E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial by William Kotzwinkle

Author:William Kotzwinkle [Kotzwinkle, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 0425054535
Publisher: Berkley Books

Later that night, Mary entered her bedroom, clicked on the TV set, kicked off her shoes and got into bed. There, she wearily opened a newspaper and began to read. Eventually she noticed that the TV had not come on.

“Michael!”

The house was silent.

“Elliott . . .”

She pondered, her mother’s intuition clearly telling her that her two boys were responsible. But this intuition, in a more refined burst, came up with the image of Gertie.

“Gertie?” she asked the night softly. Had Gertie done something?

She closed her eyes and a puzzled frown came across her brow, for she was getting a mental image of Gertie tiptoeing into the bedroom with a large Muppet.

I’ve been working too hard, sighed Mary, and stretched out with the newspaper over her face.

After a brief, anxious nap, she woke, hungry. Was it time to eat a loaf of bread smeared with strawberry jam? Had the Hour of Depravity come once more?

She slipped quietly from bed and tiptoed into the hall. The children mustn’t see her; it was wrong to set them a bad example, of a mother who could not control her appetite, who at this very moment was beset by visions of jelly.

She paused in the hall, heard Elliott and Michael in the playroom. Good, they wouldn’t see her making a disgusting pig of herself, but what was more important, they wouldn’t stop her.

My thoughtful sons, who don’t want me to have to squeeze sideways through the doorway of life.

But I can’t help myself.

I’m starving.

For jelly rolls. Bowls of custard. Rice pudding. How about a banana split?

She tiptoed down the stairs and paused in the lower hall, to see if the coast was clear.

The living room was empty. The dining nook was dark.

Mary tiptoed along toward the kitchen. Turning the corner, she saw a light burning, and the next moment discovered Gertie, sitting at the table with cookies and milk. What she did not see was E.T., on a stool beside the refrigerator. The poor little space-goblin was huddling there, unable to hide, and expecting the worst.

But Mary was talking to Gertie, and pointing at the two plates on the table. “Who is that plate for?” she asked, staring down hungrily at the cookies displayed on it. “For your doll?”

“For the spaceman,” said Gertie. “He likes cookies.”

“Would he mind if I had one?”

“Oh, no,” said Gertie. “He loves you.”

“What a nice spaceman,” said Mary, and snatched up the cookies.

Oh, god, sugar.

The monstrous delight broke onto her taste buds, and she knew she was lost. “I must have jelly.”

She whirled toward the refrigerator, threw it open. The door, swinging wide, knocked E.T. off his stool, into the trash basket. He sank to the bottom of it, feet sticking out, but Mary still did not see him.

“. . . apple butter . . . marmalade . . . how about these frozen blueberry turnovers, I could eat four of them . . .”

“Mommy,” said Gertie, “are you having a fit again?”

“Yes, dear . . . fudge . . .

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