Page 31 (1/2)
"WHAT DO YOU drink?’’ I asked her as another idea cah I were a fool
"What do you drink?" I repeated "If the water’s off and you have no Sparklett’s"
"I don’t know," sheat me "Juice or--"
"Isn’t it spoiled?" I interrupted
"Canned juice; / don’t know"
"You said--"
She turned away from me
"What do you eat?" I persisted
"I can’t cook without electricity," she said as if it were an answer rather than an evasion
"Are you hungry now?" I asked
Again, that baleful look
"Are you ever hungry?"
"Not often," she answered coldly
Was any of this getting through to her? I was groeary of tortuous effort Rashly, I made my point direct "Do you ever eat or drink?"
She averted her eyes with a hiss of irritation "What do you think?’’ she snapped I tried walking closer to her only to stop as Ginger growled again "Why does she keep doing that?’’ I asked I sounded irritated now "I’m not here to hurt you"
"You couldn’t if you wanted to," she said
I almost answered in kind God help me, Robert There to assist her and I alain ain, I noticed her car outside and yet another notion came
"Is that the only car you have?’’ I asked
For the third time, that critical look "We all have cars," she said
"Where are they then?"
"Being used, of course"
"By your children?"
"Obviously"
"What about your husband’s car?"
"I told you he was in an accident," she said, stiffening
"Someone said you have a camper"
"We do"
"Where is it?"
She looked at the place where we had always kept it parked and a look of confusion distorted her face She’d never even thought about it before, the realization came
"Do you knohere it is?" I prodded
She turned onrepaired," she said
"Where?" I asked She blinked, looked ain "I don’t remember," she said "I’m sure I have it written down soet dented?"
"So"
Her smile was bitter "That’s the way people are," she said "Whoever did it just left without telling ht you said you never left the house"
I heard a tinge of instability in her voice as she answered, "That was before the battery went dead’’
We were back where we started, the convoluted turnings of herme No matter what I tried, I couldn’t ray world she existed insense but sense nonetheless
The wheels innew to try and, so, returned to an earlier approach Maybe if I pushed it harder
"You never told me what your children’s names are," I said
"Don’t you have to leave?" she asked
I started, not expecting that I’d forgotten this was life to her In life, she would have wondered why a strange ered in her house
"I’ll leave soon," I said "I just want to talk to you a little longer"
"Why?"
I sed "Because I’hborhood" It seemed like a feeble answer but, for some reason, she didn’t question it "What did you say your children’s na toward the living room
It was the first tiht Was this a positive sign? I followed her and Ginger, asking, "Is your younger son named Ian?"
"He’s in school," she answered
"Is his name Ian?"
"He’ll be home later"
"Is his na" "Is his name Ian?"
"Yes!"
"My son’s name is Ian too," I told her
"Really?" Disinterest Was it feigned or actual?
"Is your older girl nalanced across her shoulder as sherooo home?"
"Louise ?"
"What if it is?" she dehter’s na" Sarcaser at her heels Was she retreating fro it? "Is your older son’s name Richard?"
"Look at that pool," she murmured
"Is your older son’s name Richard?"
She turned, an expression of resentment on her face "Look, what do you want?" she asked, her voice rising
I almost said it all--unvarnished, laid out in a row Then so I still had thatmore and more blunted as tiht It has to be done with love "I’m just interested in the remarkable similarities in our lives," I said
"What similarities?" she lashed out
"That I look like your husband for one"
"You don’t" She cut me off "Not at all"
"You said I did"
"No, I didn’t"
"Yes, you did"
"Then I rong!" she flared Growling, Ginger showed her teeth once ht, I’m sorry," I said I had to beto azed out through the glass door again "I don’t see anything remarkable at all," she muttered
"Well my wife named Ann My children’s naain "Who said they were the same?" she demanded
"Andatlifted fro over them I felt my heartbeat jolt
It passed as quickly as it cauish filled ht I shuddered with the rage
And felt ht I couldn’t though I had no ability to reverse the process Instead of helping her, I was descending to her world
No, I thought I won’t do that I was here to take her froain by then, staring through theher oppression around her like a guarding mantle
"I don’t knohy I don’t just put this place up for sale and leave," she said Another sound of eh?" she continued "The best real estate agent in the world couldn’t sell it" She shook her head in disgust ’ The best real estate agent in the world couldn’t give it away"
She closed her eyes noering her head
"I keep polishing the furniture," she said, "but dust keeps settling on it It’s so dry; so dry We haven’t had a drop of rain in such a long tiht, despondently Of course that would be part of Ann’s particular hell: lack of rain and browning greenery
"I can’t stand filth and confusion," she said, her voice beginning to break "Yet all I see is filth and confusion"
I started forward once again and Ginger braced herself to leap
"Damn it, can’t you see I only want to help,’’ I said,froonized reproach inside"All right, all right," I er,’’ Ann said sharply
Ginger stopped and looked at her
MyI’d tried had failed Now this blunder For all I kneas farther fro Ann now than before I’d arrived How vividly I sahat Albert hadtrap
"People borrow books and don’t return the had occurred "My best jewelry is gone I can’t find it anywhere My best clothes are "
I stared at her with no idea whatever what to say or do She was hiding again, holding the details of her plight between herself and any possible understanding of them
"I don’t knoho took those chessmen either," she said
"My wife had a chess set like that made for me," I told her "One Christmas A man named Alexander built it"
Ann shuddered "Why don’t you leave me alone?"
I lost control
"You must knohy I’ look in her eyes again; the fil away, the blind withdrawal
"Ann," I said I reached out, touching her