The Lenient Beast by Fredric Brown

Author:Fredric Brown
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

ALICE RAMOS

I woke and yawned and wondered what time it was, not that it mattered really because I was all of a sudden wide awake and no matter what time it was I wouldn't go back to sleep. It was early because Frank was still snoring. It isn't a loud snore but he does it all the time and sometimes when I can't sleep it drives me almost crazy. We should have twin beds but Frank doesn't want them and any time I mention getting them he reminds me how much in debt we are already, with that tone in his voice that means he's thinking it's because of money I spend on liquor that we're always behind the eight ball financially. But dear Lord, if I didn't drink once in a while, I really would go crazy. Life and everything is such an awful mess and there was so much I wanted and look at what I've got. And no chance of it getting better because there he is on that low-paying police job and it'll never get any better. On account of his race if for no other reason he'll never get a chance to be captain of detectives or chief of police or anything. He thinks he's lucky to have got off a beat, but if he was half as smart as he thinks he is he'd find something else to do that would make more money. Or have a future in it. Sometimes I even wish he was a crooked cop and took bribes, but I guess I don't, really; then there'd always be a chance of his getting caught and there'd be that to worry about on top of everything else. Or if he wasn't too damn proud to let me work as a waitress again, at least part of the time, we could get caught up and get some money ahead and maybe get out of this awful place, to New York or Florida or somewhere where there's something going on. But I guess he's right that he'd have a harder time making a living either of those places than here in Arizona. And that sticks us. If he only had some ambition to make something of himself, to do something beside read and listen to that classical music of his. They don't pay off on either of those things. He spends as much money on books and records as I do on drinking, but he denies it. And another thing bad about his job; he's always working late and always tired. He doesn't even like dancing any more, and he used to dance so wonderfully; I guess that's maybe why I fell for him. But look at us now.

I raised myself up on an elbow so I could see across Frank to the clock on the table on his side of the bed. It was ten minutes after eight and for a moment I thought Frank had forgotten to set the alarm and had overslept.

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