The Human Alchemy by Michael Griffin

Author:Michael Griffin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Word Horde
Published: 2018-06-03T02:51:17+00:00

9. Catwalk. Overseeing below, and stereo without music.

Now that she’d thought of it, music sounded like a good idea. Listening to those CDs in the car had probably been what nudged her into this mindset, feeling all rebellious and independent. Certainly this house was a pleasant surprise at the end of a long drive, but the truth was, her outlook had improved the moment she’d driven out of Portland to the accompaniment of Billie Holiday. She needed to take her pleasures where she found them. Especially the healthy ones.

Of course she leaned too heavily on wine. Noone wasn’t in denial about that, really. A drink helped her reimagine herself, transported to a different place, a new woman living an entirely reinvented life. Like rebirth. At least in that sense, wine was pretty much the best thing in the world, but it did take a toll. Every boost she gained from catching a mellow buzz only made the black cloud thicker, afterward. Today she was starting to see there were other things, other pleasures. Maybe things she’d forgotten.

She went out to the great room and looked around. One thing she didn’t recall having seen in the house was a stereo that would play CDs, but she still hadn’t checked the second bedroom upstairs or the area at the end of the catwalk bridge. She went upstairs, checked the second bedroom which was very nice, maybe the most plush and spacious guest room she’d ever seen, but contained nothing she couldn’t find elsewhere. She returned to the landing, ventured out onto the catwalk and paused to overlook the great room. Not only was the room still amazing when seen from above, it created an entirely different impression. The shape of the room, the layout of the L-shaped sofa and two gray lounge chairs, even the patterned carpet beneath the coffee table. The view out the front windows was entirely new as well.

Noone continued along the bridge to the sitting area, an open perch with bookshelves and lounge chairs and a low table, almost like a small, second living room. On the shelf was a stereo receiver and CD player and a pair of bookshelf speakers. The electronics turned on, their displays lit up and appeared functional, but Noone found no CDs to play.

She pressed the receiver input buttons, switched to CD, heard nothing. AUX, nothing. FM, silence. Noone thought she should go down to the car right now, fetch her own CDs and listen to those. Somehow this seemed too much, an intimidating, even impossible distance. To venture outside now felt like a really bad idea. The car was just down the stairs, out the front door, and down a bit of concrete walkway. What could possibly be out there? Nothing, it was stupid. Noone hated the way her imagination got all crazy. First seeing a man hiding in the desert, watching her from below, trying to convince herself he must’ve been spying on her beside the pool. There had never been any man.

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