“Well, she doesn’t need to know the details of my personal life!”
Hans was about to object, but instead, he grabbed his stomach and winced. “I think I ate too much. ’m going to lie down and die.”
“Don’t die. We haven’t even begun the shoot.”
Hans plopped himself down on the bed with a groan.
“I don’t feel so good either,” I said. “I’m going to go for a walk.”
“Be careful. Don’t get eaten by wolves,” he mumbled. “We haven’t even begun the shoot.”
When I left the lodge to go for a walk, I didn’t really have a destination in mind. Almost immediately, I found myself heading toward where Mr. Edison’s petting zoo had been, where now stood a shack surrounded by overgrown grass, judging from the view we had of it from the lookout.
I resisted the temptation to sit down on the curb, hold my stomach, and fall asleep. The temptation was so strong and Betty’s behavior was so odd that I entertained a notion that perhaps she had poisoned us or perhaps she had laced our food with sedatives.
I couldn’t think of any possible motive she would have to do something like that. Nevertheless, once the thought had crossed my mind, I wasn’t able to shake it.
Fortunately, I wasn’t afforded the time to let my paranoia grow. Before too long, I was standing in front of Mr. Edison’s petting zoo - or the place it had once been.
The windows were boarded up, the grass around it had been left to grow wild, and the colorful sign above the door ‘Edison’s Safari Land’ was gone. Despite that—or perhaps because of it—the memories of my childhood haven came flooding back. I was overwhelmed, almost to the point of tears.
I thought I might crumple to the ground—and only partially because of the cement-like stew I had eaten—I braced myself against a tree.
I must have been standing there a good ten minutes staring at the shack and the unkempt lawn, reliving the few good times I’d once had in Perth when to my surprise a light came on from inside. there was enough space between the boards covering the windows to see the light but nothing more.
Someone must be squatting in the place. Maybe I shouldn’t be standing out here at night staring at it like some kind of psycho.
I turned with the intention of heading back to the lodge, but as soon as I let go of the tree and took a step, I felt lightheaded and dizzy. Another step and I lost my footing. I let out a cry and fell to the ground.
Betty did poison us. It has to be.
I lay on the ground unable to get up. My first thought was for Hans. With all the stew he ate, he must be in really bad shape. I’ve got to get back to him.
I managed to get to my knees when I heard the distinct sound of the shack’s door opening and footfalls coming my way. I turned my head and saw a bulky shadowy figure approach.
I jumped up. The vast Montana sky swirled around me. It blended with the grass, with the shack, with the image of Betty smiling and the image of Hans holding his belly and grimacing in bed. Then it all went black as I fell to the ground.
6
Jake
Normally, after lifting weights for twenty minutes, I would need to at least towel off. After lifting weights under the hot studio lights with Professor Grimm shouting orders ‘grunt for me’, ‘Do some squats’, ‘let me see you sweat’, the towel would have to be made of sandpaper if I was going to scrub off the nasty feeling I had.
The only thing worse than how I felt after my session with Professor Grimm was the realization that I needed to find a few dozen more clients like him if I was going to get out of the hole I’d dug for myself.
Fortunately—or perhaps, unfortunately—I didn’t have the time to sulk and feel bad for myself. I’d toweled off the best I could in the makeshift water closet when I heard a cry coming from outside the window.
I went out to have a look, though I didn’t rush. It sounded like the cry of a young woman, so I assumed I was losing my mind. Since seeing Greta earlier that day, she’d been all I could think about. It made sense that I was hearing things.
I wouldn’t have been surprised if I stepped outside and saw her sprawled out on the grass right under my window.
If you’re going to lose your mind, Jake, you might as well go all out.
My first impression upon stepping outside was just how dark it was. What happened to the day?
I must have lost track of time setting up and performing for Professor Grim. The unexpected and uncompromising darkness had me disoriented as if I was stepping out of the workshop and into a dream.