Should we wait outside in silence, go away and come back, or do as we had done before and light cigarettes to attract their attention? Go in, said Silver, go in and be there waiting for them. It would be a shock but it would soon be over and better than letting them see us through the window again. We opened that window as far as we could, raising the inner sash until its top and bottom bars were parallel with the outer sash, and climbed inside. The air in there felt the same as outside, warm, still, but without the smell of paint. It was darker, though. Our eyes had to become accustomed to a different kind of darkness. A mirror hung above the fireplace and I turned my head away from it, afraid that if I looked into its shiny grayness I’d see not myself but someone else’s face. We sat down each in an armchair and, leaning forward, I picked up Alison’s shoes and set them side by side, their toes pointing toward the window. We looked at each other in total silence for a minute or two.

Silver got up and opened the door. Light came flooding in, light and voices. They were somewhere, talking. The words weren’t distinguishable. He looked at me, looked away again, and spoke that phrase I’ve told you is what I say when I want to attract the attention of a customer whose name I don’t know, though I didn’t use it in those days and maybe never had used it.

“Are you there?”

He didn’t call it or speak it very loudly, but in a quiet gentle manner that no one who wasn’t completely paranoid and terrified would take as threatening. There was silence. The voices that had been in conversation were stilled. Silver pressed the switch by the door and I stood up, blinking at the flood of light.

Everything happened very quickly after that. I didn’t see him come, I didn’t even hear him, but he was upon Silver before either of us could move or make a sound. He leapt on him out of the hallway. He threw his arms around his neck and flung him to the ground, scrambling on top of him and punching his head, screaming, “I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you!”

Chapter 22

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