“Wales Avenue, huh?” Kurt said.They were walking down Oxford Street, and Alan was seeing it with fresh eyes, casting his gaze upward, looking at the lines of sight from one building to another, mentally painting in radio-frequency shadows cast by the transformers on the light poles.“Just moved in on July first,” Alan said. “Still getting settled in.”“Which house?”“The blue one, with the big porch, on the corner.”“Sure, I know it. I scored some great plumbing fixtures out of the dumpster there last winter.”“You’re welcome,” Alan said.They turned at Spadina and picked their way around the tourist crowds shopping the Chinese importers’ sidewalk displays of bamboo parasols and Hello Kitty slippers, past the fogged-up windows of the dim-sum restaurants and the smell of fresh pork buns. Alan bought a condensed milk and kiwi snow-cone from a sidewalk vendor and offered to treat Kurt, but he declined.“You never know about those places,” Kurt said. “How clean is their ice, anyway? Where do they wash their utensils?”“You dig around in dumpsters for a living,” Alan said. “Aren’t you immune to germs?”Kurt turned at Baldwin, and Alan followed. “I don’t eat garbage, I pick it,” he said. He sounded angry.“Hey, sorry,” Alan said. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply—”“I know you didn’t,” Kurt said, stopping in front of a dry-goods store and spooning candied ginger into a baggie. He handed it to the age-hunched matron of the shop, who dropped it on her scale and dusted her hands on her black dress. Kurt handed her a two-dollar coin and took the bag back. “I’m just touchy, okay? My last girlfriend split because she couldn’t get past it. No matter how much I showered, I was never clean enough for her.”“Sorry,” Alan said again.“I heard something weird about that blue house on the corner,” Kurt said. “One of my kids told me this morning, he saw something last night when he was in the park.”Alan pulled up short, nearly colliding with a trio of cute university girls in wife-beaters pushing bundle-buggies full of newspaper-wrapped fish and bags of soft, steaming bagels. They stepped around him, lugging their groceries over the curb and back onto the sidewalk, not breaking from their discussion.“What was it?”Kurt gave him a sideways look. “It’s weird, okay? The kid who saw it is never all that reliable, and he likes to embellish.”“Okay,” Alan said. The crowd was pushing around them now, trying to get past. The dry-goods lady sucked her teeth in annoyance.“So this kid, he was smoking a joint in the park last night, really late, after the clubs shut down. He was alone, and he saw what he thought was a dog dragging a garbage bag down the steps of your house.”“Yes?”“So he went over to take a look, and he saw that it was too big to be a garbage bag, and the dog, it looked sick, it moved wrong. He took another step closer and he must have triggered a motion sensor because the porch light switched on. He says… ”“What?”“He’s not very reliable. He says it wasn’t a dog, he said it was like a dried-out mummy or something, and it had its teeth sunk into the neck of this big, fat, naked guy, and it was dragging the fat guy out into the street. When the light came on, though, it gave the fat guy’s neck a hard shake, then let go and turned on this kid, walking toward him on stumpy little feet. He says it made a kind of growling noise and lifted up its hand like it was going to slap the kid, and the kid screamed and ran off. When he got to Dundas, he turned around and saw the fat guy get dragged into an alley between two of the stores on Augusta.”“I see,” Alan said.“It’s stupid, I know,” Kurt said.Natalie and Link rounded the corner, carrying slices of pizza from Pizzabilities, mounded high with eggplant and cauliflower and other toppings that were never intended for use in connection with pizza. They startled on seeing Alan and Kurt, then started to walk away.“Wait,” Alan called. “Natalie, Link, wait.” He smiled apologetically at Kurt. “My neighbors,” he said.Natalie and Link had stopped and turned around. Alan and Kurt walked to them.“Natalie, Link, this is Kurt,” he said. They shook hands all around.“I wanted to apologize,” Alan said. “I didn’t mean to put you between Krishna and me. It was very unfair.”Natalie smiled warily. Link lit a cigarette with a great show of indifference. “It’s all right,” Natalie said.“No, it’s not,” Alan said. “I was distraught, but that’s no excuse. We’re going to be neighbors for a long time, and there’s no sense in our not getting along.”“Really, it’s okay,” Natalie said.“Yeah, fine,” Link said.“Three of my brothers have gone missing,” Alan said. “That’s why I was so upset. One disappeared a couple of weeks ago, another last night, and one this morning. Krishna… ” He thought for a moment. “He taunted me about it. I really wanted to find out what he saw.”Kurt shook his head. “Your brother went missing last night?”“From my house.”“So what the kid saw… ”Alan turned to Natalie. “A friend of Kurt’s was in the park last night. He says he saw my brother being carried off.”Kurt shook his head. “Your brother?”“What do you mean, ‘carried off’?” Natalie said. She folded her slice in half to keep the toppings from spilling.“Someone is stalking my brothers,” Alan said. “Someone very strong and very cunning. Three are gone that I know about. There are others, but I could be next.”“Stalking?” Natalie said.“My family is a little strange,” Alan said. “I grew up in the north country, and things are different there. You’ve heard of blood feuds?”Natalie and Link exchanged a significant look.“I know it sounds ridiculous. You don’t need to be involved. I just wanted to let you know why I acted so strangely last night.”“We have to get back,” Natalie said. “Nice to meet you, Kurt. I hope you find your brother, Andy.”“Brothers,” Alan said.“Brothers,” Natalie said, and walked away briskly.
“Wales Avenue, huh?” Kurt said.
