The Rising: Antichrist Is Born Read Online Free PDF Page B

could not have missed the cues, but clearly he didn’t seem to care. Perhaps, she told herself, if they were a conventional couple he would feel the heat. But given that they had evolved into colleagues who simply shared the same chambers, why should he care if she seemed upset?
    Usually they took turns doing for each other. One would cook for both. The next night vice versa. So it was when she took to ignoring him completely, cooking only one meal, packing only one lunch, cleaning only her messes, that he finally took notice. “You’re not yourself,” he said. “What’s wrong?”
    She felt petty saying nothing and implying that if he didn’t know she wasn’t about to tell him. That was so juvenile, so typical. She had considered herself above such tactics. But they had worked. Finally he said, “Marilena, you’re not pleasant to be around. Does one of us need to move out?”
      Leave it to Sorin to cut to the heart of the matter. Marilena had been surprised at her own revulsion for that idea. For whatever they had become to each other, she couldn’t imagine life without him. She didn’t want to leave, and she certainly didn’t want him to.
    “Perhaps,” she said, surprising herself. It was only a maneuver, but she desperately hoped he would not act on it. And if he did, what form would it take? He wouldn’t be leaving the apartment he had owned since his first wife evicted him from their home years before. Would he turn Marilena out?
    To her relief, he’d let the matter drop, only raising it again several days later when she wore him down with her toxic indifference.
    “Marilena, are you about to leave me?”
    “Mentally or physically?”
    “Don’t play games, dear. We both know you have long ago emotionally deserted. What is it you want?”
    “You know.”
    “I don’t!” And it was clear from his look that he really didn’t. She had let too much time pass from the original request. “Tell me!”
    “I want you to go with me to see what these Tuesday evening sessions are about.”
    He stood. “That’s all? For that you have put on this charade for weeks? Tell me that is not all you are upset about.”
    “That’s it.”
      “That’s ridiculous.”
    She couldn’t argue. It was such a small thing. And yet it was also such a simple request. Why could he not cater to her just this once, step outside his conventions?
    Then he had been quiet, clearly angry. Occasionally he would appear prepared to continue the argument, then wave it off and turn back to his work. Finally, apparently unable to concentrate, he’d said, “Heaven help us if you ever find something legitimate to be upset over.”
    “If this is so trivial, Sorin, the remedy is trivial too. Don’t disparage my feelings. I want you to go to a one-hour meeting some Tuesday evening. Is that so much to ask?”
    “That’s not the issue,” he said. “It’s the transparent nature of the meeting. It will offend my every sensibility and, I hope, yours.”
    “Maybe it will. Of course, you’re right. But humor me. I don’t want to go alone.”
    “So if I accompany you once, you promise to return to civility?”
    “Twice.”
    “Twice? What if you are repulsed after the first meeting?”
    “Then you’re free.”
    “Twice. If I go twice—”
    “That’s all I ask.”
----
    Ray had been invited to Bobby Stark’s house Friday for dinner and overnight. He would ride with Bobby and his parents to the Saturday soccer game.
    Ray couldn’t wait. He watched the big clock on the classroom wall all day, especially after he and Bobby had plotted during lunch and recess what all they would do that evening. “Mom’s fixin’ a big meal, and we can play laser hockey, video games, watch movies, whatever.”
    Bobby dressed like a rich kid, so Ray could only assume his house would be cool. He wasn’t disappointed. It was no palace, nothing like Ray himself would own one day when he was a pro athlete or a pilot, but it was sure something