Random

• Ella Mckenzie, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2020

The room was warm and clean, the curtains drawn, the two table lamps
and the one by the empty chair opposite. On the sideboard behind her, two tall
glasses, soda water, whiskey. Fresh ice cubes in the Thermos bucket.
Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come him from work.
Now and a 5 gain she would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to
please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer the time when
he would come. There was a slow smiling air about her, and about everything she did.
The drop of a head as she bent over her sewing was curiously tranquil. Her skin -for this
was her sixth month with child-had acquired a wonderful translucent quality, the mouth
10 was soft, and the eyes, with their new placid look, seemed larger darker than before.
When the clock said ten minutes to five, she began to listen, and a few moments later,
punctually as always, she heard the tires on the gravel outside, and the car door
slamming, the footsteps passing the window, the key turning in the lock. She laid aside
her sewing, stood up, and went forward to kiss him as he came in.
15 “Hullo darling,” she said.
“Hullo darling,” he answered.
She took his coat and hung it in the closer. Then she walked over and made the
drinks, a strong one for him, a weak one for herself; and soon she was back again in
her chair with the sewing, and he in the other, opposite, holding the tall glass with both
20 hands, rocking it so the ice cubes tinkled against the side.
For her, this was always a blissful time of day. She knew he didn’t want to speak
much until the first drink was finished, and she, on her side, was content to sit quietly,
enjoying his company after the long hours alone in the house. She loved to luxuriate in
the presence of this man, and to feel-almost as a sunbather feels the sun-that warm
25 male glow that came out of him to her when they were alone together. She loved him
for the way he sat loosely in a chair, for the way he came in a door, or moved slowly
across the room with long strides. She loved intent, far look in his eyes when they
rested in her, the funny shape of the mouth, and especially the way he remained silent
about his tiredness, sitting still with himself until the whiskey had taken some of it away.
30 “Tired darling?”
“Yes,” he said. “I’m tired,” And as he spoke, he did an unusual thing. He lifted
his glass and drained it in one swallow although there was still half of it, at least half of it
left.. She wasn’t really watching him, but she knew what he had done because she heard
the ice cubes falling back against the bottom of the empty glass when he lowered his
35 arm. He paused a moment, leaning forward in the chair, then he got up and went slowly
over to fetch himself another.
“I’ll get it!” she cried, jumping up.
“Sit down,” he said.
When he came back, she noticed that the new drink was dark amber with the
40 quantity of whiskey in it.
“Darling, shall I get your slippers?”
“No.”
She watched him as he began to sip the dark yellow drink, and she could see little
oily swirls in the liquid because it was so strong.
45 “I think it’s a shame,” she said, “that when a policeman gets to be as senior as
you, they keep him walking about on his feet all day long.”
He didn’t answer, so she bent her head again and went on with her sewing; bet
each time he lifted the drink to his lips, she heard the ice cubes clinking against the side
of the glass.
50 “Darling,” she said. “Would you like me to get you some cheese? I haven’t made
any supper because it’s Thursday.”
“No,” he said.