Mean Streak
Page 77
His coat. She had removed it in order to treat Lisa but had put it back on shortly before they left. Suddenly it felt heavy and cumbersome, but she was still glad for the warmth and sense of protection it provided.
He replaced the fire screen and turned to face her. “Are you still hungry?”
“Hungry?” She stared at him with bewilderment. “I don’t get you at all. You commit burglary in order to help a young woman you don’t even know. You’re gentle enough to convert a vicious dog into a pal. But then you fire a shotgun at two men, unprovoked.”
“It wasn’t unprovoked.”
“When we left, you definitely had the upper hand. You didn’t have to go back inside at all.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Why?”
“Because of you.”
“Me?”
“They’d made some crude references to you.”
“You should have ignored them.”
“I didn’t want to.”
“What did you expect? Refinement? They’re ignorant and scurvy, and—”
“They’re shit is what they are.”
“Okay, they’re lowlifes. Does that justify shooting at them?”
“I didn’t shoot at them. If I had, they’d be dead.”
“Then why fire the shotgun at all?”
She tried to stare him down, but, to her consternation, he turned away. “Do you want to use the shower first, or should I go ahead?”
Furious over his being so indifferent to her outrage, she went after him and grabbed his sleeve, bringing him around. “Damn you, answer me!”
“What?”
“Tell me why you fired the shotgun. And don’t claim it was self-defense.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Then why’d you do it? Just to make a point?”
He remained immutable.
“Tell me!”
“I shot out the TV!”
Stunned by both his shout and the explanation, she fell back a step, having a wild compulsion to laugh. “The TV? Why?”
He pulled his sleeve from her grip. “So they wouldn’t see your picture on it.”
* * *
By the time he emerged from the bathroom, freshly showered and wearing clean clothes, she was serving up the scrambled eggs and bacon she’d prepared. After all, it was morning. Most people were having breakfast at this time of day. Breakfast was the one conventional thing in this otherwise Looking-Glass universe in which she was now living.