“Huh,” said Charlie. “So, you muttered something about a motel?”
4
The Casa Comfort motel stood at a squat three stories, wrapping snugly around an empty pool that doubled as a museum of shriveled leaves and no less than two dead frogs. Nora wrapped her coat tight around her slender torso, tucking Charlie’s file under one arm, convinced she’d sent agents out this way at least once for some unseemly soul collection. She walked around the car to find Charlie squeezing Jessica’s cage into his duffel bag.
“Okay, baby girl. I need you to be nice and quiet for Daddy. Can you do that for me?”
“Smells bad,” was Jessica’s reply as Charlie pulled the zipper and slung the bag over his shoulder.
“Where’d you get that thing anyway?” Nora asked.
“Walmart.”
“The parrot?”
“Oh.” They passed under the entryway awning just as the wind picked up. “Someone left her on the porch. Crazy, right? A whole-ass bird.”
“Do you ever do anything like a normal person?”
“Says the grim reaper.”
“Administrative coordinator for grim reapers,” Nora corrected. “Wait, no, I mean, they’re not—”
But by that point they’d reached the concierge desk and the roughly Gumby-shaped guy of no more than eighteen behind it, scrolling on his phone. Nora left the rest of her sentence at the door and changed tactics, directing her focus towards the motel employee.
“Hey. Hi. Good afternoon,” she tried, her nerves too fried for small talk. “We need a room. Like, right now.”
“I see,” said the young man, stooping his towering torso to meet Nora at eye height. He looked back and forth between the twins with a knowing smirk, clearly stifling a giggle. “A room right now, you say?”
“Oh god.” Nora caught up to the teen’s tone with horror. “No.”
“Dude,” Charlie added.
“Not a room like that.”
“Dude.”
“Two beds, please. As far apart as you’ve got them.”
The teen’s face fell slightly. “Oh. Yeah. All right, fine. We’ve got a few of those available.” He tapped at his computer for a second or two, turned to the wall of keys behind him, and plucked one from its hook. “Room 204. You’ve got a pool view, which is honestly just depressing this time of year. A constant reminder of the many limitations thrust upon us by the weather and her fickle moods. Can’t even use the floaties.”
“Uh, thanks.” Nora took the key from the teen’s outstretched hand.
“Enjoy your stay,” said the teen. “Or try to, anyway. Enjoymentis a fleeting thing, difficult to conjure and even more challenging to sustain. Checkout is at ten a.m.”
“Happiness is temporary,” came a squawk from Charlie’s duffel. The twins froze, their eyes sliding in synchronicity to meet the other’s with a look that said, “Oh fuck, we’re screwed.”
“The bag gets it,” was all the teen said before returning to his phone.
Nora and Charlie simultaneously let out the breath they’d been holding and scurried towards their room.
* * *
The carpet of room 204 had been a different color once, that much was clear. The mystery of which color was one that would require a crack detective team to solve, and even then it was likely to end up as a cold case. These days it lived its life as a concerning shade of noncommittal beige against the earwax orange of the walls.
Charlie shrugged his bag off his shoulder and onto the bed closest to the window, claiming his territory as he wrangled the birdcage to freedom.
“There’s my girl,” he cooed as Jessica emerged, her gray head bobbing back and forth in greeting.
