Sister Noon by Karen Joy Fowler

Author:Karen Joy Fowler [Fowler, Karen Joy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781101659847
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-05-29T16:00:00+00:00

NINE

Jenny continued to sleep. In her dreams she heard Maud Curry’s voice. “They found her in a Chinese opium den,” Maud was explaining authoritatively. “Kidnapped and drugged. At least that’s what she says. But who’d want to kidnap her? Me, I don’t believe a word of it.”

Jenny held very still. She kept her eyes closed. If she was going to wake up back at the Brown Ark, then she would just not wake up at all. She was curiously contented. She told herself she was still in the house with the woman so sad and so beautiful she was almost a princess. They were waiting there together for Mrs. Pleasant. You’ll see I don’t forget you, either, Mrs. Pleasant had promised.

The day passed, and every time Jenny opened her eyes enough to see where she was, she shut them immediately. A bowl of potato soup was left for her, but she didn’t wake up to eat. Night came again and Maud was beside her on the bed, pinching her, shaking her hard. Her voice was so close Jenny could smell it, a boiled-egg and licorice smell. “You listen to me,” Maud whispered fiercely. “Little Jenny Ijub. Are you listening?”

She shook Jenny again. “I know where you really went. You ran away to old Mrs. Pleasant. And she didn’t want you any more than we do. Do you hear me?” She took the lobe of Jenny’s ear between her fingers and squeezed. “Say it,” she told Jenny. “Say out loud that nobody loves you.”

Jenny tried not to wake up, but Maud’s fingernails were cutting into her ear. At first it was an ache she could ignore, but it quickly grew sharper and more painful. The pain hooked Jenny like a fish, hauled her out of her secret contentment, gasping, into the open air.

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