Shadow on the Moon Read Online Free PDF Page B

It had regarded them, not with terror,
but with resignation to its terrible fate. Feeling suddenly uncomfortable, she
glanced away.
    "Your pupils are no longer
dilated, but you were unresponsive for quite a while." He poured
disinfectant onto a cotton ball, then lifted the bandage from her forehead and
moved the cotton toward the gash beneath. "This may sting a bit."
    "I wasn't able to get much
sleep during the last few days," Dana offered, steeling herself against
the bite of the antiseptic. "Maybe that's the reason I was out so
long."
    "Looks like you're going to
live." Morgan resettled her bandage. "Hungry?"
    Dana nodded.
      "I'll fix you something to eat." He
went back to the kitchen and turned a burner on under a porcelain saucepan,
then began nervously pacing in front of the stove.
    A bit unsettled by his
restlessness, Dana examined the cabin again. It was built almost like a fort.
All the doors were set in frames over a foot in width and reinforced by heavy
crossbeams. Oddly, only the bedroom door had steel plates, and Dana wondered
why. Wouldn't it make more sense to fortify the front door?
    She got up and began circling the
room, touching this and that—the corner of the sturdy dining table, a chair,
the refrigerator, a bookcase—wanting to make it all familiar, in some sense
make it hers. As she passed the kitchen, Morgan shoved a bowl toward her.
    "Porridge," he said as he
handed it over.
    "Not very exciting, but it's
easy to digest and sticks to your ribs."
    Dana peered down. "You have
milk and sugar?"
    "Will goat's milk do?"
    Dana smiled. "I haven't had
goat's milk in years."
    "Appetite good. The patient's
recovering." Morgan's remarkable smile emerged.
    Dana met his smile, but it faded
immediately. He stared thoughtfully for the space of a breath, then opened the
refrigerator, pulled out a pitcher of milk. Dana poured out the porridge along
with several teaspoons of brown sugar found in a bowl on the table, then sat
down and dug in, surprised to discover how hungry she was.
    "That was good," she
informed Morgan after she'd cleaned out the bowl.
    "Want more?"
    Dana shook her head, watching
Morgan with curiosity as he continued prowling the room. When he circled the
table for the third time, he picked up her empty bowl and carried it to the
sink. Then he moved to the open pantry and picked up a bottle.
    "Tylenol," he said,
placing it on the table. "Take a couple if it hurts too bad. But no
aspirin. It exacerbates hemorrhaging." He paused for a moment, then began
pacing the room again. "You seem healthy enough, but you were out of it
long enough that I'm concerned."
    "Like I said, I've been
skimping on sleep."
    He eyed her thoughtfully, stopping
at a bookcase where he picked up a slim volume. "I'd rather err on the
side of caution."
    Dana touched her forehead. The
bandage was tidy and secure. A real professional job. "You sure you're not
a doctor?"
    "Did I say I wasn't?"
    Dana sighed. Why must he always be
so obscure?
    "I'm a psychiatrist—that is, I
was." He let out a bitter laugh. "I switched from internal medicine
after I found out I fainted at the sight of blood."
    "I guess I'm lucky you stayed
conscious long enough to treat me." Dana smiled, wanting very much to ease
the tension between them.
    "Are you?" he'd completed
yet another circle and now stood in front of her, looking down. "You may
come to think differently, Dana."
    Her smile faded. "Is that
supposed to mean something?"
    "No. Nothing in
particular." He turned to the metal bedroom door and, after palming the
knob, looked back at her. "I won't be out again tonight. If you get
hungry, help yourself. The wood's a bit low, but should last the night."
"Thanks."
    "Remember." He opened the
door slowly. "My music's a bit odd. Pay no attention."
    How odd could a man's music be?
Dana wondered as the door closed with an ominous click.
    She got up then, roaming aimlessly
around the room. Without Morgan taking up so much space, she saw the cabin was
bigger than