Tabula Rasa Read Online Free PDF Page B

clucking as I
approached. A few of the hens sat on nests, while others pecked at
the bugs and worms through large cracks in the sidewalk. A rooster
gave me an aggressive stare as if to say he’d peck out my eyeballs
to keep his harem intact.
    I held up my hands to let him know I had no intentions toward his
girls and wondered if such a gesture even translated across species.
How had Trevor managed to get the eggs with that rooster lurking
about? I backed away slowly until he lost interest in me and went
back to eating.
    “Oww, Fuck!” I gripped the side of the kiddie ride as a sharp low
abdominal cramp hit me. Oh shit. My period. What was I going to do
about that? What had I been doing about that? I was too
embarrassed to bring it up with Trevor. It didn’t matter if he was
my husband. I didn’t know him.
    I was relieved at least to have a passingly plausible explanation for
my feelings of weakness. Maybe it was just hormones. And I was sure
the heat and humidity weren’t helping matters.
    As I wandered the park, an idea hit me, and I went in search of a
ladies’ room. I shrieked when a long slinky rodent zipped past me
inside the first bathroom I came to. Of course creatures would be
nesting in here. But on the wall was just what I expected: one of
those machines with feminine hygiene products. Fantastic.
    The machines were intact, so unless someone wandering past had a
bunch of quarters on them, I might be in luck. I took apart the pipe
on one of the sinks and used it to break into the machine. It was a
lot more difficult than I expected, especially given how the metal
box on the wall was rusting out.
    When it finally broke, feminine care products rained out like candy
from a piñata. I gathered everything that had spilled out like I had just found a
hoard of gold and continued on my way. I stopped in one of the gift
shops. Looted. Almost picked clean.
    Whoever had been in the park before us must have been guys or the
tampons would have already been raided. Despite the shop being
savaged, I found a large shopping bag behind the register. I put my
bounty from the bathroom machine into the bag then went and collected
everything out of the other ladies’ rooms. A few of the machines
were running low or empty but most were still full.
    When I got back, Trevor was in the tower reading a book. “Find
anything interesting?” he asked, indicating my bag as if I’d just
been out shopping or something.
    “More creepy than interesting,” I said. I wasn’t willing to get
into a discussion about my hoarding. I took the bag to the bathroom
and stashed it under the sink and locked the bathroom door. I was
right, my period had started. I quickly took care of things and went
back out into the main suite where Trevor sat with a curious
expression on his face.
    There was no way I was talking about this directly, but I did need
information. What I’d collected would last several months, but I
was sure there had to be a storeroom somewhere, probably here in the
castle. If it was in the castle, I was set and could worry about what
happened when that ran out way in the future.
    “Umm, Trevor?”
    He looked up from his book. “Yes, dear?”
    I wished he wouldn’t call me that, but I let it go. “So, I know
we don’t have running water, but surely if there’s a stock room
in the castle, we have soap and shampoo at least.”
    He seemed almost disappointed that I’d figured that out. What an
asshole.
    “Yeah, there’s a stock room on the second floor. Do you want me
to go with you?”
    “No. I’ve got it, thanks,” I said.
    He shrugged and went back to reading.
    When I reached the second floor, I found the stock room hidden away
at the end of a hallway—something I’d overlooked in my previous
exploration because it was so nondescript. I let out a relieved sigh
when I discovered the door was unlocked. Inside was a wondrous bounty
of little hotel soaps and shampoos, towels, toilet paper, paper
towels, cleaning products,