The Houseguest by Thomas Berger

Author:Thomas Berger
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2008-10-22T16:00:00+00:00

Doug and Audrey had only just reached his room when Lydia appeared. Doug’s regard for her had been highest when they had conspired alone near the hot-water heater. At that time he had been impressed by her ferocity towards Chuck. But in action she had proved disappointing, and now here she was, in distraught retreat and for a silly reason.

“Oh,” said he when they had heard her complaint, “there’s nothing sinister in that. From the sound of it, he’s probably making Lobster americaine. That’s just galvanic action, you know. They’re dead soon as the spinal cord is cut, however it might look.”

Lydia sat down on the straightbacked chair near the desk and met her falling face with rising hands. She spoke through her fingers.

“I’m not getting far.”

“We’ve just got started!” Doug noted, with false energy. “I never thought it would be easy. He’s pretty well entrenched by now. We shouldn’t have let that happen, but it did.” He shook a finger at Audrey, who was about to speak. “Oh, I admit I am as responsible as anyone else. He seemed harmless enough in the beginning.”

“Harmless!” Audrey cried. “You thought he was wonderful.”

“Now that makes sense,” said Doug. “We’ve got this criminal to contend with, and you attack me.”

“My point is simply—”

Lydia screamed here. “Stop, stop!”

Doug nodded. “She’s right. What we need now is not vindictiveness, but some constructive thinking. Here’s my idea: I don’t know a lot about cars, but I suppose I could recognize it if he sabotaged them in a simple way, like taking off the distributor cap. I’ve seen that done in a movie. I’m willing to have a try after dark.”

Audrey was hostile even to such serious planning when it was done by him. “Wouldn’t that be nice?” she asked. “You drive off and look for help. What do you think Chuck will be doing to us while you’re gone? Because he’ll certainly hear the car.”

Doug remained amiable, surprising himself. “I see what you’re getting at: you mean those left behind will be hostages. But there’s an answer to that. We’ll all get ready to go. I’ll slip out first and see what’s wrong, and if it’s easily rectified, I’ll do it. Then the rest of you run out, and off we go. I’ve just thought of a refinement: even if he has some means to get the remaining car going, I’ll deflate all four of its tires.”

His wife was still grimacing bitterly towards her shoes, but Lydia said, “I prefer the first plan. I just haven’t yet had time to apply it. I’ll have to wait till after dinner now. But it’s the best bet.”

“It’s the most likely to get you hurt or killed,” Doug said. “I’m sorry I seemed to agree, earlier on. It’s not a good plan, Lydia. It’s too dangerous.”

Lydia gave him a look in which he thought he could recognize a certain nonerotic tenderness, something not all that familiar to him even as a young boy with a widowed mother who had been in fashion in her era.

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