NATHANIEL by John Saul

Author:John Saul [Saul, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: 1984-07-16T21:00:00+00:00

It was nearly eleven before they decided that the house was finally theirs. Their clothes hung in the closets, what little furniture there was had been placed to Janet’s satisfaction, and the kitchenware had been stored away in a manner that, though she insisted it was only temporary, Janet knew would probably never be changed. Their beds, made up with the first bedding that had come to light, awaited them upstairs.

Now the two of them sat at the kitchen table sipping the cocoa Janet had made, while Shadow sprawled contentedly on the floor. “Well, what do you two think?” Janet asked, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen over them. “Did we do the right thing?”

Shadow’s tail thumped appreciatively against the floor, but Michael only glanced up at his mother, then away, his serious eyes roving restlessly over the kitchen. “I guess so,” he said at last, but his voice betrayed his uncertainty.

“You don’t sound very sure. Is something wrong?”

Michael opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it abruptly. Puzzled, Janet repeated her question. “Is something wrong?”

Michael fidgeted in his chair, suddenly interested in the gummy layer that was forming on the surface of his untouched cocoa. He touched it with his spoon, watching it wrinkle, then reached down and carefully picked it up with his thumb and forefinger. “Ryan’s mad at me,” he mumbled at last.

Nonplussed, Janet stared at her son for a moment. “Mad at you? But why?” Suddenly she frowned, as she realized that it had been a while since she had seen Michael with his cousin. On the occasions Janet had been to visit Laura, still weak and bedridden from the stillbirth, Michael had not accompanied her, and she had chosen not to press the point. Now though, her anxiety was aroused. “Did you two have a fight?” she asked.

Michael shrugged. “I—I don’t know,” he mumbled. Then he looked up at her. “Is it okay if I go to bed now?” Without waiting for a reply, he scurried out of the kitchen, and she heard him hurtling up the stairs to his room. A moment later, Shadow followed his master.

Janet finished her cocoa, then slowly cleaned up the kitchen. At last she wandered through the downstairs rooms of the little house, locking up, and eyeing the mass of boxes that still waited to be unpacked. Finally turning out the lights, she went upstairs, but paused uncertainly outside the closed door to Michael’s room. Though no light showed through the crack at the bottom of the door, neither did she hear the regular sound of her son’s breath as he slept. She waited a moment, listening carefully, then tapped softly at the door. When there was no answer, she opened the door and peeped in. Michael, still fully dressed, sat on the floor beside the dormer window, staring out into the night. Shadow lay beside him, his big head cradled in the boy’s lap.

“May I come in?”

There was no answer, so Janet stepped into the little room, closing the door behind her.

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