“Back at that school. Never once did you protect me from those kids. You just stood there. Watching like idiot. Doing nothing like coward. Those kids, they called you The Pig. And why? Because you were supposed to be cop of that school. But you were just coward. And then I come here and I think what joke is this that the man they called The Pig is carrying around pig with his dead wife inside! I laughed in my head at you! Laughed and laughed! But same time, I need money, so I keep quiet. I do what you ask. Clean. Shop. Fix pills. All that and now you make accusation at me. Well, let me tell you that I do not think you are very smart, Mr. Webster. No—Mr. Pig. No one knows you are here. No one knows I am here. And I have just cleaned this shit-house top to bottom with gloves on, so there is no trace of fingerprints from me anywhere but on door, which I can wipe off on way out. So, Mr. Pig, since you are making me to be thief, I will be thief.”
With that, she reached out and snatched the wallet from his hand, turning quickly and stomping back across the kitchen to the door. It was all happening too fast, and for an instant, Charlie just stared down at his empty hand. Those things she had said about him being an idiot and a coward all those years roiled inside him. He thought of the way he had lived his life, doing nothing but swallowing shit from a bunch of teenagers year after year after year, all the while biding his time and dreaming of some distant future life as a fucking snowbird. What a waste it had been since living that dream had not made him truly happy in the end! The only thing to ever make Charlie Webster happy had been Joy: her love, her kindness, her gentle laugh, the way she kissed his forehead every morning and every night. But now Joy was gone, all because of what he had done to her that night on the terrace—what his rage had led him to do—because with each passing day the disease rubbed away more memories and more brain capacity and even his ability to do simple things like drive a fucking car! Round and round those thoughts whipped in Charlie’s mind until he looked up from his empty hand to see Tünde about to open the back door and walk away with his wallet.
The tiles were wet and slippery from all her mopping and when he charged across the floor his feet slid this way and that, but he managed to keep his balance. Charlie caught up with her. Her back was turned, and he lifted both hands, same as he remembered doing that night on the terrace in Florida, and shoved Tünde with all the strength he never used those years back at Central High. So tall and solid was the woman that what happened next was not unlike watching a tree come crashing down in one fell swoop after someone hacked away at it with an ax. There was no time for her to brace herself and her face struck the floor with the loudest of cracks. When she lifted her head, turning to look up at him, Charlie saw blood glistening on her lip and forehead. He didn’t allow the sight to distract him and instead reached down and thrust his hands into her coat pockets even as her arms and legs thrashed about. When he felt his wallet, Charlie yanked it free. But that’s when Tünde rolled onto her side and reached up to grab hold of his neck, doing her damnedest to pull him down with her. She might have succeeded if he hadn’t managed to swing a leg around and mule-kick her with as much force as she brought to the beating of those rugs, and probably the choking of that student. When the heel of his foot landed on her stomach, Tünde released a surprised yelp and loosened her grip. Charlie slipped away, stumbling back as his feet slipped and slid on those slick tiles, until he grabbed hold of the table.
“Now get the fuck out of here, you crazy bitch!” he yelled, making his way to the phone on the wall. “I’m calling the police.”
Tünde just watched him from her crumpled position on the floor, wiping that blood from her face with one hand while pressing the other to her stomach where he had kicked it. She gulped in air and said, “Good luck making call to other pigs. You don’t think I know phone is not working. I discover that when I pick up to wipe earlier.”