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Still sitting in the chair beside Da
Her eyes fell on the wasps' nest.
It held the ultimate high place in Da
The water in the bathroom was still ru
She knocked lightly on the closed bathroom room. “You okay, doc? You awake?”
No answer.
“Da
No answer. She tried the door. It was locked.
“Da
No answer.
“Da
“Jesus Christ, Wendy, I can't think if you're going to pound on the door all night.”
“Da
Jack came around the desk, looking put out. He knocked on the door once, hard. “Open up, Da
No answer.
Jack knocked harder. “Stop fooling, doc. Bedtime's bedtime. Spanking if you don't open up.”
He's losing his temper, she thought, and was more afraid. He had not touched Da
“Da
No answer. Only ru
“Da
Nothing.
“Break it,” she said, and suddenly it was hard to talk. “Quick.”
He raised one foot and brought it down hard against the door to the right of the knob. The lock was a poor thing; it gave immediately and the door shuddered open, banging the tiled bathroom wall and rebounding halfway.
“Da
The water was ru
“Da
Da
Then she was pushed aside so hard that she crashed into the towel rack, and Jack was kneeling in front of the boy.
“Da
“Ah-sure,” Da
“Da
“Roque!” Da
“Oh Jack my God what's wrong with him?”
Jack grabbed the boy's elbows and shook him hard. Da
“Roque. Stroke. Redrum.”
Jack shook him again, and Da
“What?” he asked, looking around. He saw his father kneeling before him, Wendy standing by the wall. “What?” Da
“Don't stutter!” Jack suddenly screamed into his face. Da
The water ran ceaselessly in the basin, and Wendy felt that she had suddenly stepped into some grinding nightmare where time ran backward, backward to the time when her drunken husband had broken her son's arm and had then mewled over him in almost the exact same words.
(Oh honey. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, doc. Please. So sorry.)
She ran to them both, pried Da
She sat down on Da
“Da
At last Da
(It's him first and it's always been him first)
of jealousy. Jack had shouted at him, she had comforted him, yet it was to his father that Da
“I'm sorry if I was bad.”
“Nothing to be sorry for, doc.” Jack ruffled his hair. “What the hell happened in there?”
Da
“Of course not,” Jack said heartily, but Wendy felt a cold finger touch her heart. Jack suddenly looked scared, as if he'd seen something that might just have been a ghost.
“Something about the timer…” Da
“What?” Jack was leaning forward, and Da
“Jack, you're scaring him!” she said, and her voice was high, accusatory. It suddenly came to her that they were all scared. But of what?
“I don't know, I don't know,” Da
“Nothing,” Jack muttered. He took his handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped his mouth with it. Wendy had a moment of that sickening time-is-ru
“Why did you lock the door, Da
“Tony,” he said. “Tony told me to.”
They exchanged a glance over the top of his head.
“Did Tony say why, son?” Jack asked quietly.
“I was brushing my teeth and I was thinking about my reading,” Da