A Quiet Night of Fear by Charles L. Grant

Author:Charles L. Grant [Grant, Charles L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction, mystery
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2017-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

Foolishness compounded, she thought as her left hand darted to her lips and her right grabbed the armrest and squeezed until her knuckles whitened and a cramp eased its way toward her thumb. Her mouth had suddenly gone dry, her lips and tongue working to bring back the moisture so she could speak without croaking. The air that filled her lungs had a sweetness about it, almost cloying, and she felt a surge of nausea rise and subside just as she first noticed it.

Standing in front of her, looking for all the world like a couple who had just been burned out of their home, lost all their savings in a bank collapse, and had just been told they both had only two weeks to live, were Timothy and Margaret Caruthers. They were wearing grey again, clothes that just barely fit and thus seemed as though they were a size too large. His jacket was rumpled—did he sleep in it, she wondered—and the pale blue shirt he wore underneath was streaked with wrinkles that could have been ironed in. He was trying to smile an apology for startling her, but all it did was make his narrow, ashen face more grotesque. His wife, her hands scrubbing themselves dryly at her waist, looked only at her husband. Carole thought she was frightened.

“Miss Drake, allow me to apologize for intruding upon your evening.” His voice was well-deep, perfectly controlled, and Carole could not help but think that with a few lessons he might have made a fair actor, or reader on one of the comunit’s entchannels. “I do trust we have not approached you at an awkward moment.”

Carole shook her head, still not trusting herself to speak.

“Fine,” Caruthers said with a slight bow. He glanced at his wife and smiled before turning back to Carole. “It is not often that we run into someone such as yourself,” he continued, one hand grasping at the air immediately in front of his chest. “We are not always the most welcome members of a community, as you may have already guessed. It is not in our nature, either, to attempt to ingratiate ourselves where we are not wanted. We mind our own business, Miss Drake, and we have always hoped that others would take our example and mind theirs. It is not, however, always the case, as Danny might have already told you.”

“Well,” she began, and cut herself off.

“Danny,” the woman said, as though prompting her husband, who was staring at a point just above Carole’s head.

“Indeed,” he said. “Danny. We are, Margaret and I, most appreciative of the time and the kindness that you have shown the boy, Miss Drake. He does not, of course, find himself readily accepted into the world of the young, and he therefore does not have a close circle of friends.”

“None at all,” Margaret ventured, then ducked back to stand just behind Caruthers.

“It is a sad fact, but true. Miss Drake, the boy finds himself an outcast no matter

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