Where the Summer Ends - By Karl Edward Wagner Page 0,18
Reagan place were haunted, why had no one else seen anything out of the ordinary? Pittman in his egotism had claimed his artistic soul made it possible for him to perceive what lesser minds had missed. But Gerry had no artistic pretensions or illusions of paranormal talents.
Pittman had suggested that someone might become susceptible to the spirit world if he had somehow become alienated from his normal plane of existence. Gerry shrugged mentally. Perhaps then he had become receptive to the other world when the protection of his safe middle-class existence had collapsed about him. But now he was accepting the logic of a suicide.
He paused in bewilderment. The pine forest had suddenly assumed a sense of familiarity. Curiously Gerry studied his surroundings—then it occurred to him. Granted the passage of time, this section of the forest resembled the background in the painting of Renee. He had half assumed Pittman had done a stylized portrayal, rather than an actual landscape. How odd to happen upon the same grove of pines and then to recognize it from the painting.
Why had Pittman chosen this particular section of the pines? Probably he had simply wandered to this spot just as Gerry had done. Still, perhaps there was something that made this spot especially attractive to the artist.
Gerry stood in silence. Was it imagination again? Did the sun seem to shine less brightly here? Did the pines seem to loom darker, with a shadow of menace? Was the whisper of the pines louder here, and was there a note of depravity in the loneliness of the sound? Why were there no cries of birds, no sounds of life, other than the incessant murmur of the brooding pines? And why was there a bare circle of earth where not even the pines grew?
Gerry shivered. He hurried from the spot, no longer so certain of his logic.
•IX•
Janet was sulking when Gerry returned, and they studiously avoided each other for the remainder of the day. Monosyllables were exchanged when conversation was unavoidable, and whatever went through the mind of either was left to fester unexpressed. Mechanically Janet prepared dinner, although neither felt like eating.
“I can’t take this!” Janet finally blurted. “I don’t know what’s happened to us since we got here, but we’re tearing ourselves apart. This just hasn’t worked for us, Gerry. Tomorrow I want to go home.” Gerry sighed ponderously. “Now look. We came here so you could rest. And now already you want to go back.”
“Gerry, I can’t stand it here! Every day I’ve felt you grow farther away from me! I don’t know if it’s just this place, or if it’s us—but I do know we’ve got to leave!”
“We’ll talk about it in the morning,” he said wearily, and stood up. Janet’s lips were set. “Right! Now go on downstairs and drink yourself to sleep! That’s the pattern, isn’t it? You can’t bear to be around me, so you get as far away as you can! And you stumble around all day either drunk or hungover! Always bleary-eyed, paunchy and surly! Gerry, I can’t take this any longer!”
He retreated stolidly. “Go to bed, Janet. We’ll talk this over in the morning.”
“Damn it, Gerry! I’ve tried to be patient. The doctors warned me you’d made an unhealthy adjustment to the accident—just because you came out no worse than hungover! But if this doesn’t stop, I’m going to ask for a separation!”
Gerry halted, angry retorts poised on his tongue. No, let her yell. Ignore her. “Good night, Janet,” he grated and fled downstairs.
Angrily he gulped down half a glass of straight Scotch. God! This Scotch was the only thing that held their marriage together—made this situation tolerable. And, he noticed, his stock of Scotch was just about gone.
Divorce! Well, why not! Let the leech live off alimony for the rest of her years. It was almost worth paying to be rid of her! Let her divorce him then! She’d made a ruin of everything else in his life—might as well finish the job right!
Once again he thought of Renee. There was a woman to love, to desire—a woman who could stand on her own two feet, who could return his love with fall passion of her own! She and Janet shared their sex with no more in common than a leopardess and a cow. No wonder Pittman had fallen in love with his phantasy of Renee!
Damn Janet! Damn the doctors! Bitching him about his emotional stability. So he drank more than he used to! So