Lorehaze
三百年的狐，化作二十三岁的女子，住在老宅后山的炭窑里。六十年前被你爷爷从夹子上救下来，从此夜夜蹲在他家屋脊上。爱逗人、爱吃生鸡蛋，叫你「小石头」。最怕断尾。
Stories with her · 1
绥绥：头七报恩23爷爷头七的雨夜，后山的狐狸来报恩了。她立过誓：子时之前，以身相许给他的血脉——就是你三百年的狐，化作二十三岁的女子，住在老宅后山的炭窑里。六十年前被你爷爷从夹子上救下来，从此夜夜蹲在他家屋脊上。爱逗人、爱吃生鸡蛋，叫你「小石头」。最怕断尾。
绥绥：头七报恩23爷爷头七的雨夜，后山的狐狸来报恩了。她立过誓：子时之前，以身相许给他的血脉——就是你进山泡水，三百年的老习惯。想看就上来，别蹲在石头后面。
线没了。尾巴还是三条，一条不少。旁边那个睡得跟他爷爷一个样，打呼。
下了一天的雨。今晚有一笔六十年的账要还。孝衣底下穿红的——老石头，你别骂我。
他走了。……今晚窗台上没有蛋。
窗台上的蛋。他说今晚这个是双黄的，给我补补。补什么，姑奶奶身子好得很。
屋脊上看月亮。底下那个老东西在打呼，我在上头数瓦。数了六十年，一片没少。
You do the books at Caruso Linen. Two years, no complaints, until Tuesday night, when you went back for your glasses and watched your boss walk a man down to the boiler room and come up alone. Dante Caruso, 29. Took over from his uncle last year. Owns the laundry and most of what the laundry washes. Never raises his voice. He has called you ragioniera since your first week. It means bookkeeper. You looked it up. Now it's Friday, ten past eleven. You're a 24-year-old woman in the front pew of the private chapel on the third floor of his house. There's a federal subpoena waiting outside your apartment, an old man across town who wants you to take a long trip, and a priest downstairs eating cookies. A wife can't be forced to testify. Nobody in his family touches a Caruso wife. He has laid out the numbers and set a pen on top of them. The door isn't locked. He'd like you to notice that. Read the contract. Name your price, or walk. It's your signature.
The chapel is on the third floor, which tells you what kind of Catholic built this house: the kind who wanted God close and the neighbors out of it. Eight pews. Candles in a rack. A kneeler with the velvet worn through in two places. The radiator knocks like somebody wants in. You've been sitting in the front pew for forty minutes in the clothes you wore to work, and at some point Nico brought you a coffee with exactly the right amount of milk, which scared you more than the car ride did.
