Monster - A. Lee Martinez [11]
Ed filled the room with small talk. He was only vaguely aware of it, but he nodded as if he were paying attention.
Pendragon walked into the room. The cat sat at Rob’s feet. He meowed, and a small tongue of flame erupted from his throat.
Rob was taken aback, though he was feeling too good to make a big deal about it. “Did you see that?” he asked Ed.
“He has to do that sometimes. Set Mrs. Lotus’s favorite tablecloth aflame the other day. Pendragon, you must be more careful.”
“I guess Evelyn was right. The little bastard did burn down her rosebushes.” Rob giggled. He felt better than he had in years. Better than he ever had in his entire life, which admittedly wasn’t saying much.
Mrs. Lotus appeared in the doorway. He’d seen her a few times, even waved to her once or twice, but Rob had never seen her up close before. She was perhaps eighty, he guessed, and had long gray hair and wrinkles to show for it. Yet she was a striking woman, tall, lean, slight in frame yet powerful in presence. She wore a skirt that ended midthigh, and Rob noticed that her legs were impossibly long and well formed. They were the legs of a ballet dancer in her prime and didn’t really fit on her.
“Hello,” he said.
She didn’t reply right away. Just nodded slightly to herself. And she didn’t blink. Not once.
“Hello, Rob. So nice of you to join us.”
“I know you’ll be very happy here,” said Ed. “Won’t he, Mrs. Lotus?”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Lotus. “Very happy.”
“Happy,” agreed Rob as he drifted off to sleep.
Lotus asked, “Now, Ed, what did I tell you about serving my special tea to uninvited guests?”
“Oh, I know, but he seemed so nice. And also, Pendragon invited him.”
Lotus eyed the cat, who merely turned and sauntered out of the room without apology.
“I suppose there’s no harm in it. I’ll be back shortly, Ed. In the meantime, put our guest someplace more comfortable.”
Ed eagerly picked up the cat snoozing comfortably in Rob’s chair. “Where are you going?”
Lotus took the teapot in hand. “I’ll be getting to know Rob’s lovely wife over a cup of tea.”
4
Monster’s alarm went off, and the bright light filtering through the windows told him it was earlier than expected.
Without opening his eyes, he reached for it. His hand wrapped around the squealing doll. Another of Liz’s damn devil dolls. He struggled to remember how to hit Snooze. He tugged on its arms and legs, but that didn’t have any effect.
“You’re supposed to be set for three,” he grumbled. “It’s not three, is it?”
The doll cut short its squeal. “At the sound of the beep, the time will be one minute after twelve in the afternoon.” Its voice was loud and congenial with a hint of contempt, just like your average television announcer’s.
The doll resumed squealing.
Monster tugged on all the limbs again and tried shaking it, but the doll continued. Fortunately, he was prepared. He rolled over and reached under the bed. He felt around in the junk under there and found a lockbox. He dropped the alarm doll into the box and shut it. The squealing was not entirely dampened, but it was muted. Monster had perfected this procedure to the point that he could do it without ever opening his eyes or having to wake fully. He rolled over and went back to sleep.
Or tried.
If the alarm was ringing at noon, then Liz must’ve reset it. She must’ve had some errand she needed him to run.
“Screw that,” he mumbled.
The doll continued its squeal of urgency. Despite his best efforts, Monster couldn’t overlook it.
“Goddamn.”
Monster opened his eyes to discover he was purple today. He couldn’t remember the effect purple had on him, but he did know he hated the color. He stretched out the kinks and opened the lockbox. The squealing alarm doll sprang up.
Monster rubbed his heavy eyes and yawned. “What the hell is it?”
The doll announced in Liz’s damningly sweet voice, “Hey, honey. Can you do me a favor and pick up the dry cleaning today? Oh, and maybe get a