Puzzle it out

"Do you have some kind of game we can play?" I ask.

Mindy thinks about it for a moment. "I have some old ones... Oh wait!” Her face lights up. “I bought a puzzle last year that I haven’t done yet... Does that make me sound like the most boring person ever?" Mindy’s expression strikes me as overly enthusiastic for a puzzle, but it sounds like a great way to continue relaxing the day away.

"That sounds nice. Put on some music and you have a deal. I have to warn you though, I am a competitive puzzler."

"Oh really?” She laughs. “How does that work?"

"You'll see."

"I am on pins and needles," she says with a playful eye roll. Mindy goes to the pantry and flicks the light on at the top of the stairs to the basement and freezes. "Can...you help me get it? It is in the basement." She stands there, waiting for a response.

"Are you scared, Mindy?" I tease from the other side of the kitchen.

"Pfft! In this horror movie weather? Why would I be scared? Just hurry up and come down with me or we will have to find something else to do." She waits impatiently until I am close before she starts the descent. I follow her down the wooden steps.

"We can look for signs of flooding while we are down here." I suggest.

"Right... Well, you do that while I stay in the lit area," she says with an uncomfortable laugh. When we get to the concrete floor I see she isn't kidding. Much of the unfinished basement is under-lit. She walks directly to an old bookcase with stacks of worn game boxes, looking for her recent acquisition. While she does that, I walk around the perimeter, using the light on my phone to inspect the walls and floor behind the utilities, stacks of boxes and old furniture. "Found it!" She calls out.

"Okay, I'm half done. It looks fine so far." In the farthest corner of the basement I can't see much in the darkness. I sweep my phone in front of me to illuminate what I can. There is a glinting pull chain dangling from the ceiling, but there is no lightbulb in the fixture. I walk forward, sweeping the light across again. The cast shadow makes my stomach drop. "Uh...Mindy?"

"What?" she asks with a cold dread in her voice.

"Why is there a person down here?"

Through the pounding rain above us, I hear a whine come from her direction. "That’s not funny! Don't even joke with me..."

"I'm serious." There is a sudden clatter as the puzzle box hits the floor and rapid thumping of feet racing up the steps accompanied by a low shriek.

A minute later I come upstairs with the puzzle as if nothing had happened. Mindy’s eyes are wide, phone out, ready to call 9-1-1. “Warren, what’s happening?”

“It was nothing, my mistake.”

“A person in my basement is more than a mistake! What are you saying?”

“No, it was nothing...” I gesture for her to put down the phone. “ It was just that stuffed burlap dummy you set out for Halloween.”

“Oh, my word! I hate that thing... why is it in the basement? I keep it in a box so I never have to see it!”

“Maybe it got a cramp and wanted to stretch its legs.” Her phone comes up again sharply, ready to dial. “Kidding! I’m kidding! Maybe Lewis pulled it out when he was moving his stuff.”

Mindy puts the phone down on the counter and scowls. “Of course... He loves to scare me, the brat. He is grounded for life now.”

“Yeah... Grounding doesn’t really have teeth if he doesn’t live here.”

Mindy huffs then quickly turn on all the lights in the kitchen and puts on some music to banish the lingering creepy mood by overwhelming the grey murky light and thrashing rain sounds from outside. I set the box on the table.

The puzzle image is an old illustration depicting a young man dressed in feudal clothing, including cloth cap and cloth shoes. The young man stands among what seems like a hundred birdcages, each with a unique design, some hanging, some on stands, each with a bird inside, all except for the cage the young man has opened, letting a bird free.

“All these cages in the background are going to be difficult,” Mindy says. “But I love this picture.”

“Me, too. What is it from?”

“I’m not sure, but it gives me nostalgia of reading illustrated fairytale books as a kid.”

I nod in agreement. “Very cool.” We start spreading and sorting pieces. Once spread and flipped, we began pulling out the edge pieces. We sit on opposite sides of the table and decide to orient it so the left edge of the puzzle is near me and the left is near Mindy. We start working in silence, happily hunting and experimenting. Mindy makes the first match.

“You know...once Lewis and I used that Halloween dummy as target practice in the garage.”

"Really? That would explain why it looks so beat up. I always wondered what kind of trouble you two were up to." Mindy smiled for a second, then jutted her chin forward as she shot me a suspicious stare. “Ohhhhhh.... that must have been when I found it in my backseat! I almost had an accident on my way to work when I saw it in the rearview mirror.”

“For the record, I had no part in that.” Snap.

Mindy regards me for a couple seconds. “But you knew about it.”

“Maybe...”

“That makes you an accomplice. I could have died.”

My smile falters. “Uh, how close to **** are we talking?”

“I screamed, and almost veered into the next lane on the freeway... not to mention the heart-attack I almost had.”

“Aw, I feel guilty now.” Snap.

“You should!”

We look at each other and both start to smile. “Want me to get him back with a **** prank?”

“Oh, would you? I would love that...as long as it doesn’t cause an accident. What do you have in mind?”

“Not sure yet, but we have all day to think of something.” Snap. Snap.

Mindy notices my progress. “Hey! How’d you get so many pieces together so fast?”

“I told you. I’m competitive.”

She looks at me, then her eyes narrow. “Are you trying to distract me with table talk?”

“I wouldn’t do that to you—as far as you know,” I say with a slowly rising eyebrow. Snap.

“Wow. That’s how it is...” She stops talking to study the pieces in determined silence as she collects similar pieces and puts them in a row to compare contours. She snaps two together.

