The next morning she brought him a bowl of soup, which was his usual food these days. She told him she had read forty pages of his typescript. She told him she didn't think it was as good as his others. 'It's hard to follow,' she complained. 'It keeps jumping from one time to another.' 'Yes,' said Paul. 'That's because the boy is confused. So the changes in time reflect the confusion in his mind.' He thought she might be interested in a writer's ways. 'He's confused, all right,' replied Annie. She was feeding him soup automatically and wiping the corner of his mouth with the tip of a cloth, like a true professional; he realized that she must once have been a nurse. 'And he swears all the time. Nearly every word is a swear-word.' 8 'That's true to life, Annie, don't you think?' Paul asked. 'People do talk that way in real life.' 'No, they don't,' she said, giving him a hard look. 'What do you think I do when I go shopping in town? Do you think 1 say, "Now, give me some of that swear-word bread, and that swear-word butter"? And does the shopkeeper say, "All right, Annie. Here you swear-word are"?' Her face was as dark as a thunderstorm now, and she was shouting. It wasn't at all amusing that she couldn't bring herself to say the real words; this made the situation all the more threatening. Paul lay back, frightened. The soup bowl was at an angle in her hands and soup was starting to spill out. 'And then do I go to the bank and say, "Here's one big swear-word cheque and you'd better give me fifty swear-word dollars"? Do you think that when I was in court in Denver-' A stream of soup fell on to the blanket. She looked at it, then at him, and her face twisted. 'Now look what you've made me do!' 'I'm sorry.' 'I'm sure you are!' she screamed, and she threw the bowl into the corner. It broke into tiny pieces and soup splashed up the wall. Paul gasped in shock. She turned off then. She just sat there for maybe thirty seconds. During that time Paul's heart seemed to stop. Gradually she came back. 'I have such a temper,' she confessed like a little girl. 'I'm sorry,' he said out of a dry throat. 'You should be. I think I'll finish Misery's Child and then return to the other book afterwards.' 'Don't do that if it makes you angry,' he said. 'I don't like it when you get angry. I . . . I do need you, you know.' She did not return his smile. 'Yes, you do. You do, don't you, Paul?' She came back into the room two hours later. 'I suppose you want your stupid medicine now,' she said. 9 'Yes,' said Paul, and then remembered. 'Yes, phase.' 'Well, you're going to have to wait for me to clean up this mess,' she said. 'The mess you made.' She took a bucket of water and a cloth over to the comer and started to clean up the soup. 'You dirty bird,' she said. 'It's all dried now. This is going to take some time, I'm afraid, Paul.' Paul didn't dare to say anything, although she was already late with his medicine and the pain was terrible. He watched in horror and fascination while she cleaned the wall. She did it slowly, deliberately. Paul watched the stain disappear. He couldn't see her face, but he was afraid that she had gone blank and would stay there for ever, wiping the wall with the cloth. At last, after half an hour of growing pain, she finished. She got up. Now, thought Paul. Now give me the medicine. But to his amazement she left the room. He heard her pouring the water away and then refilling the bucket. She came back with the bucket and cloth. 'Now I must wash all that soap off the wall.' she said. 'I must do everything right. My mother taught me that.' 'No, please . . . the pain. I'm dying.' 'Don't be silly. You're not dying. It just hurts. In any case it's your fault that I have to clean up this mess.' 'I'll scream.' he said, starting to cry. Crying hurt his legs and hurt his heart. 'Go ahead, then,' she replied. 'Scream. No one will hear.' He didn't scream. He watched her endlessly lift the cloth, wipe the wall and squeeze the cloth into the bucket. At last she got up again and came over to his bed. 'Here you arc,' she said tenderly, holding out his two tablets. He took them quickly into his mouth, and when he looked up he saw her lifting the yellow plastic bucket towards him. 'Use this to swallow them,' she said. Her voice was still tender. He stared at her. 'I know you can swallow them without water,' she said, 'but 10 if you do that I will make you bring them straight back out. Please believe me when I say that I can make you do that.' He looked inside the bucket and saw the cloth in the grey water and soap floating on the surface. He drank quickly. His stomach started to move as if he was going to be sick. 'Don't be sick, Paul.' she laid. 'There'll be no more tablets fot four hours.' She looked at him for a moment with her flat. empty face, and then smiled. 'You won't make me angry again, will you?' 'No,' he whispered. 'I love you,' she said, and kissed him on the cheek. Paul drifted into sleep. His last conscious thoughts were: Why was she in court in Denver? And why would she want to take me prisoner?