Jay Walking

Magda left the hospital where her life partner of ten
years had just been pronounced dead. She was upset,
but her eyes only looked cloudy; there were no tears
dripping down her face. This wasn’t odd though. Magda
hated crying, plus she knew she had the knack for
planning her life out so she wouldn’t be upset. She’d
done it with Gideon and she could do it again.
Magda crossed the street to where her car was parked.
The blue Handicapped sign hanging from the rearview
mirror meant nothing to her now that Lewis was dead
and despite the 64 years she had on her, she hadn’t
planned on being handicapped for nearly 20 more years.
 When Magda got home she picked up the phone and
dialed for Shirley.
Shirley was Magda’s best friend. They had met in
college and been sisters ever since. They looked
almost identical and had always been mistaken for
twins in their younger days. Shirley only lived eight
and a half blocks away and took a morning power walk
to the park with Magda every morning. Shirley lived
with her husband, Ron, of 23 years, her yappy dog,
Batty, and her adopted son (who lived in the
basement).
Luisa broke the news to Shirley that Lewis died. She
told Shirley that some fucking maniac driver had run
him over on their way to Monterey Market. Shirley told
Magda to come over. Magda parked the car in front of
Shirley’s and made her way up the long narrow walk
way. She thought about how she wanted to go home and
cook and vacuum the cat hair on the couch and clean up
Lewis’s crap around the house. She thought about how
Shirley was going to treat her and how her arm fat was
going to look in the ugly black dress she wore to
funerals.
Shirley opened the door.
       “Ooooh, Magda,” Shirley cooed.
Magda pushed past Shirley and into the living room. A
head rush was coming on. Shirley had always been so
juvenile and so much to deal with.
       “Magda, I’m sorry to hear about Lewis. What do you
want, honey? Anything, really.”
       “I want to go on a walk. Come on a walk with me
Shirley”
Shirley gave Magda a look. A look they had given each
other back and forth since college. Magda shrugged it
off, but she knew Shirley was worried.
As they walked, Shirley talked on and on about how
wonderful Lewis had been and how she hoped they’d find
that “maniac driver”; How she had that great black
dress she could finally wear since she’d gone down 2
sizes and how Ron had so many health problems these
days; she was getting worried. Magda listened, but
half heartedly, like she always did. Magda was more
focused on her dinner plans for tonight, Lewis’s
Funeral plans and plans for her very own future. Or
maybe she was more focused on blocking Shirley’s
banter out of her head.
On Tuesday, Luisa made her morning walk towards
Shirley’s. Her purple swishy pants kept sticking to
her square butt and her new, post death, dye job had
been so noticeably ugly she covered it up with a
matching purple hat. She could tell all the neighbors
were eyeing her, knowing it was Shirley that always
walked to Magda’s and not the other way around. But
Magda continued on her way towards Shirley’s. She
walked up the steps and banged on the door, like
always. No one answered. It didn’t sound like Ron was
home and his beat up Prius was not in the driveway.
Magda went around the side way and looked up into the
bathroom window, seeing if Shirley was in the shower.
She didn’t hear anything. Magda was getting upset and
her skinny wrinkeled body was already tired, just from
the eight and a half block walk. She continued to the
back yard and sat down beside the gate into the
backyard. The trellis was filled with little birds;
Luisa hated birds. Getting up, she went to Shirley’s
porch. The hide-a-key was hidden under the bench,
making it simple for Magda to let herself in Shirley’s
house. She sat down on Shirley’s uncomfortable kitchen
table chairs and placed her purse on the table. Then
she got up, made herself a cup of tea, and like she
did every time she went to Shirley’s, rummaged through
her stuff, scrutinizing everything. It didn’t seem
like Shirley was home. How fucking rude to have called
Magda to walk and then not be at home. That’s what
Magda was talking about when she said Shirley was
annoying. It sounded juvenile, but it sure was true.
Magda got up, left her tea on the table, only a
quarter of the way drunk, and let the door slam shut
behind her. She walked up Hopkins Street and over
along Monterey to Beverley Place and then up around
streets she couldn’t even name. Slowly, she and her
purple pants made their way home. Stopping, just to
stare, at the King Middle School tennis courts on
Hopkins that reminded her of Lewis. Magda fucking
hated tennis.
When she got home from her walk, an hour later, she
checked her messages. The little red button on the
machine flashed a five over and over again. Annoyed at
the flashing button Magda picked up the phone.
“Maaaaaagda,” Shirley’s singsong voice enveloped her
head, “I stopped by your house about an hour ago…where
the fuck were you? I thought we were walking today? If
you were doing funeral planning I forgive you. Dinner
tonight with Ron and I? I’m making eggplant Parmesan;
it’s the only thing Ron will eat these days.”
Magda pressed the button on the phone to delete
Shirley’s voice. She didn’t care to be around Shirley,
especially right after Lewis’s death. This was the
second time Shirley had protruded her shoulder out so
far that Magda had no choice but to lean on it. And
this time she was trying her best not too. Plus, Magda
had already planned her dinner out hours ago. She had
shrimp in the fridge and wanted it with pasta.
