim, bare bulb that cast everything in a sallow light.

There didn’t seem to be anything wrong after all. Just a distraught woman standing alone in a darkened theater.

And then Stella took a step forward and I could see what her body had been blocking.