The firefighting squad I am a part of began our ninety six hour break. We did one of two things after a five day tour. The responsible ones went home to be with their families. The rest of us made our way to a bar called Aisling’s, the hangout spot for my department. We all deserved to decompress. I did not feel guilty about it. I knew the rest of my free time would focus on my wife, Grace, and child, Anna. Grace made plans of us going to the aquarium before May was over. We went there every other month, and while I found the trip boring, they always seemed to find it fun.
Although some of the guys did get drunk within a half hour of us being at Aisling’s, most were too tired to party till dawn. Instead we played darts, watched a fight on ESPN, ate some greasy food, and enjoyed pints of Guinness. I was ready to crawl into bed and go to sleep after three ales. I ordered an Uber and stepped out to wait for it. I peered up the road to look for my ride home. A woman in a sleek beige jacket walked by, and she was nineteen or twenty years of age. She had ear buds in, kept her head down and seemed to mind her own business.
A silver Camry skidded around the corner and onto the sidewalk. It headed for us.
I pushed her into the doorway of the pub. We fell together into the front hallway as the car missed us by millimeters.
The Camry crashed into a parked vehicle outside. The next door coffee shop’s windows shattered. Yells and frantic voices speaking into their cell phones bombarded the street.
I stood and brushed the tops of my pant legs. I helped the young lady stand.
The rest of the crew swarmed outside to see if there were any victims of the accident they could assist.
It turned out the only person injured was the driver. The airbag rendered him unconscious upon impact and left his nose broken. He was about to get charged with his third DUI in under two years once the police arrived.
As the sirens blared out onto the boulevard, I turned to the lady and asked her if she was alright.
“I’m fine,” she said before her eyes locked onto mine. “I owe you everything. What you’ve done needs my devotion.”
“No,” I said with a nervous laugh. “I did what was right. I’m thankful I saw the lunatic barreling towards us.”
She did not take her gaze off me as she said “I can’t repay you enough. You’ve become the best part of my life. You saved me.”
“You should sit down. The cops will want witness statements from us.”
“The name’s Vivian.”
“Nice to meet you. My name-“
“I’ll find out what they call you,” she said as she seated herself at one of the tables.
Vivian refused to fill out a voluntary form.
The lead investigator saw how I was still a little tipsy. He stated my having drank would render my recounting inadmissible in court. It did not matter. A nearby gas station’s camera on the street corner captured everything.
The effect of the alcohol wore off the longer I talked with the first responders. My Uber ditched me after the driver saw reams of caution tape and emergency uniforms.
I chose to drive home after a stretch of time.
As I walked towards the adjacent parking lot, I heard Vivian’s voice behind me.
“I’ll see you around,” she said. “You’re my savior.”
I gave a nod of awkward tacit approval. I was not sure how to take her compliment.
-–
I was back at the job. I forgot about the young woman. Even an incident like that gets shoved into the back of your mind. The inevitable desensitization one experiences in the field makes it so. What is chaotic to the average person becomes normal to individuals in my industry. We all left it as an unspoken memory. In fact, we encouraged each other not to discuss it. Many of us had boozing habits, and we did not want the top brass to find out how we celebrated our Fridays.
The truck needed cleaning. I used a squeegee on the windshield as one of my co-workers mopped the floor. It was nine AM and our garage door was open. The highway next to us bathed in sunlight.
I saw someone approach the station.
I looked to my left and took notice of Vivian. She walked towards me. She wore a yellow sundress and had a golden bow in her hair. She held something in her arms. As she got closer I saw it was a box of chocolates.
Vivian handed them to me as I gazed at her with disbelief. She smiled.
“This is for what you did four days ago,” she said.
“Thank you. You didn’t have to.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Well, it’s nice when a civilian reaches out. I’m sure the boys will appreciate the treats as well.”
“We should meet up for dinner on Tuesday at four a clock,” she said with a wink. “Aisling’s will be as good a place as any. I know you won’t be working then. I’ll buy you beer and dinner. There’s also a movie I’ve been meaning to see. I rented it on Amazon Prime a while ago, but I haven’t had anyone to watch it with. My place is near the College.”
“Listen, miss,” I said as I took a step back, “I’m flattered. I’m also married with a kid. My woman wouldn’t like that idea. Even if I was single, I’m a decade older than you.”
“I’m divorced and all alone,” my buddy said with the mop still in his hand as he flashed a grin at her.
I turned around and shushed him before I refocused my attention on her.
“I’m grateful you weren’t hurt that night,” I said. “Plus, thank you for paying your taxes and making my job possible. We can’t see each other though.”
Her expression changed. She stuck out her bottom lip and tilted her head to the side. She turned her back to me for a few seconds. She faced my direction again as her entire demeanor shifted into a sulking one.
“You don’t want to spend time with me?” Vivian asked with a tremble in her voice.
