Cast Me Gently Read Online Free

watching the sky as it went from indigo to a deepening purple.
    When they were both done eating, Ellie washed up the dishes and went to her living room, where more posters papered the walls. There was a quiet knock on a closed door. She flipped the lock and opened the door onto a hallway where there was a shared bathroom for the two third-floor apartments. All she could see at first was an image of green fields demarcated by stone walls. Below the poster was a pair of hairy legs and feet in Birkenstocks.
    “Ireland,” said a voice from behind the poster. It was lowered to reveal a man smiling through his scruffy beard.
    Ellie took the poster and stepped back to let him in. “Oh, thank you, Sullivan. I’ve been wanting Ireland. I love it.” She pointed across the hall to his apartment door. “You okay leaving it open?”
    He waved carelessly. “It’s not like my fish can wander off.” He took a seat on one end of her well-worn couch, the springs groaning as his heavy backside settled into the cushion. “Am I in time?”
    “Just in time,” said Ellie. She went to the television and clicked it on, turning the channel dial to CBS. She adjusted the metal antennas until the picture was clear of snow and sat down on the other end of the couch as the theme music for Magnum, P.I. began. KC curled up in her lap.
    “Higgins cracks me up,” Sullivan said as the Dobermans chased Magnum across the estate’s grounds.
    “Shhh.”
    They watched in silence until a commercial break.
    “Someday, we’ll get to Hawaii,” Ellie said. “Someday, we’ll travel all over the world.”
    “You and your cat,” said Sullivan, grinning.
    “Yes,” Ellie said, laying an affectionate hand on KC’s back. “She’s a great little travel companion.”
    Sullivan snorted. “How would you know? You’ve never actually travelled anywhere. The farthest KC has ever been is the bus ride from Duquesne Heights to Squirrel Hill.”
    “What about you?” she shot back. “The closest you get is working part-time in a travel agency.” Ellie heard a distinct rumble from the direction of Sullivan’s portly belly. “Hungry?”
    He looked over at her. “Got anything for a sandwich?”
    “Jumbo,” she said. “Help yourself.”
    “Tell me what I miss.” He pushed to his feet and went into the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with a thick sandwich. As Magnum broke for the next commercial, he shoved the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth, saying, “You do know the rest of the world calls this bologna, right?”
    Ellie laughed. “Well, no one in Pittsburgh would know what you’re talking about if you ask for bologna, so you’d better get used to calling it jumbo while you’re here.”
    His expression darkened. “That might be forever.”
    “What’s the matter?”
    He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, a few crumbs falling from his beard onto his shirt, where Ellie noticed there were also coffee and mustard stains. “My research advisor. He’s such a prick. He looked at my latest results and told me I had to start over. He said my results were off and I must have made an error. If he keeps doing this, I’ll never finish my PhD.”
    “He’s just jealous,” Ellie said stoutly. “You’re more brilliant than he is, and he’s afraid of you.”
    Sullivan shook his shaggy head. “You can’t know that.” But he smiled anyway.
    “Shhh. Show’s back on.”
    They finished watching Magnum in silence.
    Ellie sighed as the closing credits ran. “I wish I lived someplace place like that,” she said wistfully.
    “If you did, you’d just want to leave it to see other places,” said Sullivan, getting to his feet. “Thanks for the sandwich.”
    “Thanks for the poster.”
    He grinned. “See you.”
    “Night.”
    Ellie went to the bathroom to brush her teeth as he went across the hall to his apartment. When she was done, she locked her door and got changed for bed. Clicking the bedside lamp off, she slid under the