The Thing About Alice by Jean-Luke Swanepoel

Author:Jean-Luke Swanepoel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction & Literature
Publisher: Jean-Luke Swanepoel
Published: 2020-04-19T16:00:00+00:00

When Lila became pregnant, she moved in with Alice next door, the story being that Gerty and Ben were too old to have a screaming baby in the house. But Henry, as he came to called, was no longer a baby, and one of Alice’s favorite say-things was that the boy needed a father. She did not know, and Gerty pretended not to know.

Alice did used to say things like that, but only because they were true. She never knew the identity of Henry’s father, and rather wished she didn’t know now. Not a soul would hear it from her lips, she swore.

Her own son had been put up for adoption, and Alice frequently passed boys—men—on the street, thinking to herself that for all she knew this one or that could be her son. The boy’s father went off into Africa to fight in the war, and Alice never saw him again.

—

Alice did not hear Steve enter, but when she looked up he was standing in front of her, clearly surprised to have found her sitting there. A moment later another man, a very young man, made his rather pathetic entrance, first hugging the wall and then clinging to Steve, who himself didn’t appear to be very steady on his feet. Steve whispered something to him, and he burst into laughter suddenly.

“Shhhh!” said Steve, and then started laughing himself. “Auntie Alice, this is Wes. Wesley. Wes, this is Auntie Alice.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Wes attempted to stretch a hand out toward her, but seemed to find this impossible if he intended to remain upright. Instead he gave a rather ridiculous curtsy. Alice rose and stood clutching her book, as if to give the impression that she had just been off to bed. Wesley was still laughing, and Steve gave him a set of brief directions on how to get to his room. He might crawl into bed with Silas if he turned left instead of right, and the result would surely be a massacre.

“You can do it,” said Steve, and Wesley made his way out of the kitchen. Steve pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and took a seat. “I’m sorry if we woke you.”

“I was up. Couldn’t sleep. And it’s not me you should be concerned about. You know how the old bear in there can moan.”

“Wesley’s going to spend the night, all right? I don’t think he should be driving like this.” He didn’t look at her when he spoke, but hung his head over the table as if he was examining the grain of the wood. Not that the tabletop was made of wood.

“Smart child.” How had the two of them gotten home in the first place? “Shut off the lights before you go to bed.”

“Auntie Alice—” She turned at the door. “Sit with me a while?” She couldn’t refuse such a request and sat down again. “I’m surprised he’s not still singing. I practically had to pry the microphone out of his hands.”

“Let me make you something strong to drink.

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.