“I wonder if Tonya would want to be in on a **** prank,” I say to no one in particular. Snap.

Mindy is about to reply, then squints at me and shakes her head, not falling for the bait. She scans the pieces again until she finds something. “Ah!” Snap. She gives me a satisfied, puckering smile.

“She always loved to get us in trouble whenever possible. I wanted to wring her neck...." Mindy only flickers her eyes at me. A minute later I try again. "I could put Willie in Lewis’ closet.” Snap.

“Willie?” She looks at me, confused.

“That’s the name we gave the dummy.”

“Ew... I don’t like that it has a name..." A smile stretches across her face. "But finding it in his own apartment would be a surprise, wouldn’t it?” Her smile turns to a frown when she sees me snapping in another piece with a shit-eating grin. “Oh, you are so bad!”

“Guilty as charged.” The black, wrought iron birdcage I’m working on is nearly complete, while the similarly sized, golden cage Mindy is working on barely half done. She focuses again, rotating her loose pieces against every part of the cage. She grumbles in frustration, then looks for more golden pieces across the table. I start extending my progress into a silver cage that runs along the left edge of the puzzle. “Hey, are you getting hungry? I haven’t eaten much today.”

Mindy looks up with her usual concern. “Sure, I can make us something...” Then she pauses and screws up her face, pointing at me. “Oh my word... You are doing it again! You want to keep me occupied so you can win. I really can’t trust you for a second, can I?”

I give her my most innocent look. Snap.

Mindy stares in disbelief. “Alright, mister! How about you get the snack yourself. There is a vegetable tray in the refrigerator. Take your sweet time.” She waves me off and resumes her search for the golden cage pieces.

I chuckle, then get up. I retrieve and open the plastic tray and take out a carrot, bite into it, then slide the tray over to Mindy. She glances at it, then at me, seeing my expectant look. She rolls her eyes, takes out a carrot and crunches into it without pleasure, maintaining eye contact, as if just to prove to me that she does indeed eat something that isn’t junk food. After a few chews, she slides the tray back at me. We work in quiet concentration for a long time, with the occasional carrot or celery crunch, followed by the tray sliding across the table, building out the puzzle inch by inch.

I sit back and look at the table, deciding I’m thirsty. “Mindy, do you have any **** in the house?”

Mindy’s face lightens. “Mmmm.... Some wine would be perfect right now. Too bad I don’t have any... I stopped stocking any when Lewis started getting into trouble. I guess I could start again,” she says with a wry smile.

I start to debate offering up one of the many bottles of champagne currently in her van when she thinks of something. “Wait a second!” She gets up and opens the freezer and starts digging into its lower strata. “Found it!” She holds up a pair of silver pouches.

“What is that?”

“Frozen margaritas!”

“Alright! The traditional beverage for thunderstorms!”

“Yeah, well... It is what I have. Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll take it!” I say enthusiastically. “How many are there?”

“Four. That should be enough.” Mindy pauses and averts her eyes, clearly about to say more. “I may have...bought a bag of tortilla chips at the grocery store today...” It’s my turn to squint at her.

“Oh reeeeally? Stashing junk food around the house? How many secrets are you keeping from me, Mindy?” I lay the judgement on extra thick.

“I put everything else back! I just need something crunchy—besides carrots,” she adds sourly, following my eyes to the tray. “But if we are having margaritas, we should have chips and salsa, too.... Right?”

“Okay,” I relent. “That sounds pretty good. I guess we are done with these then.” I put the lid back on the vegetable tray. Mindy nods emphatically. "Don't look so happy about it." She sticks out her tongue and winks.

She pounds the drink pouches on the counter with her fist to mash the frozen contents into a drinkable slurry. “Do you want it in a glass or in the pouch?”

“The pouch is fine.”

Mindy turns back to me, holding up the cold pouches with fat straws sticking out of them. “Now we have a par-tay,” she says with a bright toothy grin.

I snap another piece in place and grin back.

“Warren!” She walks around behind me, puts her hand on my shoulder, pressing her short nails into me. Then plops the pouch on the table in front of me unceremoniously, sending a tiny squirt of beverage into the air. “You can have chip and salsa duty while I work on the puzzle.”

“Okay...” I take a sip, then get up. “Where do you keep the chips?”

“Pantry,” she answers curtly as she takes her own pouch to her seat and stares at the puzzle again.

I find the bag and bring it to the counter. “Got it." I scrounge for any topic to keep her distracted. "Do you like this brand of chips?” Mindy barely grunts a reply, just making an annoyed face and looking for another match. I open one cabinet door after another, closing each one just a little more loudly than necessary. I get through half of the cabinets when she finally can’t take it anymore.

“Serving bowls are there!” She points with her arm fully extended.

“This one?” I play dumb. Mindy almost gets up, then resists.

“Next to it!” Her eyes and nose flare at me, then she turns back to the puzzle, taking a large sip from the pouch and swallowing. I loudly fill the bowl with chips. “You know, puzzles are less annoying when I do them alone.”

I step behind her and put my hand on her shoulder. “You mean less dramatic.” I swing the bowl in a wide arc in front of her, tipping it so the chips are held in place only from centripetal ****, I right it sharply in front of her, then let it clatter the last inch onto the table. She snorts back a laugh. I get the salsa, then sit down, getting back to the competition.

“So, Warren, tell me about your most recent date.” Mindy looks at the puzzle, smirking to herself. She is trying to distract me now.