Bates

11

   A broom wisked against the linoleum floor.

   Dylan's birthday was coming up, as was the end of her first year at White Pine Bay. Things had not been as good as the young mother had hoped.

   Norma was almost always alone with Keith. At the beginning of every month, he would talk her into letting him clean the motel rooms. She originally shrugged it off, feeling that he must be hiding something but not caring to know what the "something" was.

   A crash at the end of the room brought the busy woman from her thoughts. "Dylan? Is everything alright?" she asked, pulling herself from her task.

   On the floor was a busted lamp. Norma sighed.

   "Dylan, what have I told you about playing with your baseball in the room?"

   His lower lip trembled. "To....not to play with it in the room..."

   Her pointed glare faltered. She wrapped her arms around her son's shaking body. "It's okay, baby, I'll pay for it later, just promise me you'll be more careful next time, okay?"

   "Alright," he muttered. Norma pulled away from him, and he perked up ever so slightly. "Can I go outside?"

   She nodded. "Go on, but stay on the property, where I can see you. And don't throw the ball around too close to anything breakable."

   She watched her son lumber out of the room with a plastic bat and a baseball in his hands. He was soon to be five, and already growing up too fast. Mr. Decody was always commenting on how observant he was for his age, teasing, "You better watch that one, Mrs. Bates; he's a quick thinker, but he keeps things to himself."

   The young woman reminisced about her brother for a moment before moving to clean up the broken lamp. Her hands fumbled around the pieces. She picked them up and examined them, as if a little hot glue would fix the problem. One of the glass bits sliced her finger open, and she hissed as blood dripped from the wound.

   Norma moved quickly, hoping to keep blood from splattering on the floor. She winced in pain as her head hit something solid, sending stars to her eyes. "What the--"

   She paused.

   Her hands pulled at the leather bound book that was sitting in the open drawer. Unsure as to how it got there, she thumbed through the pages to see if anything had changed.

   The words and pictures were still the same, except now there was blood smeared against the pages. Norma momentarily forgot about her hand and immersed herself in this horrific new world; it became suddenly apparent to her what this journal was all about. "Who would write something like this?" she wondered aloud, glaring at the book skeptically.

   A car driving into the motel lot pulled her from her thoughts, and she threw the book back into the drawer. The woman waiting in the office gave her an incredulous stare. "Hello, welcome to the Seafairer Motel, I'm sorry to tell you that we are booked for the next week, although I can offer you some phamplets regarding our little town of White Pine Bay." 

   The woman's expression changed to offended; Norma had been getting a lot of that lately. There was a group of men who had booked out all the hotel rooms during the first week of the month, yet Joyce insisted on keeping the vacancy sign on. It was really quite embarrassing, yet Norma had learned not to question it. Joyce was a friendly woman, but her employee feared wearing her thin.

   Joyce knew that Norma couldn't possibly live without being paid something; she essentially paid for their whole living in return for Norma's work. It was a somewhat awkward arrangement, and she worried that it was one-sided, but Joyce was rarely around to complain. Mrs. Bates never asked about the money, yet tomorrow was her son's birthday, and she had nothing to offer him.

   The customer took one of the phamphlets and walked right out the door. That when well, Norma thought.

   She was so lost in her own thoughts that she hardly noticed when deputy Romero walked in, holding a paper bag between his hands. "That looked like it went well," he said, smiling at her.

   Norma didn't smile back. "We're all booked, but Joyce wants to keep the sign on. I guess maybe people will remember we're here."

   The doorbell rang behind him as Dylan busted through the door, looking quite pleased but also somewhat frantic. "Hey Romero, can you help me? I lost my ball in the street! Momma says I can't go out into the street alone, I have to have an adult with me."

   Norma's smile increased as she watched their encounter, and an idea formed in her mind.

   "Sure thing, kiddo," he followed Dylan out the door, and Norman watched as he guided her son carefully into the street to pick up his ball. Once the ball was secure, the deputy lifted Dylan with ease and carried him from the road, right before a vehicle passed by.

   Dylan was excited as ever when the two came back in. "Did you see that, Momma? Romero helped me rescue my ball!"

   Norma chuckled, smiling at her son's excited blue gaze. "What do you tell him?"

   "Thank you, Romero."

   "You're welcome, kid."

   Norma waited until Dylan disappeared to speak to Romero. She bent herself towards him, hoping in this moment that he found her attractive. "Look, Alex, there's something I need your help with tomorrow..."

   "Yeah?"

   "It's Dylan's birthday tomorrow, and I want to throw him a surprise party at the park. I'll have to keep Norman with me, since Mr. Decody is away, but I was wondering..." she averted her gaze to her youngest, who was rolling around in a crib beside her, then back to Dylan, who was swinging his bat around outside.

   Romero sighed heavily. "You want me to keep an eye on Dylan. I can't tomorrow, Norma, I'm on duty."

   Norma rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. "So? Just drive him around in your patrol car, he'll love it!"

   "It wouldn't be safe!"

   "C'mon, you guys have child locks on those things, don't you--"

   "Emergencies only. I can't have Dylan with me on duty, Norma. I could get in trouble with the Sheriff."

   "It is kinda an emergency, isn't it?" she asked, her blue eyes pleading with this brown ones.

   He sighed again. His hands never moved from his hips. "I'll think about it. But don't be surprised if I have to say no."

   "Thank you, Alex, thank you so mu--"

   She fell silent as his lips landed on hers.