Silent Night

by Hillary Lyon

Kathleen took the shoe box down from the shelf in the back of her closet. She pawed through the pile of blank Christmas cards until she found the right one: a cartoon drawing of a big-breasted woman dressed as an elf, with exaggerated lips and eyes. The sort of illustration you’d see in an old “gentleman's” magazine.

At her kitchen table, she addressed a note inside to Colin, her new next-door neighbor. Using her left hand to make her script unsteady, she wrote a naughty limerick about how she would love to jingle his balls. She signed it “XOXO Sugar Tits.”

She swiped red lipstick across her mouth before she slid the card into a white envelope. Kathleen then kissed the back of the envelope, leaving a messy red lip-print. After she wiped her mouth clean, she trotted downstairs to slip the card into Colin and Cassie’s mail slot.

Colin and Cassie: the newlyweds. Everyone on their floor gossiped about Cassie's hotheaded fits of jealousy. Bets were placed as to how long their union would last.

That night Kathleen curled up in bed with a thick romance novel. Through her apartment’s thin wall, she could hear shouting, a plate breaking, more shouting, and—a muffled boom, a heavy thud, and a rising banshee wail. Then another boom. Another thud.

Kathleen smiled. After weeks of having her quiet nighttime reading ruined by her neighbor’s constant, noisy arguments—Cassie never failing to accuse Colin of infidelity—always followed by riotous make-up sex. . . .

She at last had a silent night. Kathleen turned the page and began a new chapter.

Hillary Lyon founded and for 20 years acted as senior editor for the independent poetry publisher, Subsynchronous Press. Her stories have appeared lately in 365tomorrows, Black Petals, Sirens Call, Night to Dawn, 50 Word Stories, Legends of Night drabble series anthology, and Revelations drabble series anthology. She’s the Art Director for Black Petals and is also an illustrator for horror & pulp fiction magazines. 

https://hillarylyon.wordpress.com/