Rage Read Online Free Page B

love (only in the kitchen) and watched television
on a miniature set which Rosa brought down from her
bedroom and put on the dining table.
    The first time Maria came into the house he was
surprised by its size.
    "All this is the kitchen?" he enquired. "It's bigger than
my house!"
    The second time he came indoors, he tried to poke his
nose in upstairs, but Rosa prevented him with a daft plea
("Don't compromise my position!" she begged) and he didn't insist. He let three or four days go by. Then Rosa
gave in and took him upstairs to her bedroom.

    He followed her down a dimly lit corridor to a small
and poorly ventilated bedroom with an unmade bed
and a lamp without a shade on the bedside table. Maria
was astonished: he couldn't believe that anywhere
inside the villa could be so narrow and dark. While they
were making love, Rosa explained to him, in terms that
would get the discussion over with once and for all, that
this was the service wing, which even she didn't know
from end to end; the rest of the villa was quite different.
Then she asked him to hang on a minute, and went to
the bathroom. When she came out, Maria was no longer
in her room. Rosa went into the corridor, calling him in
a low voice, as if she were afraid the Blinders could hear
her.
    She continued on to the end of the passageway. Then
she retraced her steps and ran to the kitchen. Maria
wasn't there either. Rosa became alarmed, agitated, as if
what happened later had already taken place. It seemed
she was running from one end of the house to the other
in a desperate search for him, until she reached the
corridor that led to the living room - a spacious lounge,
with all its windows tightly shut - where she at last could
hear Maria calling her. Yes, it was definitely him calling
her.
    "Rosa..."
    "Yes, it's me. Where are you?"
    "Rosa?" asked Maria, whispering from somewhere
unseen.
    "Here I am, Maria! Come out, please, don't play
games!"
    "Where are you, Rosa?"
    "Here! And you?"

    Rosa heard the sound of something suddenly falling
and breaking.
    "Where are you, Maria?"
    "I don't know, Rosa. I'm lost... I can hear but I can't
see you..."
    She found him in the library. Rosa switched on the
light. Maria was standing stock-still at the desk, one
hand resting on the back of Senor Blinder's favourite
chair. In the darkness, he had knocked over a standing
lamp; the light had fallen onto a settle and the light
bulb and its glass shade had shattered. The carpet was
covered in shards of glass, as if the lamp had multiplied
itself in the fall.
    Rosa skewered him with a look. Then, as though
afraid to let him go anywhere alone again, even to the
kitchen to find a dustpan and brush, she grabbed an
art-exhibition catalogue from on top of the desk and
used it to sweep up the glass fragments.
    "I went to take a quick look around and things got
complicated..." Maria confessed. "I came down the
staircase, took a turning down a passage and then...
Well, you know how this whole house is a labyrinth."
    "I told you to stay in the room."
    "Don't get cross," said Maria, lifting the lamp stand
up off the floor. "I didn't put a light on because... Just
imagine if someone were to see you..."
    "And who would that be, if there's nobody else in the
house?"
    Rosa said nothing more. She rose and, closely followed
by Maria, went to the kitchen to throw the broken glass
into the rubbish. It was a real shame: they'd frittered
away their time and now it was getting late, and Rosa
was in a bad mood. Senora Blinder would reproach
her for having broken the glass lampshade - she might even deduct the cost from her wages. Maria collapsed
into apologies and excuses, each time extending a hand
towards Rosa's cheek, but she kept on brushing it away
like a fly. Finally, Maria removed a piece of the glass
from the rubbish bin and assured Rosa that the next day
he would buy her another identical shade. Rosa clicked
her tongue and opened the kitchen