“No offense,” I said as I raised my ring-adorned hand, “but no.”
“I figured since Grace is gone in the evenings for her job at the clinic, it wouldn’t be a problem for us to be together that day. You will change your mind.”
Vivian whipped around and made her way to the road. She disappeared around the corner.
“You need to tell me about your side pieces,” my co-worker said with a nudge.
I punched him in the arm and told him to get back to his tasks. As I brushed aside his bad comment, one concern lingered in my head.
How did she know my wife’s schedule, let alone her name?
—
“You need a restraining order ASAP,” Detective Palmer told me over the phone.
I was in my living room. The man on the other end had been a friend of mine since the fire academy. Contrary to popular belief, cops and firefighters can help one another. Of course, we still insulted each other with reckless abandon.
My sixteen month old child, Anna, was asleep upstairs. Grace left for the medical facility minutes before to clock in. I did not tell her about my encounter because I did not want her to worry.
“Why?” I asked.
“I looked up her name. I pulled the report submitted from the night you prevented her from becoming road kill. Vivian De Luca. She has broken the stalking statute twice. She made two different grown men fear for their safety to the point where they reported her. She has brandished sharp objects at them and threatened injury. She has broken and entered into their homes. One of the craziest parts is, none of the guys she’s done this to have even been romantic with her. They were all unrequited, since they did not speak with her for any length of time. One was a professor at the community College who taught a Medieval studies class. She was one of his students. The second was a grocery store clerk she became enamored with. A clinical psychiatrist diagnosed her with something called OLD. It stands for obsessive love disorder.”
“That’s a real thing?” I asked.
“Bet your money it is. Fuse that with a side of crazy and a propensity towards violence, and you get someone like her. She was charged with attempted arson on the first guy’s apartment. She went into his place with a gasoline canister as he was sleeping. A public defender made a successful argument in her defense so it never stuck. It helped her that the judge was on the brink of retirement and senile. Anyways, if you get a restraining order they’ll issue a third strike against her. She’ll be off the streets for a while so you and yours won’t have to worry.”
“Thanks for the help,” I said.
“Always. Oh, and Ben? I hope you didn’t eat any of those truffles. I know firefighters don’t do anything except get fat at the station. Have a good night.”
-–
Grace, Anna and I were at the aquarium. We walked through the lobby and made our way to the main hall with changing ecosystems. We passed an artificial estuary filled with stingrays. Makeshift habitats with invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles were everywhere.
Anna, cradled in my arms, seemed to love the river otters the most. She giggled at them as we strolled by. We marveled at a variety of sunfish.
For a few minutes, my mind was off getting the paperwork ready for the restraining order. I had not even explained the situation to my wife yet.
Grace wanted to be a marine biologist when we first met as teenagers. I liked how the trips to the aquarium brought out her younger self. No matter how many times we came here, her eyes lit up with wonderment at the ocean life. It was a deep-seated appreciation for the environment she made a point of bestowing on Anna.
We stopped and marveled at a tiger shark. It was at least eighteen feet long in its five hundred gallon tank. I overheard a tourist read from a Google search and say how the predator had twenty four upper and lower teeth. Each one was sharper than a saw blade. Its jaw could apply six thousand pounds of pressure on who or whatever it clamped down on.
“I need to use the bathroom,” Grace told me. “I’ll swing by the gift shop after and get some Gatorade. I’m parched. Stay here, okay?”
“We won’t go anywhere,” I said as I kissed Anna on the forehead and lifted her hand to wave at her mother.
We waited for ten minutes.
I pulled out my phone and texted her.
Another five minutes passed without a response.
I sent another few quick messages, with nothing in return.
Worry filled me as I looked around for Grace.
I felt a hot breath on the back of my neck.
I turned around and saw Vivian. She wore rubbery looking overalls. A blue undershirt with the aquarium’s business logo was visible. A name badge attached to a lanyard was around her neck. When I squinted at it I saw it was credentials with someone else’s name on it. She had somehow stolen it from another employee and used it to get by security. Master keys dangled from her belt.
“You shouldn’t be near me,” I said as I felt a lump form in the back of my throat. The words came out louder than I had realized. A few people stopped and stared.
“Who did you steal from to impersonate a worker here? Get away from me and my kid right now you psycho-”
“Oh, hush. We’re meant to be together. The inconvenient circumstances which stop you from being with me are about to fade away. You’ll thank me, Ben. We’re going to be so happy together. All you needed was a push in the right direction. A cutting of old habits. There’s no place in our future for an unnecessary second woman. You might want to look behind you. The big boy is about to eat. An aquarist’s favorite part of the day is feeding time.”
Vivian laughed as she pointed at the glass. I will never forget the way she cackled.
I turned around and saw Grace.
My wife was inside of the tank. She floated at peace. Inert. Those once pristine emerald eyes were empty.
The tiger shark bit her arm off. Streaks of crimson filled the water.
END