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IT HAD BEEN A FULLY FLEDGED WEEK SINCE SHE'D SPENT HER AFTERNOON AT THE LAKE, and Romy had began taking her pills again, and properly. She took them on the mark, morning and night. Since then, she had been subject to no hallucinations. She'd never have expected it prior to this, but she was beginning to feel a lot better; more stable, per se. Aunt Meg seemed to be better, too, and even Uncle Ted had migrated to the couch to watch television in the evenings.
Meg had even walked her right to the doorstep of her self defence class, that Saturday evening. They'd just eaten dinner together at the kitchen table, a lukewarm pumpkin soup, and then Aunt Meg had gone on and trimmed Romy's hair to an even length, and tied it in a half-up half-down style that left out her fringe and was bowed with a mustard-yellow ribbon. OK, so that was a little odd, but no harm could come from being on good terms with her aunt, right? She promised to pick up Romy straight afterwards, as so that she couldn't sneak out and grab slushies or go to the movies and see Nightmare On Elm Street 5.
She never really wanted to partner up with anyone in self defence, perhaps Kimberly, if she even bothered to show up, which she rarely did. Usually she had to partner with the last remaining other person, a germaphobe, Eddie Kaspbrak. He was physically smaller than her, and she could overpower him quite easily — they rarely did exchange words, discounting her occasional sorries and the awkward chuckles that he gave when she floored him for the third time in a row.
Their class was held in a room doubled as a dance studio on a Thursday, and a spinning class every Tuesday, among other things such as the occasional Boy Scout meeting when the town hall was too small, and a knitting class on a Sunday morning. There was a large one-way glass window that replaced the one wall that looked out onto the street.
Eddie and Romy sparred closest to the said window, their bare feet sticking to the tacky mats that covered the floor exclusively for their self-defence sessions. There weren't many in the class. Kimberly occasionally showed up, but she was only a friend of Romy by obligation, and found her quite a bore when the pair had to hang out alone. And then there were other neighbourhood kids, only a few, though. There used to be about twenty-seven or so, but they didn't attend anymore. The brunette didn't know their names — they always partnered in the same pairs, and rarely spoke in voices louder than whispers.
Eddie had his back to the mirror when a homeless man walked past, with a bobbing red balloon in one hand, and in the other, he was shaking an upturned fedora full of pennies. OK, she thought, someone must be giving out those balloons, that's why there was one in the house. As for the man, he had scarred skin across the side of his face that she could see, and he reminded her a little but of Freddy Krueger. The Kaspbrak boy turned when he saw Romy staring, and shuddered — she could feel it as she held is collar in the stance that they were demonstrated how to do by their coach, a cigarette-soaked woman in a pink tracksuit named Julia, who lounged in the corner and kept an eye on their every move.
