Grubb |
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The inmates wander around in the rain. They seem to be looking for something in particular. Their eyeglasses, maybe. A treasure map. Grubb thinks someone must have left the back door open. He stands at the fence and watches them move about in their white and yellow robes. A handful spot Grubb and head in his direction, pausing along the way to whisper among themselves. The hospital stands on top of a hill, its windows barred and only very few of them lit. The oldest man wants to know if Grubb has any liquor, if he has seen the wild goats that frequent this place. The man’s beard is white and he picks at his teeth with his finger. Grubb hasn’t seen any wild goats, but just on the other side of the river, there is a woman who stands naked in the front window of her house. That’s a lie, says one of the inmates who gathers his robe more closely around his neck. He explains why no woman would stand naked in the window of her house, and his argument relies on an elaborate geometry. Just then, someone rings a bell on the back porch of the hospital and everyone shambles off in that direction. Grubb asks the inmate with the white beard what they’re having, and he thinks the man says goat, but he’s too far away to be sure. Grubb hurries back down the road to the bridge and across the river. The woman is still in the window. A dozen children have gathered in front of the woman’s house, and they make room for Grubb only reluctantly. He motions to the woman from outside, says, put on your robe, I have an idea. But she acts now as if Grubb isn’t even there, as if he has become invisible. The woman brushes her hair. She sits on the couch and reads a book. -- first appeared in Jubilat
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Copyright 2005 charles freeland. All rights reserved. |