"Almost there?" she said.
He nodded and bent to pick up his end.
Mimi plunged through the cave mouth without a moment's hesitation and
they set him down just inside the entrance, near a pair of stained
cotton Y-fronts.
Alan waited for his heart to stop thudding and the sweat to cool on his
brow and then he kicked the underwear away as an afterthought.
"God," he said. She moved to him, put her arm around his shoulder.
"You're being brave," she said.
"God," he said again.
"Let it out, you know, if you want to."
But he didn't, he wanted to sit down. He moved to his mother's side and
leaned against her.
Mimi sat on her hunkers before him and took his hand and tried to tilt
his chin up with one finger, but he resisted her pull and she rose and
began to explore the cave. He heard her stop near Marci's skeleton for a
long while, then move some more. She circled him and his mother, then
opened her lid and stared into her hamper. He wanted to tell her not to
touch his mother, but the words sounded ridiculous in his head and he
didn't dare find out how stupid they sounded moving through freespace.
And then the washing machine bucked and made a snapping sound and hummed
to life.
*The generator's dead,* he thought. *And she's all rusted through.* And
still the washing machine moved. He heard the gush of water filling
her, a wet and muddy sound.
Pages:
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389