Prospero's Half-Life Read Online Free PDF Page B

apologize. When she didn’t, he picked up the remote and
started the movie back up.
    He couldn’t concentrate on it. He hadn’t really wanted to see
it in the first place. In a normal
world, he thought, if a night was going like this it would probably best to just
get up, say that you should get going, and just go. Now, though,
what am I supposed to do? He had a mental
image of the street outside, with the gunshot corpses piled up in
the streets, and knew that going outside was simply not an option.
Samantha hadn’t asked him to leave, so he was going to stay. Simple
as that.
    Presently he
had to use the washroom. He knew where it was, thankfully, having
seen it on his way in, so it eliminated the need to ask her a
question and risk a glare or worse. He simply got up quietly and
tried to be as quiet as possible on his way there.
    After voiding his bladder, he spent some time staring at
himself in the mirror. He looked alright on the surface, he knew;
hair still staying put, clothes still on straight, bearing upright
and intact. His eyes had a wild look, though, that went well with
the speed of his heartbeat. You’re the
manager he told himself sharply. She’s the worker. You’re in charge, don’t let her
dictate the terms. He knew it was absolute
crap. That relationship had ended the moment that they had left the
store’s parking lot. Now they were just two random people thrown
together by something that Richard still couldn’t feel as a cold
reality. It was unnerving.
    When he left
the bathroom he was startled to see Samantha standing in the
kitchen. She didn’t look angry anymore. She was half-looking at the
floor, and there was a sorrowful expression playing around the
edges of her face. Richard stood in the doorway and looked at her
without speaking.
    “ I’m sorry” she began.
    “ I’m sorry too” Richard cut her off. “I should really learn to
think before I say things”. He smiled ruefully. “Maybe it’s a
manager thing”.
    She smiled at that, a real smile that went all the way to her
eyes. “I wasn’t really mad at you, I guess. I just don’t see how
things can be any
better”.
    “ Well, now I don’t know about that”, he replied warmly. “Except
for this little spat tonight was going pretty well. All things
considered”.
    She laughed a
little. “Yeah, I guess so. Tonight’s been pretty distracting, in
the best way”.
    They stood
where they were, neither one talking, for a moment that was
temporally brief but felt psychologically much longer.
    “ I have some wine stashed away”, Samantha said suddenly,
mercifully breaking the silence. “Want some?”
    “ I’d love some” Richard replied, nodding emphatically. Samantha
retrieved an opaque bottle of red wine from under the sink and a
pair of dusty wine glasses from the cupboards over the stove. After
a moment or so she found a corkscrew as well, and with a bit of
effort popped the cork out of the bottleneck. The wine gurgled
richly into the glasses and for a brief, nauseating moment Richard
imagined that it was blood pouring out. He shook his head and
gritted his teeth, and the image soon passed.
    They took the
wine back into the living room and resumed the movie. Samantha sat
beside Richard, moving closer every few minutes until they were
practically cuddling. Instinctively he put an arm around her,
panicking slightly at the last moment about whether he was being
too forward with her. She didn’t seem to mind, however. She nuzzled
into his side after he did it, and sipped at her wine. Her
closeness made him feel oddly nervous, as if he were doing
something vaguely illegal and she was at any moment going to get up
and tell him to leave, that she wasn’t like that. He sipped at the
wine (rich, fruity, hints of blackberry) and tried to keep his mind
on the movie and not the warm, curvy woman currently snuggling next
to him.
    He was shocked
when he felt her hand caress the fly of his pants but, in a feat of
superhuman will, tried