Three Masquerades by Rachel Ingalls

Author:Rachel Ingalls
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Catapult
Published: 2017-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

Lisa stared at the huge bed. It was the biggest one she’d ever seen and it was covered in a spread that looked like a tapestry. The room too was large; it seemed about the size of a double basketball court. Everything in it was gloomy. All the colors were dark and muddy. The main lighting came from above: a tiny triple-bulbed lamp pronged into the ceiling above the bed and worked from a switch by the door. There was also a little lamp on a table at the far side of the room.

“This old place,” Isabelle said. “I’m afraid the bathrooms are down the hall. Do bear with us. We try to make up in hospitality. Broderick simply loves it here—his family’s been in the district just forever. But I must say, I can never wait for the holidays. Then we go abroad to Italy. When the children come back from school.”

“How many children do you have?” Lisa asked.

“Three boys. I don’t know why I keep calling them children. They’re already taller than their father—hulking great brutes.”

Isabelle led them down the corridor to a bathroom that was nearly as big as the bedroom. There was a giant tub on claw feet, a toilet with a chain, and a shower partly hidden by a stained plastic curtain. The place was tiled halfway up to the high ceiling. In the corner opposite the toilet the tiles were breaking apart or disintegrating as if the cement had begun to crumble away.

Isabelle said, “I’ll just go see about getting you some towels. We’ll meet downstairs. All right?” She left them standing side by side in front of the bathtub.

Lisa whispered, “Some friends you’ve got.”

“It’s pretty weird.”

“It’s unbelievable. What was that stuff we were eating?”

“Jesus, I don’t know. I kept trying to guess. I got something on my fork I thought was an ear, and then a hard piece that looked like part of a kneecap. It all tasted like . . . I don’t know what.”

“They’re crazy, aren’t they?”

“I doubt it. Pretentious, maybe. Dora and Steve are the crazy types: dull and normal on the surface, but really looking for leaders to show them their occult destiny.”

“She’s got a thing about soil. God, I wish we didn’t have to stay over.”

“At least it’s warm up here,” he said. “And they’re right—it’s like pea soup outside.”

“First thing in the morning, we leave. Right?”

“Definitely. I get the strangest feeling when I’m talking to Broderick, you know. And Isabelle, too.”

“I know what you mean.”

“I mean really. As if there’s something wrong. As if they’re the wrong people, or there’s been a mistake.”

“I’ve just thought of something. Wouldn’t it be funny if you didn’t know them at all?”

“Well, I don’t. They’re friends of Elaine’s parents. Or of her mother’s cousin. Something like that.”

“I mean, maybe we took the wrong road. Are you sure they’re the right people? That sign we passed: the one that had a name on it—that isn’t their name, is it? Or the name of Elaine’s friends, either.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.