Room_ A Novel - Emma Donoghue [29]
We do lots of beads of flour dough for a necklace but we can’t string it till they’re all dry and hard. We make a spaceship out of boxes and tubs, the tape’s nearly gone but Ma says “Oh why not” and uses the last bit.
Skylight’s going dark.
Dinner is cheese that’s all sweaty and melting broccoli. Ma says I have to eat or I’ll feel even colder.
She takes two killers and a big gulp to make them go down.
“Why you’re still hurting even though Bad Tooth’s out?”
“I guess I’m noticing the others more now.”
We get in our sleep T-shirts but put more clothes back on top. Ma starts a song. “ ‘The other side of the mountain—’ ”
“ ‘The other side of the mountain—,’ ” I sing.
“ ‘The other side of the mountain—’ ”
“ ‘Was all that he could see.’ ”
I do “Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall” all the way down to seventy.
Ma puts her hands over her ears and says please can we do the rest tomorrow. “The power will probably be back then.”
“Good-o,” I say.
“And even if it isn’t, he can’t stop the sun coming up.”
Old Nick? “Why would he stop the sun?”
“He can’t, I said.” Ma gives me a hug hard and says, “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?”
She puffs her breath. “It’s my fault, I made him mad.”
I stare at her face but I can hardly see it.
“He can’t stand it when I start screaming, I haven’t done it in years. He wants to punish us.”
My chest is thumping really loud. “How he’s going to punish us?”
“No, he is already, I mean. By cutting the power.”
“Oh, that’s all right.”
Ma laughs. “What do you mean? We’re freezing, we’re eating slimy vegetables . . .”
“Yeah, but I thought he was going to punish us too.” I try to imagine. “Like if there were two Rooms, if he put me in one and you in the other one.”
“Jack, you’re wonderful.”
“Why I’m wonderful?”
“I don’t know,” says Ma, “that’s just the way you popped out.”
We spoon even tighter in Bed. “I don’t like it dark,” I tell her.
“Well, it’s time to sleep now, so it would be dark anyway.”
“I guess.”
“We know each other without looking, don’t we?”
“Yeah.”
“Night-night, sleep tight, don’t let the bugs bite.”
“Don’t I have to go in Wardrobe?”
“Not tonight,” says Ma.
• • •
We wake up and the air’s shiverier. Watch says 07:09, he has a battery, that’s his own little power hidden inside.
Ma keeps yawning because she was awake in the night.
I’ve got a tummy ache, she says maybe it was all the raw vegetables. I want a killer from the bottle, she gives me just a half. I wait and wait but my tummy doesn’t feel different.
Skylight’s getting brighter.
“I’m glad he didn’t come last night,” I tell Ma. “I bet he never comes back, that would be super cool.”
“Jack.” She kind of frowns. “Think about it.”
“I am.”
“I mean, what would happen. Where does our food come from?”
I know this one. “From Baby Jesus in the fields in Outside.”
“No, but—who’s the bringer?”
Oh.
Ma gets up, she says it’s a good sign the faucets are still working. “He could have turned the water off too, but he hasn’t.”
I don’t know what that’s a sign for.
There’s bagel for breakfast but it’s cold and mushy.
“What happens if he doesn’t switch the power on again?” I ask.
“I’m sure he will. Maybe later today.”
I try the buttons on TV sometimes. Just a dumb gray box, I can see my face but not as good like in Mirror.
We do all the Phys Eds we can think to warm up. Karate and Islands and Simon Says and Trampoline. Hopscotch, where we have to hop from one cork tile to another one and never go on the lines or fall over. Ma picks Blindman’s Buff, she ties my camouflage pants around her eyes. I hide in Under Bed beside Eggsnake not breathing even, flat like a page in a book, and it takes her hundreds of hours to find me. Next I choose Rappelling, Ma holds my hands and I walk up her legs till my feet are higher than my head, then I dangle upside down, my braids go in my face and make me laugh. I do a flip and I’m right side up again. I want it lots times more but her bad wrist is hurting.
Then we