Dinah closed the damaged white screen door, taking care to do so slowly to minimize the creaking. The stars were above her now, as she was standing in her backyard, and they shined on her lazily, providing just enough light for her to have to bring a flashlight. She walked gently across the balding lawn, taking care not to step on any beer cans or anthills, and she thought about the events of today.
It had begun with her waking up to find her brother Mahlon missing, and then to find her sunscreen missing, and her hot pink flamingo-covered towel. She had supposed her darling sibling had gone early to the neighborhood pool, to lounge in the water that felt like sweat and watch the sun come up, but he was not there when Dinah arrived. The pool was closed- and there weren't any pools in the area. When Dinah decided to go grocery shopping, she noticed her wallet was not on the top of the radio, and searched for it for a total of two hours and thirty two minutes before giving up and deciding that it was one of the objects that had mysteriously disappeared along with her brother. Then, Dinah sat down and had a banana for lunch, before heading out to her friend's house to play with some tarot cards she had bought from a street vendor. She arrived, and in a few minutes it was discovered that neither of them knew how to decipher the cards, so they just watched episodes of their favorite show, Death's girls, on Dinah's friend's television set. Then, Dinah went home, and ate a lasagna after an hour of heating it in the microwave. She turned on the radio, she danced, she she sang along to the songs she knew and learned the songs she didn't. She stumbled, exhausted, into her room, and would've fell asleep if she didn't look up and see the message on her ceiling, in the brightest most eye-staining blue known to man. Dinah we have your brother, it said. We will drown him Dinah if you do not bring us your radio. Will be waiting at the pool at midnight.
And so, Dinah, tired out of her eyes and frightened out of her wits, rectangular wooden radio under her arm, was heading out to the pool to rescue her brother. She thought for a second that the captor of her brother Mahlon could just be Mahlon, but she honestly did not think him that clever. So she walked, cord trailing behind her, through a neighborhood as silent and as still as an iceberg, floating in the middle of the ocean, minding its own business. She acknowledged the moonless sky, and she counted the scuffling cats that watched her from porch steps and trees, and she soundlessly laughed at the chipping paint of the houses. After a few more blocks of these same actions, Dinah finally made it to the subdivision pool that was looking ever so menacing under the pressure of the conforming black clouds.
At the gate stands Mahlon, as Dinah thought, but also a girl she's never seen before, with light skin that mirrors the stars and hair that mirrors a fire. Mahlon seems to be half asleep and half awake, like he hasn't decided what he wants to do yet. He leans against the girl. Dinah asks who the girl is, and the girl says her name is Grey, and that she wants to run away with Mahlon to her home in Florida. The glint from starlight points out the blue marker in her hand. The girl, Grey, demands the radio. Dinah demands her money back, and her towel, and her sunscreen. Grey says she doesn't have any of those things, and adds that Mahlon would not leave without a proper radio. Dinah looks at her brother, then looks at the concrete under her feet, and then back at Mahlon. She wonders if she should ask the girl where she met Mahlon, or if he loves her, or if she loves him, or why she didn't just grab the radio when she was sneaking into her house to write messages on her bedroom ceiling but decides against it. I'll let you take my brother to Florida, says Dinah. I'll let you have my radio. But in return you must give me your first born child. She says this with such confidence and dignity that Grey steps back and crosses her arms in defense, but, after a long silence, agrees.
Dinah returns home with a feeling of satisfaction in the back of her mind. She doubts that Grey's first child will be with Mahlon, but she's sure that Grey will be true to her part of the deal. Before laying on her bed and letting the blankets eat her, she gets a step ladder and washes off the message from her ceiling- thankfully, all it takes is water an a bit of dish soap. After drying it, she drinks some milk and reads a few pages of Rimbaud's poetry, pretending she can understand it. Then, she dreams about flying.