The boys had been out there for two hours by the time Randy came home.

Alice was looking out the kitchen window of their trailer park home, drinking lemonade and vodka through a straw, when she saw them coming down the main road, talking and laughing, guns slung over their shoulders. They weren’t much younger than she was — eighteen, maybe nineteen.

She watched as they hopped the fence that surrounded their property and walked down towards the pond. She followed them with her eyes until they disappeared around the corner. The thought crossed her mind either to go after them and tell them they were trespassing or else bring them some lemonade. Every once in a while she heard them fire their guns.

It was after 1:00 when she noticed a truck coming down the main road. It was Randy. He was surprising her for lunch; he did that sometimes.

Alice tired to appear serene, with her ankles crossed and her magazine in her lap, but she couldn’t help it. She jumped up and hurried to meet Randy at the door.

He was just coming up the walkway when a shot went off. He stopped where he was, his hand on the screen door.

“What the hell-?”

Alice’s eyes went perfectly round. As he walked past her, she heard him mumble something about ‘killing those bastards.’ She saw the red creeping into his face.

“They aren’t — they’re probably not even on our property.”

“We’re in the middle of 100 acres. If we can hear them, they’re on my property.” He said this as he walked to the kitchen cabinets and took down his shotgun from up top.

Alice stared at him, her mouth hanging open a little.

“Don’t worry, its not loaded.” He mussed Alice’s hair and then kicked the screen door open.

As his truck disappeared around the corner, she let out a long and heavy sigh.

It wasn’t fifteen minutes before Randy’s truck and was driving back out to the main road. He came to stop and the two boys hopped out. They waved. Randy honked as he threw the truck into reverse.

“Fuckin’ kids.” Randy shook his head as he slid out of the truck, his mouth fixed with a childish grin.

“Well just think, once the house is built, they’ll realize people actually live here.” She wrapped her arms around his middle and kissed him. “Come inside. I’ll make you some lunch.”

Alice pulled lunchmeat out of the refrigerator. She made Randy a sandwich and he made himself a whiskey.

Setting the plate in front of him, she sat down by his side and put her hand on his knee. She watched the muscles in his jaw work as he chewed. When he was finished, he stood up and leaned back, patting his stomach.

“I’ve got to get going,” he said.

“Can’t you just stay a little longer?” Alice rested her chin on his shoulder. She slid her hand down the front of his pants.

Randy paused. He shrugged his shoulders. He let her take his hand and walk him to the bedroom.

Alice woke up the next morning in the middle of the bed, her skin soggy with sweat. Outside, the brutal sun was straight overhead.

She rolled out of bed and took off her damp clothes piece by piece, then went to the kitchen to make herself breakfast. She had thought of this not too long ago. When Randy was at work, she walked around the trailer naked. It made the heat a little more bearable.

Eating her cereal, she thought of what she should wear for Randy when he came home. It was then, in the process of bringing the spoon to her mouth, that she remembered the contractor. The contractor was coming that afternoon, and he was going to build them a house; a real place of their own where she and Randy could finally be happy.

Alice left her cereal where it was without finishing it or bothering to clean her plate, and went straight to the bedroom.

She took out her grandmother’s Chanel earrings and put them on. Then she took her drawers from the dresser and emptied them onto the bed.

It was of utmost importance that the contractor was made aware that they were not by any stretch of the imagination poor, though they lived in a trailer. Misleading, I know! She imagined herself laughing, touching the contractor on the lapel of his coat.

Alice tried on each skirt with each shirt in every combination she could think of. But there was nothing.

She brushed her hair and pinned it up in hot rollers. She turned to the mirror and looked at her reflection, naked except for a pair of Chanel earrings and hot rollers. It was enough to make a girl cry.

Finally, she put on a red sundress and a pair of white high heels. But it wasn’t long before this too, was no good. She was sweating, and it showed.

Later, when she heard wheels slowing down in the driveway, Alice got up and locked the bedroom door.

She heard heavy footsteps coming up the steps of the trailer. She held her breath. The screen door opened and then shut. There was a knock at the bedroom door.

“Hello?”

It was Randy. Alice let out a little sight of relief. She unlocked the door and opened it.

Randy stood in the doorway, his mouth hanging open a little. He looked first at the mess on the bed, and then at Alice. “You’re naked.”

Alice smiled, her cheeks showing a blush, even in the heat of the afternoon. “I was just getting changed.” She pulled her bathrobe off the bed and wrapped it around her. “What time is the contractor supposed to be here?”

Randy looked over his shoulder and then back at Alice. “Come here, I have something to show you.” He stuck his hand out for her to hold.

On the porch, there was a large cardboard box.

“Go on. See what’s in there.”

Alice stood motionless in the doorway.

“Oh, come on.”

Randy grinned. He reached down and pulled a golden retriever pup out of the box. It had a red bow on its collar. Alice stared with her mouth open a little.

“I thought you could use a friend while I’m at work. And you know, he could be your jogging buddy.”

Alice held out her hand. That was the logical thing to do. The dog licked it all over. She had never been jogging before, never in the two years that they had been married.

“He’s purebred, you know. He’ll be a prize stud, some day,” Randy said. “What are you going to call him?”

Alice’s hand fell to her side and she looked at her husband. “Randy Junior. Or maybe Baby Randy. That’s more precious.”

“I built him a little dog house and everything,” he said, bouncing the puppy in his arms.

In bed that night, Alice sat up and scratched Randy’s sweaty head. His eyes were shut, but he wasn’t asleep yet.

“What happened to the contractor today?” She had only now remembered.

Randy kept his eyes closed. He licked his lips. “I told him we’d reschedule.”

“Again?”

“I told him to come back. I said we’d talk it over and I’d let him know when to come back.” Randy rolled noisily on to his stomach.

The dog began to whimper a little. Alice dropped her hand into the box beside the bed. She turned onto her side and looked out the window to see some stars, or at least the moon. But the blinds were shut. She rolled back over and waited to see if Randy was going to say anything else, but by that time, he was asleep.

When Alice woke up the next morning, she stayed in bed for awhile, her head buried under the pillow.

She got up and brushed her teeth. She went to make herself breakfast, keeping her clothes on. There was a dog to consider now.

On the kitchen table, Randy left a note for her:

Alice turned it over to see if there was anything more written on the back. There wasn’t.

Under the table, there was a puddle of dog piss. Alice lay down some paper towels on top of it. She whistled and clapped her hands, but no Baby. She had been thinking of taking him for a walk that day, maybe down the main road, maybe even past that. It was then, as she was considering whether it was too hot for this, that she saw a truck coming down the road.

Alice felt her heart palpitate. Maybe it was Randy coming home for lunch again, and wouldn’t that be the best surprise? That would make two days in a row. She opened the screen door and stepped onto the porch, her eyes fixed on the truck. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Baby lying on his stomach, wrestling with something in his mouth.

Alice stood with her hand shielding her eyes from the sun, staring at the shape coming down the road. Beads of sweat were swelling on her temples. There was a peculiar fluttering in the pit of her stomach.

In the peak of the afternoon heat, as she stood on the porch of their trailer park home, it was difficult for her to breathe. She felt as if she were drooping, and she pictured in her head a wilting daisy, standing by itself in a vast stretch of hard and dry ground. She pushed the palms of her hands to her eyes and stood very still.

She opened her eyes cautiously, one by one. She peered at the truck. It wasn’t him.

She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and turned to go inside. And there was Baby. He was chewing on a shoe. It was one of her white high heels from the day before.

She walked past him and let Baby keep on. By that time it was too late.