Sheba With the Scary Laugh

Sheba was a woman whose laugh scared alley people. It preceded her from every corner of a fish market. She loved being loud and boisterous, loved attention. We always had followers when she was about. That she had long skinny legs and a heart face helped. Her eyes were cat’s eye green, and she had blonde hair. “Men date blondes, but they don’t marry them,” Mother said. Sheba did not know this. By twenty-six she had been married thrice. She did not have to keep a job long, or at all. The men she went after wore suits and drove expensive cars. She demanded they produce their bank statements on the second date. If they declined, there was not a third date. She was decisive. She was not great at computers, but she could make a date on one. She did and often; I imagine she had six or eight dates a week. It's how she paid her rent, and bought groceries; she liked these things. She may have made the wrong date. She disappeared eight months ago. Or maybe she asked the wrong guy for his bank statement.