They were walking down Oxford Street, and Alan was seeing it with fresh eyes, casting his gaze upward, looking at the lines of sight from one building to another, mentally painting in radio-frequency shadows cast by the transformers on the light poles.
“Just moved in on July first,” Alan said. “Still getting settled in.”
“Which house?”
“The blue one, with the big porch, on the corner.”
“Sure, I know it. I scored some great plumbing fixtures out of the dumpster there last winter.”
“You’re welcome,” Alan said.
They turned at Spadina and picked their way around the tourist crowds shopping the Chinese importers’ sidewalk displays of bamboo parasols and Hello Kitty slippers, past the fogged-up windows of the dim-sum restaurants and the smell of fresh pork buns. Alan bought a condensed milk and kiwi snow-cone from a sidewalk vendor and offered to treat Kurt, but he declined.
“You never know about those places,” Kurt said. “How clean is their ice, anyway? Where do they wash their utensils?”
“You dig around in dumpsters for a living,” Alan said. “Aren’t you immune to germs?”
Kurt turned at Baldwin, and Alan followed. “I don’t eat garbage, I pick it,” he said. He sounded angry.
“Hey, sorry,” Alan said. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply—”
“I know you didn’t,” Kurt said, stopping in front of a dry-goods store and spooning candied ginger into a baggie. He handed it to the age-hunched matron of the shop, who dropped it on her scale and dusted her hands on her black dress. Kurt handed her a two-dollar coin and took the bag back. “I’m just touchy, okay? My last girlfriend split because she couldn’t get past it. No matter how much I showered, I was never clean enough for her.”
“Sorry,” Alan said again.
“I heard something weird about that blue house on the corner,” Kurt said. “One of my kids told me this morning, he saw something last night when he was in the park.”
Alan pulled up short, nearly colliding with a trio of cute university girls in wife-beaters pushing bundle-buggies full of newspaper-wrapped fish and bags of soft, steaming bagels. They stepped around him, lugging their groceries over the curb and back onto the sidewalk, not breaking from their discussion.
“What was it?”
Kurt gave him a sideways look. “It’s weird, okay? The kid who saw it is never all that reliable, and he likes to embellish.”
“Okay,” Alan said. The crowd was pushing around them now, trying to get past. The dry-goods lady sucked her teeth in annoyance.
“So this kid, he was smoking a joint in the park last night, really late, after the clubs shut down. He was alone, and he saw what he thought was a dog dragging a garbage bag down the steps of your house.”
“Yes?”
“So he went over to take a look, and he saw that it was too big to be a garbage bag, and the dog, it looked sick, it moved wrong. He took another step closer and he must have triggered a motion sensor because the porch light switched on. He says… ”
“What?”
“He’s not very reliable. He says it wasn’t a dog, he said it was like a dried-out mummy or something, and it had its teeth sunk into the neck of this big, fat, naked guy, and it was dragging the fat guy out into the street. When the light came on, though, it gave the fat guy’s neck a hard shake, then let go and turned on this kid, walking toward him on stumpy little feet. He says it made a kind of growling noise and lifted up its hand like it was going to slap the kid, and the kid screamed and ran off. When he got to Dundas, he turned around and saw the fat guy get dragged into an alley between two of the stores on Augusta.”
“I see,” Alan said.
“It’s stupid, I know,” Kurt said.
Natalie and Link rounded the corner, carrying slices of pizza from Pizzabilities, mounded high with eggplant and cauliflower and other toppings that were never intended for use in connection with pizza. They startled on seeing Alan and Kurt, then started to walk away.
“Wait,” Alan called. “Natalie, Link, wait.” He smiled apologetically at Kurt. “My neighbors,” he said.
Natalie and Link had stopped and turned around. Alan and Kurt walked to them.
“Natalie, Link, this is Kurt,” he said. They shook hands all around.
“I wanted to apologize,” Alan said. “I didn’t mean to put you between Krishna and me. It was very unfair.”
Natalie smiled warily. Link lit a cigarette with a great show of indifference. “It’s all right,” Natalie said.
“No, it’s not,” Alan said. “I was distraught, but that’s no excuse. We’re going to be neighbors for a long time, and there’s no sense in our not getting along.”
“Really, it’s okay,” Natalie said.
“Yeah, fine,” Link said.
“Three of my brothers have gone missing,” Alan said. “That’s why I was so upset. One disappeared a couple of weeks ago, another last night, and one this morning. Krishna… ” He thought for a moment. “He taunted me about it. I really wanted to find out what he saw.”
Kurt shook his head. “Your brother went missing last night?”
“From my house.”
“So what the kid saw… ”
Alan turned to Natalie. “A friend of Kurt’s was in the park last night. He says he saw my brother being carried off.”
Kurt shook his head. “Your brother?”
“What do you mean, ‘carried off’?” Natalie said. She folded her slice in half to keep the toppings from spilling.
“Someone is stalking my brothers,” Alan said. “Someone very strong and very cunning. Three are gone that I know about. There are others, but I could be next.”
“Stalking?” Natalie said.
“My family is a little strange,” Alan said. “I grew up in the north country, and things are different there. You’ve heard of blood feuds?”
Natalie and Link exchanged a significant look.
“I know it sounds ridiculous. You don’t need to be involved. I just wanted to let you know why I acted so strangely last night.”
“We have to get back,” Natalie said. “Nice to meet you, Kurt. I hope you find your brother, Andy.”
“Brothers,” Alan said.
“Brothers,” Natalie said, and walked away briskly.