Nightmare Country Read Online Free PDF

company buildings were painted a bright unlikely blue in poor competition with the color of the sky. The aluminum contours of the hopper building towered above water-storage tanks. Its elevator shaft reached diagonally across railroad tracks. And no sound of machinery, of men at work or children at play. If the creek still sang down by the bridge and the birds conversed in the bushes, she couldn’t hear them. It was as if sound was swallowed up in so much empty space around and so much cloudless sky above.
    â€œThis is no place for the lonely,” she said aloud, this time to make sound and to hear it. Tamara slipped into a favorite fantasy, and red bricks and silver propane cylinders blurred in her outer vision. Inner vision focused on a redwood house with a deck, surrounded by pine trees and overlooking a small lake, where Adrian rowed contentedly with a girlfriend. Gil Whelan stood on the deck with her, watching his daughter, the misery in his voice barely suppressed.
    â€œListen, Tam, give me a chance. I’ll make it work. I’ve admitted the whole thing was a mistake—”
    â€œI’m not sure it was, Gil. Since you left, Adrian and I have discovered we can do very well without you.”
    â€œThere’s someone else.”
    She checked her earrings and picked up a purse and briefcase off the picnic table. “It’s just that I like my freedom. I have responsibilities now, both with Adrian and my career, and I just can’t take on any more. That includes you. Stay and have a chat with your daughter. I’m already late to an important meeting.”
    Tamara had seen a house much like the one in her fantasy in a magazine, the stunning outfit she would have worn that morning in a store window.
    The grating screech of monstrous machinery somewhere in the mining area sundered the silence of Iron Mountain and her dream. The red brick and the propane tank snapped into focus. You’ll never be in a position to buy a house like that . And it would take a lot more than a house to straighten out Adrian. But she felt so good in that dream, so relaxed.
    Walking back the way she’d come, Tamara found Vinnie Hope scattering grain in the chicken yard, and the goat butting a wooden fence post to attract attention. The piquant odor of manure blended with that of earth and sun-scorched vegetation, helped to fill the odd impression of void that seemed to empty Iron Mountain of enough sensations to credit existence. That and the clamor of machinery and the ordinary child doing mundane chores while humming a tune from a TV commercial.
    â€œVinnie, when will this Jerusha be back?”
    â€œWhen she wants to be.” Vinnie disappeared into the chicken coop.
    â€œBut I thought I saw someone inside lying in bed. You sure she’s gone, and not sick or something?”
    A face appeared at the doorway, partially hidden by stringy curls, the expression less ordinary now, rather too old and knowing. “Don’t be like Miss Kopecky. Jerusha don’t like snoops.”
    â€œVinnie …” But the face was gone, and Tamara waited for the girl to appear with a basket of brown eggs. “I just wanted to be sure she’s not lying in there sick and needing help.”
    â€œJerusha can take care of herself. And when she gets back, she’ll be hungry.” Vinnie held up the basket, which looked like a veteran from last Easter. “And she’ll want lots of eggs and peanut butter.”
    â€œYou have checked the bedroom?”
    â€œI’ve been all over the house since she’s gone. She left me in charge.”
    â€œWhere did she go? Or is that considered snooping?”
    â€œOn a search trip. She’s a scientist.”
    What kind of scientist would live in a place like this? “You mean a research trip?”
    â€œYeah.” Vinnie’s tone suggested new respect for the teacher. “You know about scientists?”
    â€œOnly that