Chapter 3: A Confrontation

“Hank, please listen to me.” Stunned when she saw Alice, she asked, “Who’s she?”

“Sharon, meet Alice Rogers. She was alone and I’m moving into a bedroom at her parents’ house. There is some hope that her parents or aunt might return. It’s also a bigger house with room for me.”

I was going to say more but Sharon quickly said, “It didn’t take you long to replace me with a new bed partner.”

Alice’s face turned pale and then quickly red with anger. “Mister Hank is doing nothing of the sort. He said you weren’t a good person but I asked him to talk to you. He was right about you. You’re a bad person.”

Sharon started crying with big sobs. “No one wants me.”

Alice said, “You judge people unfairly and treat them cruelly. When you are mean to people, they don’t want to be around you. Why does this surprise you?”

“I’m just so lonely. Everyone’s gone. Hank left me instead of being jealous.”

“Sharon, there is nothing about you that I want. This conversation is only occurring because Alice said we should try to be friends. You managed to screw that up, too.”

I looked over at Alice. “Are you satisfied?” She nodded slowly. “Then let’s go.” We got back in my car and I left for Alice’s house. Once there, we unloaded my clothes into a spare bedroom.

We went into the den. Alice said, “Mister Hank, why is she like that?”

I grimaced. “First, you don’t have to call me, ‘Mister.’ Just calling me ‘Hank’ is fine.”

She nodded. “Second, I don’t know. When we first met, she was nice to everyone. I think she was trying to be nice then. However, even then, there was something about her that didn’t seem to work quite right. I had started to draw away and that’s probably why she tried to make me jealous. At least, that was her story. She had tried to explain my finding her in bed with another guy as an accident. I don’t think it was. It was her plan to either make me jealous or to get us involved in multiple partners. Her roommate had let me in and directed me to her bedroom.”

Alice had a funny look on her face. “You were set up.” I nodded in agreement.

“Hank, am I okay?”

“You are very okay. However, remember that you’re less than half my age. Also, you’re too young to be involved in what Sharon tried to accuse you of being involved in doing.”

She nodded. She asked, “Hank, do you think my parents or Aunt Mary will ever return?”

“No, honey. It could happen but it isn’t likely.

“Let’s go through the house and make sure it’s secure. I’ve seen the crazies attack people. We don’t want to be victims.”

We did that. While doing it, we could see a few of the crazies walking around outside. This was a busier street than mine had been. Except for a slight shuffle to their walk, the crazies looked normal from a distance. Close up, I knew their eyes would give you second thoughts. When we finished, we were back in the living room. It was time to think about supper.

“Alice, I guess we need to start something for supper.” She nodded. When I stood, she did also and we went into the kitchen. I said, “Except for grilling outside, we can make anything you want.”

She said, “I noticed you had lettuce and stuff. Let’s make a salad, We could use some lunch meat and make it a chef’s salad.”

“That sounds good to me.” I handed her things from the fridge and she put them on a counter. She pulled out knives and cutting boards and then a big bowl. I asked, “Are you hungry?” She nodded. “Okay, let’s get to work.”

We began supper preparations. Alice asked, “Hank, have you ever been married?”

“No, I’m twenty-seven and still young yet. I just haven’t met the right one though dated in high school, college, and after graduation.”

“How long did you date Sharon?”

“Let’s see. I guess almost six months. It might have gotten serious but I became unsure about her. Then she had me catch her having sex with a friend of hers. I didn’t like it and said a few mean things. She told me she never wanted to see me or talk to me again.”

Alice said, “I think she regrets that now. I think she wishes things were different between you two.”

“I could say that, too. However, I suspect that it wouldn’t have worked out sooner or later. We had some significant differences that I don’t think would have worked out. I had already noticed that she had a mean tongue when she didn’t like something. It made her unpleasant.”

Alice smirked. “She didn’t like it that I was with you.” She giggled, “And I’m not even ‘with’ you.” She giggled and I smirked.

I said, “More than I’m with her.”

“Do you think we’ll see her again?”

“I don’t know, Alice. I hope not but she has shown up twice after the eclipse when she had said that she didn’t want to see me or talk to me ever again.”

“Maybe she wanted you to beg to be taken back.”

“I hadn’t thought of that but it won’t happen. It really won’t happen now. There was no excuse for her treating you poorly.”

The salad was being prepared while we talked. I said, “On a different subject, did you know where your parents were going?”

“Yes. They were meeting friends for the eclipse and the weekend before up in north Georgia. I tried their cells as well as the numbers of their friends. No one ever answered.”

“That’s not good.”

“That’s what I think. I’m not suggesting we try to find them. My Aunt Mary was getting weird when she left.”

I said, “She may have realized that the Z-rays were affecting her and left to keep from harming you.”