Walking On the Moon by Susan Sizemore

Author:Susan Sizemore [Sizemore, Susan]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-02-13T06:51:25+00:00

The shift crew had adjourned to the recreation room rather than the kitchen to eat their evening meal. It was glop again. Duchamp wasn’t allowing them anything but glop. The fact that he was sharing it with them didn’t add any sense of camaraderie to the meal. In fact, his presence didn’t help the general dark mood at all. Duchamp was sulking, he was surly—he was angry and despondent by turns. He complained or he said nothing. He was acting like a Donakian bear with a toothache and it was driving the men who worked for him crazy.

Cleary had ventured to suggest Duchamp was in love. He hadn’t said it very loudly, and certainly not in Duchamp’s presence. Jefferson Cleary was not a suicidal man.

The crew missed Dr. Cameron. It wasn’t just the food. They missed her company. From the furtive glances they dared turn his way, the general consensus was that Duchamp missed Dr. Cameron more than they did. He sat glumly at the far end of the table, shoulders slumped tiredly, eyes on his untouched plate of glop. He’d developed this annoying habit of sighing loudly about once an hour. He did it now. It had to be connected with Dr. Cameron.

It had been four days since anyone had seen her. It had been noted that Duchamp didn’t return to his quarters very often. No one knew what he’d done to her, but they were getting worried.

Cleary put his fork carefully on the table, looked at the anxious men seated around the table, summoned up the necessary courage, and ventured to ask, “How’s Dr. Cameron, Duchamp?”

Six sets of shoulders flinched as Duchamp’s icy-blue gaze rose slowly to take them all in. “Sleeping,” he responded. “She’s having a nice, quiet little nap.” Each word was spoken with clear, cold precision. His gaze dropped slowly back to his plate.

“Oh,” was all Cleary said.

Which was about all there was to say considering Duchamp’s present mood. Fortunately for everyone’s digestion, Duchamp threw down his fork and stormed out, grumbling, a few minutes later.

“What’s he mean, sleeping?” Sakretis wondered after he was gone.

“He’s off his feed,” Fox said. “Looks terrible.”

“The sighing’s the worst part,” Morrison complained.

“Yeah,” said Toffler. “Kind of reminds me of me when I first met my wife.”

“What’s he done to her?” Sakretis persisted. “I worry.”

74

Walking On the Moon

“He wouldn’t hurt her,” Harcort pointed out. “He’s miserable. It probably hurts him more than it does her.”

“Whatever it is,” Cleary added.

“He’s avoiding her,” Fox decided. “I remember that phase with my own missus. Ran till she caught me.” He smiled at some fond private memories.

“Dr. Cameron didn’t do anything wrong,” Sakretis said.

“We never did get our chili,” Cleary added. He looked down at his half-eaten glop.

“Sweet woman like Dr. Cameron doesn’t deserve him locking her away.”

“She certainly doesn’t,” Toffler agreed. “Why won’t he let us use the recipe files she created?”

“Cause he’s suffering,” Fox declared. “And wants us to suffer too.”

“It’s our fault he met her,” Morrison pointed out. “Personally, I think he ought to be thanking us.

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.