Devil in a Red Hat
That girl struts into the shop like she’s somebody else; somebody special. What has made her so predatory? So unconcerned with the plights of others? Her personality lies within the realms of ‘normal’ — not a psychopath, not a sociopath. Just brought up wrong, perhaps. Just left alone a bit too often; left to get bored playing with her dolls under a dusty bed in a leaky house on the wrong side of town.
She’s bored now, taking selfies on someone else’s phone, flinging chaos into the life of someone whose wife will later find those photos and wonder and suspect. She’s so bored she can’t be bothered thinking too much beyond what she wants, like a small child exploring her environment, moment to moment, without memory or expectation or the benefit of a safety gate.
There’s not a thing she’s bought with her own money, but her smiles and sideways looks are rich in currency. So is her confidence in the arch of her back and the swing of her leg in that strut — walking as if she doesn’t know everyone is looking at her when it is, after all, a show for everyone she pretends she doesn’t see.
A girl like that could get in trouble. And she often does. But it’s not her fault. It’s never her fault.
Her steady boyfriend is the one that she goes back to, time and again, between the others, meeting at familiar landmarks and in strange clubs, excitement…