Magda flipped through the Home and Gardens magazine
sitting on her kitchen table. Opening up the
doggy-eared page she thought about how she and Lewis
had made plans to re-vamp their already picturesque
back yard. Magda had wanted to add a brick patio and
hammock, while Lewis had wanted vegetable gardens,
“Something to keep me busy and out of your way,” he
had said. That had been a quarrel, just like
everything else. She could have killed him about that
backyard. She was stubborn; she had plans, he didn’t.
It was really as simple as that.
She closed the magazine and wandered though the house.
She rummaged through Lewis’s belongings, through his
sock drawer and t-shirt drawer. She looked through his
toiletry cabinets and inspected all his medications,
trying to avoid calling Shirley back.
Lewis’s death had made her reminisce about Gideon; her
previous husband of twenty-two years, their daughter
together, whom Magda was estranged from, their
beautiful Tudor home off The Arlington, within walking
distance to Solano Avenue, their back yard with a
brick patio and a hammock she had wanted and Gideon
had given her. Madga didn’t talk to her daughter any
more; she’d never met her grandchildren, and after
Gideon’s death, she’d only been back to the house
once, to move her crap out and over to Shirley’s
place. Her daughter had just been starting her first
year at Williams College and although Madga would
never admit it, she was happy she could finally live
in peace, without husband or daughter commanding her
to clean and cook and pick up this and that. She could
plan her own day, how she wanted it-- a walk in the
morning and meal plans for each day. She could have a
hammock without it being a fight. But then Lewis came
around and Magda couldn’t help herself.
The phone rang and shook Magda awake from her
thoughts. She let it ring till the message machine
came on.
“You have reached the home of Magda and Lewis,” her
name always came first “leave a message and we will
get back to you!”
“Maaaaagda. Where are you? I’ve been…”
Magda reached for the phone; she would make Shirley
happy just once more, by picking up the phone. “Hello,
Shir.”
“Magda, where the fuck have you been? You know I’ve
been calling all day? What are you doing, funeral
planning?”
Magda got her bad mouth from Shirley. She hated it. It
was something she had picked up in college and
couldn’t quit. That was another thing she hated.
“Yes,” Magda lied, “I’ve been on the line with the
mortuary for hours, and we are trying to figure out
what to do about his face. I hate to talk about this,
Shir. Its so messed up, I don’t want an open casket,
but I know that’s what his family wants; I know that’s
what he would want. And the lawyer, I still have to
talk to him about the will and the insurance.” In
fact, Magda hadn’t spoken to either the mortuary or
the lawyer. She didn’t really feel like dealing with
people who wanted to discuss Lewis’s death and her
emotional health. She could do just fine on her own.
She had everything planned out. Her dinner plans for
tonight, her day tomorrow and the next and the next.
She wasn’t a charity case.
“Yes, I figured you were busy.  Were you at the morgue
this morning? I stopped by for our walk. Anyway, you
really should make it to dinner tonight. I told you,
I’m making eggplant Parmesan, we’ve got plenty to
spare.”
“I’ll think about it,” said Magda “how about I just
stop by in a few hours if I want to eat?
“Sure.”
Magda hung up the phone, pressing the receiver down
hard. Despite her own dinner preparations, she would
eat at Shirley’s. She could make that part of her
plan. They could take their daily walk at night this
time. Then she could check it off on her list of
things to do.
Magda left her house at 6:00pm. She turned on her
porch light and locked the door behind her, heading
down her four steps and onto the path leading out to
the sidewalk. She walked the eight and a half blocks
towards Shirley’s briskly, wearing the same purple
jogging pants, swishing with every step. Magda made it
to Shirley’s in seven minutes and banged on the door.
When Shirley opened it, Magda pushed her way in and
sat at the kitchen table. Her cup of tea from the
morning had gone unnoticed in the eyes of Shirley and
Ron. Magda forced herself to give Shirley a break, to
just a for a few hours be the nice woman that Shirley
had made friends with many years before; but it was so
forced. However, the eggplant Parmesan was delicious,
Lewis was not mentioned once and Magda always had a
good time with Ron’s humor. The one thing Magda hated
was how happy Ron and Shirley were. She fucking hated
it.
Ten minutes later Magda had convinced Shirley to take
a “digestion walk” with her over to the King Middle
School track. They had missed their daily morning walk
together and Ron was happily watching the news on
channel 6.
Magda and Shirley pulled on their polar fleeces, tied
their shoes and headed out of the house. They
meandered along the sidewalk and over to Hopkins
Street, talking of Lewis the whole way. She couldn’t
stand the way Shirley spoke of Lewis, How she turned
his whole death around and turned it into something
about herself, something about her new black funeral
dress, and something about Ron. The crosswalk over to
the entrance of King Middle School was half way down
the block, so Magda suggested jay walking. Hopkins was
busy and Magda and Shirley would have to be quick.
Magda crouched down to tie her shoe while Shirley
talked and absentmindedly began to cross the street.
Magda was focused on her shoestrings, but heard the
screeching tires of the cars and Shirley’s piercing
scream. And then she didn’t hear Shirley after that.
She had planned everything out perfectly, just as she
had done with Lewis, and Gideon for that matter.