第36部分(第1页)
hands over his belly; head throbbing like a monstrous bladder。
The moving wasp; having stung moves on 。。。
It had passed a little when Wendy came upstairs and asked him who had been on
the phone。
〃Al;〃 he said。 〃He called to ask how things were going。 I said they were
fine。〃
〃Jack; you look terrible。 Are you sick?〃
〃Headaches back。 Im going to bed early。 No sense trying to write。〃
〃Can I get you some warm milk?〃
He smiled wanly。 〃That would be nice。〃
And now he lay beside her; feeling her warm and sleeping thigh against his
own。 Thinking of the conversation with Al; how he had groveled; still made him
hot and cold by turns。 Someday there would be a reckoning。 Someday there would
be a book; not the soft and thoughtful thing he had first considered; but a gem…
hard work of research; photo section and all; and he would pull apart the entire
Overlook history; nasty; incestuous ownership deals and all。 He would spread it
all out for the reader like a dissected crayfish。 And if Al Shockley had
connections with the Derwent empire; then God help him。
Strung up like piano wire; he lay staring into the dark; knowing it might be
hours yet before he could sleep。
* * *
Wendy Torrance lay on her back; eyes closed; listening to the sound of her
husbands slumber — the long inhale; the brief hold; the slightly guttural
exhale。 Where did he go when he slept; she wondered。 To some amusement park; a
Great Barrington of dreams where all the rides were free and there was no wife…
mother along to tell them theyd had enough hotdogs or that theyd better be
going if they wanted to get home by dark? Or was it some fathoms…deep bar where
the drinking never stopped and the batwings were always propped open and all the
old panions were gathered around the electronic hockey game; glasses in hand;
Al Shockley prominent among them with his tie loosened and the top button of his
shirt undone? A place where both she and Danny were excluded and the boogie went
on endlessly?
Wendy was worried about him; the old; helpless worry that she had hoped was