"Pay Me No Mind" by Nancy Corbett

She walked in the back door and straight through to the front window. She looked at the gray house across the street as if it could show her what to do. She thought about the earrings she'd taken earlier in the day. What had Misty said? No one's paying any attention to us. Well, she'd used that to her advantage, didn't she? If no one was paying attention, she could do whatever she wanted. Anything she wanted. She was struck by the realization that she wasn't as vulnerable as they were. How could they defend themselves from something they couldn't even see? They had so underestimated her that she barely existed. With a laugh, she thought, "The invisible man was scary because you couldn't see him." Couldn't see him, and couldn't control him. Couldn't predict where he would strike or what he might do.

She was smiling now. She smiled at the house across the street as if it had told her these things. Suddenly, she thought she saw movement in the upstairs window in the spot where she had first imagined she saw a woman sitting in a chair. With astonishment, Natie realized that it was a woman getting up from a chair by the window. Had she been there all along? How? But the woman now stood full in the window, the autumn sunset lighting up her face. She looked out her window straight at Natie and, with her head high, smiled back.

Page 6

Next: "The Man Who Hated the Moon"