Page 78 of The Hitchhikers
“What about Ruth, then? She could do it.”
“Yeah, whatever. She can come up later.”
“The casserole will be a half hour. I’d like to wait in the basement.”
“I don’t feel like moving the table.” He pushed a chair out with his foot. “Have a seat.”
Alice looked toward Jenny. She was still focused on her book.If Jenny felt any kind of way about the fact that her boyfriend wasn’t on the couch with her, she didn’t show it.
Alice sat. Simon slid a newspaper toward her, folded open to a crossword puzzle. Some of the squares were filled in. He rolled a pen over as well.
“You can help me finish. Read the questions out.”
Simon was good at crosswords, and quick with his answers, but he mostly seemed to enjoy surprising her. Each time he got a question right, he would smirk.
“Thought I was stupid, didn’t you?”
“No. I think you make stupid decisions.”
He laughed and took a drag of his cigarette, one eye squinted. He’d already smoked so many, the air was cloudy. The haze drifted all the way into the living room and swirled in the sunbeams. From the corner of her eye, Alice saw Jenny wrinkle her nose and fan it away.
When the timer went off, Alice jumped to her feet, glad that she’d soon be done with the two of them. She dished out servings of casserole for Jenny and Simon, then found a tray to carry plates to the basement. She added forks and a spoon, bread, butter, a plastic pitcher of water, cups, and a quart-sized glass milk bottle from the fridge. There were two more milk bottles that she wished she could take, but her tray was full, and Simon was beginning to look annoyed.
He dragged the table and chairs away and lifted the hatch. Alice carefully took a few steps, balancing the tray. Bones followed. She stopped and looked back up at Simon.
“The animals. They’ll need to be fed soon.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He let go of the hatch and she had to duck so that it didn’t hit her.
Tom was able to feed himself with his one hand, so Alice focused on her meal and told them what she had learned upstairs, which wasn’t much except that the truck repairs didn’t seem tobe going smoothly, and Simon was getting drunk. The thought of what might happen if he couldn’t fix the truck turned the few bites of food in her stomach to stone.
“Casserole is lovely, dear,” Ruth said, but Alice didn’t think the woman had much appetite either. She was chewing slowly, like she was forcing herself to go through the motions.
A couple of hours later, Alice began to worry that Simon had forgotten about the animals. She walked over and assessed the hatch. It was insulated like the ceiling, but it was still wood, and wood made sound. She knocked on one of the beams. No response from above.
She looked among the boxes until she found a brass lamp.
“Do you mind if I dent your lamp, Ruth?”
“Not at all, dear.”
Standing on the stairs, and aiming up over her head, Alice swung the lamp as hard as she could against the wood. She hit it a few more times, but her neck and shoulders were already aching. She was almost ready to give up when she heard scraping above. The hatch lifted.
Light poured in, Simon’s body a looming shape. He was aiming the handgun down at her. She thought about tripping him. Maybe grabbing his legs and pulling him off-balance.
He might drop the gun. But he might also pull the trigger.
“Drop it,” he said.
She let go. The lamp bounced down the stairs, then rolled away with a clatter.
“What the hell is your problem?”
“The animals.”
“Jesus, fine. Send the old lady.”
Bones left with Ruth. When they returned later, Ruth’s cheeks were pink from the fresh air, and Bones smelled of hay when he came over to greet Alice. William held Ruth’s hand and rubbed his thumb over hers.
