strange radiation: the pool of radiance archive
Adventures with an unreliable narrator.
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Dec 27 06: the prodigal returns
I was hauling myself out of bed when the doorman buzzed up. She was here, he said. I pulled on yesterday’s chinos from their customary heap by the bed, and ran out into the hall to mash the elevator buttons.
I never thought she’d come back, but there she was in the lobby of my apartment building. She didn’t say anything. She kept silent all the way up to the thirteenth floor, and when she slumped down in the rickety wooden chair in my bedroom she wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“So where did you go?”
No response. I started going through her pockets, looking for the things of mine I knew she’d had on her when we parted company. Pretty much all of it was still there, although I’d swear she was carrying my electric razor last time I saw her. I found a scrap of paper that suggested she’d been searched by some Fed along the way. Somewhere out there I think there’s an agent with a real smooth face. On the other hand, she did have my knitting bag. If she’d lost the knitting there would have been real trouble.
“Good to have you back, baby,” I said. She still didn’t say anything. “I gotta get to the office now,” I said, as I slid her into her usual spot under the bed. “You know how it is. But we can talk tonight.”
She didn’t say anything, but I thought I could hear her sniffle gently. Fine. For now, the dust bunnies could keep her company. I had to get to work.
I put on my coat and headed for the door.