“Cecil,” she called. “Cecil? Where are you?” She held still for a minute or two, listening, then called to the cat again.
“Cecil? I’ll find you, you know, so you might as well come out now.”
There was no telltale scuffling to tell her where the cat was hiding, so she began a search of the room. Eventually she discovered the cat, clinging to the inside of the draperies, halfway up from the floor. She pulled a chair over and stood on it while she disengaged the cat’s claws from the thick material.
“Did Sarah frighten you?” she said. “Well, you frightened her first. If you don’t want her to scream, you mustn’t brush up against her like that. But it isn’t your fault, is it? How would you know it would scare her? All you wanted was a little attention. So you let go of that curtain and come down here with me. Come on, let go. It’s all right now.”
She freed the last of the claws and, holding the cat close, stepped down from the chair. She carried the cat to the Ouija board and sank back to her cross-legged position, placing Cecil in her lap. She sat for a long time, stroking the cat, talking softly to him, waiting for him to calm down. When at last Cecil closed his eyes and began to purr, Elizabeth stopped stroking him and put her fingers back on the indicator of the Ouija board.
An hour later, still carrying the sleeping Cecil, Elizabeth came downstairs for dinner.
3
She watched the moon creep up from the horizon, watched the silvery road shoot across the sea toward the base of the cliff that supported the house high above the surf. She listened for a moment, as if expecting the pounding surf to lessen its dull roar in the new brightness of the full moon. But the noise did not abate. The end of the silver road appeared, just short of the horizon, and she felt depressed as the gap between the moon and its reflection widened. As the moon climbed out of the sea, it seemed to shrink.
“It always seems to get smaller as it gets higher,” Rose said, more to herself than to Jack. He glanced up from the book he was reading, and adjusted his sprawling position as Rose came over to the bed.
“What does?”
“The moon. It always looks so huge when it starts to rise, then gets smaller.”
“It’s an illusion,” Jack said. “Something to do with the proximity to the horizon.”
She cuddled close to him, and tried to ignore the slight drawing away she felt in his body. “That’s my Jack, literal to the core. Can’t you try to imagine it as really shrinking? As though somebody was letting some of the air out?” She ran her fingers through the hair on his chest, feeling the ripple of muscles just below the skin. She reached across his stomach and snatched the book away from him. He rolled over and scowled at her.
“Hey,” he said. “I was reading that book.”
She grinned at him.
“Not any more. I’m tired of you keeping your nose in that book. I want to play.” She sat up and slipped the book behind her.
“Oh? Okay, we’ll play. Give me back the book before I count to ten.” As he reached nine, Rose slipped the book into the bodice of her nightgown. Jack’s eyebrows rose a notch. “So that’s what you want to play?”
Rose lay back, striking a seductive pose. “If you want it, come and get it.” Her eyes danced as she challenged him.
Jack made a grab at the book, and as he came close to her, Rose tossed the book aside and slid her arms around his neck. His hand, caught between them, was pressed against her breast.
“Touch me, darling,” she whispered into his ear, “Please touch me.” Jack hesitated for a moment, then began moving his hand over his wife’s breast, feeling the nipple harden under his touch. Rose moved her face around and began kissing him, her tongue lightly probing between his lips, trying to find an entry. She pulled him down till he was lying on top of her, and her hands began to move over his back, caressing him, stroking him. For a moment—just a moment—she thought he was going to respond. As she felt his body go limp, felt the weight of him lying inertly above her, her fingers turned into claws, and she scratched at him violently. Reacting to the pain, Jack leaped