Page 148 - Where the Dream Ends ebook
P. 148

Marc Erdrich


           “I went outside to pee,” he said, whispering.

           “Why didn’t you use the bathroom?”

           “I don’t know. I was wide awake from all that coffee and the
        door to Bob and Jean’s room was open…. I don’t think Jean
        is home yet.”

           “You’re kidding!” his wife said, incredulous. “What time is
        it?”

           “I don’t know. Two, two-thirty. I didn’t look.”

           “Bob is going to kill her,” she said too loud, her voice a full
        octave higher. “He shouldn’t have left without her,” she said
        menacingly, her voice a whisper now.

           “You know Jean,” Harry said brightly, “she can’t resist those
        fun-loving Italians.”
           Just then, they heard a vehicle bumping along the beach
        road.

           “Sshhh,” Harry’s wife said.

           They listened in silence as the vehicle pulled off the road and
        onto the gravel driveway leading to the villa. A door opened
        and slammed shut. There were the sounds of people talking,
        and laughter. The voices were cut short by a wave crashing
        against the shore. As the wave ebbed, they heard the car pull
        away; the door to the villa swung open. Then, just as another
        wave hit the shore, they heard what sounded like a grunt. Har-
        ry and his wife lay deathly still as they imagined Jean thrashing
        about in the living room. They heard footsteps, water running
        from  the  tap,  the  refrigerator  opening  then  closing,  a  door


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