Late in the evening the storm really hit. Bonnie was glad to be in her warm bed in the cozy top floor bedroom. She and Dexter were curled up with the book she was finishing. She now wondered why she loved to read about murder and why she had picked “The Shining”… sure it was a great story … but tonight she would be happy to be done with it. Two more chapters to go. She thought how this was the scariest book she had ever read. Then she thought about the burglar alarm system she had finally signed up for. Hmmm…too bad I dawdled around with the contract…it could have been installed last week.
As she read on, the downpour outside ramped up a notch. Rain pounding on the roof usually was soothing. Tonight it sounded like the rain was trying to find a way into her house. Ten more pages to go.
Looking up from the book, Bonnie saw through her lone bedroom window that the wind was driving the rain horizontally. Good not to be out in this weather. Dexter, unfazed as usual, started to snore next to her. Of course he would jump right up if he was needed for protection. Last page… okay, finally finished. What a weird book! She looked at her alarm clock, which read five minutes past midnight.
Bonnie knew what she had to do so she could get to sleep. She climbed out of bed, careful not to disturb Dexter’s dream. On tiptoes to avoid the cold floor, she carried the book over to her desk, slamming it down. Then she grabbed some heavy legal treatises from her book shelf and piled them on top of the book—a habit she had invented as a child when she read scary stories and wanted to make sure that the book wouldn’t come alive. Now relieved, Bonnie hopped back in bed, turned off the lamp, and tucked herself in. The darkness amplified the sounds outside. Branches of a tree next to her house beat with the wind and rain against the top of the window. Sleep? Who am I kidding?
Pulling the covers back, Bonnie sat up, turned the light back on and searched for a pair of shoes. She went over to the desk, moved the heavy books away and then grabbed The Shining. She held it away from her body as she felt her way down the dark staircase to the shadowy kitchen. She didn’t want to turn on any lights. She knew where the waste can was. With one hand she lifted the lid and dropped the book in with the other. Turning to the sink, she washed her hands and then hurriedly returned to bed.
Fifteen minutes later, Bonnie was laying wide awake. She had to take one more step. She again put on her shoes and this time grabbed her trench coat as she re-traced her steps down to the kitchen. This time she threw the waste can lid on the floor and pulled up the sides of the plastic bag liner. After she tied up the plastic cords, she yanked the garbage bag out of the can and hauled it to the back door. She flung open the door which slammed behind her as she ran as fast as she could down the dark driveway to the garbage can, where she dumped the tied-up garbage bag. Now, that does it!
Turning back, Bonnie couldn’t even see the outline of her house through the driving rain. Then she remembered that the back door automatically locks shut.
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What I particularly love about this is the absurd yet totally believable ritual Bonnie has to go through to defuse the power of her scary book. It's these obsessions that make characters come alive for us, that render them, and their worlds 3 dimensional. Fabulous! And then to top it off, the poor woman gets locked out in the rain, at night. I love it!
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