buoyancy Mrs. Feltz swept the floor with stiff, brutal gestures. Her gestures had an urgency that was subtly communicated to them by the clock on the wall. The minute hand was now so close to the "12" that it seemed to accelerate slightly, but Mrs. Feltz was unaware of the time. Mrs. Feltz had a son. He was sitting in the room with her and, though he was too old to be sitting on floors, that is where he sat. He was fourteen. He wore a dark turtleneck and brushed corduroy pants and sandals with a wide, soft strap. His hair was long and, since it hadn't been washed for a couple of days, it was heavy and fell into his face. His face was pale, his complexion unclean, his mouth slack. Now Mrs. Feltz, in her sweeping, had reached the part of the room where her son was. She struck the broom against his feet, making a shooing motion. "Get out of the corner, Pete, I have to sweep." "Ma...," Pete said with a cry of genuine despair. "Get up or I'll hit you!" Mrs. Feltz said, raising the broom above his head. Pete merely cringed and held his arms over his head. He rocked a little and there issued from him a soft moaning, which became a cough. "What's the matter with you?" his mother said, in a tone of my-patience-is-thin. "Why are you sweeping now? You know I like to sit here. Couldn't you wait until some other time, when I'm out of the house or something?" "Just get up." She took his upper arm in her firm grip and raised him to his feet in one motion. "Let go of me," Pete said, stiffening his whole body. He turned his shoulder away from her and took a step. "Don't think you can walk away from me like that, you little cockroach!" Her stubby finger was shaking directly in front of his nose, which made him crosseyed. "Ma," he said. "Relax. You're treating me like a normal child." "Your sister's a normal child! She doesn't sit on the kitchen floor in the middle of the day when I'm trying to sleep!" "Sweep, ma." Mrs. Feltz froze in place. Her son had beaten her, again. He had tricked her into a rage so great that she made a slip of the tongue, which broke her spell. And when Pete stepped in and corrected her, it gave him the power to reweave the spell however he chose. He used this power to freeze her solid. "You look silly," he said, stepping around her, her mouth still open in anger. Erect, he had an unexpected buoyancy that made him feel almost princely, and this gave his gestures a more-than-natural grace. He felt like he had stepped out of his skin. I don't have to just leave the room, he reflected, I could leave the house. Damn, I could even leave town and see the rest of the world! "I wonder if I'm invisible," he said out loud. He spun anxiously on one foot, making frantic calculations. His sister wouldn't be home for at least two hours, and when she did get back it would take her a while to get Ma unfrozen. If he left now, he would have a good five- or six-hour headstart.
	location: New York City date: 1991 average rating: [not rated] your rating (0-10):