Matronly Duties Read Online Free PDF Page B

the men, I sprint as fast as my legs can carry me and duck into the darkness.
    I only make it a few paces down the alley when a hand comes around my waist and pulls me through a doorway. I open my mouth to scream but swallow it when I realise my pursuers are the only ones close enough to hear me. Instead, I kick and wriggle, trying to flee from my new captor.
    “Let me go!”
    “Shh, it’s Howard. You need to be quiet.” He puts me down and closes the door. “It’s not safe.”
    When I turn around he’s standing only centimetres behind me, his chest rising and falling like he’s out of breath. He bolts the door shut, then grabs my hand and guides me to the rear of the space, where he overturns a couple of empty crates and beckons me to sit. I look around, noting the crates of grain and other food stores scattered about.
    I yank my hand out of his. “What are you doing, following me?”
    “Saving your butt.” He huffs, then paces back and forth. “Did my mum not tell you how dangerous it is to be out at night around here?”
    I feel heat creep up my neck, across my cheeks, and all the way to the tips of my ears. I’m glad there’s not much light in the room so he can’t see how red I am.
    “She might have mentioned it,” I say, sitting down and keeping my eyes trained on him.
    Footfalls sound outside the door, and Howard puts his finger to his lips, his face begging me not to make a sound. The noise fades a little, then gets loud again, and eventually disappears altogether.
    Howard stares at me and cocks an eyebrow. “Well?”
    “Well, what?”
    “Well, if you knew it was dangerous, why on earth did you run away?”
    “You scared me. So when the lights went out I took a chance.”
    Howard wrings his hands for a second then says, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
    “Well, you did. And you could have told me it was you before you grabbed me. You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
    “I didn’t want you getting hurt. I mean, do you even know where you are?”
    The expression on his face is a cross between you’re an idiot and please don’t scare me like that again . It makes me bite my tongue and shake my head.
    “No, I don’t.”
    “You’re in the far west ward. One of the worst slums in the city. Someone sees a pretty woman like you wandering around and nothing good would come of it.”
    My body shakes at the thought of what could have happened to me yet again. I’ve heard stories about the slums, and I have to take a few deep breaths to calm myself.
    “I was silly running away, I get it. I just couldn’t stay in your home any longer.”
    Howard sighs. “Just because my parents raised us with traditionalist values doesn’t mean we are anything like the Trads. You accused us of being a drain on society, but you don’t even know us.”
    “You’re right, I don’t know you. But you don’t know me either. If you did, you would understand why it’s hard for me to understand your way of life. It goes against every law, moral, and convention I’ve been taught. So I can’t be sorry for what I said, even if I’m sorry I ran out of the house.”
    Howard takes a deep breath, then exhales long and slow. The expression on his face looks a bit like pity but with a dash of guilt mixed in. “Look, maybe I’ve judged you unfairly based on preconceived notions, but—”
    A loud bang echoes outside. Howard glances at me with a panicked look on his face, and then pulls me off the crate onto the floor behind. I sit up, and turn to yell at him, but male voices outside keep my mouth closed. Instead I huddle closer to Howard as he puts his hand around my shoulders. He pulls me in until I’m tucked against him.
    “Did you see where she went?” a man’s voice asks.
    “Nah, she just vanished.” The voice of this one sounds young.
    “Damn, the boss isn’t going to be pleased about this.”
    The crunch of shoes against pavement indicates they are on the move again. The sounds trail off until