Murlock throws his hands across the table, but is horrified to discover that his wife is no longer there. Murlock subsequently hears and feels something fall onto the floor so forcefully that the whole cabin shakes. Then he hears something even more dreadful-the sound of a heavy body throwing itself against the table on which his wife lies, and next to which he sits. Instead, Murlock waits in the darkness, speaking his wife’s name but getting no answer.
Terrified, he neither screams nor even calls out. He hears, or thinks he hears, soft steps-they sound like bare feet walking upon the cabin floor. Murlock listens intently, wondering what woke him up. Through the open window he then hears a long, wailing sound, perhaps a wild animal, perhaps a dream, for he is already asleep.Īn hour or so later, he is suddenly awakened. After Murlock finishes preparing the body, he sits down-feeling utterly tired, as night is approaching, and placing his head on the table. He tells himself that, after he buries Mary, he will miss her for the present moment, he tries to convince himself that things are not so bad as they seem. He performs this task stoically, if not numbly. Murlock now sets about preparing his wife’s body for burial. His efforts are unsuccessful, however, and she lapses into a state of unconsciousness, appearing to die without ever recovering awareness. As they have no neighbors or doctor nearby, Murlock tries to nurse Mary back to health by himself. One day when Murlock returns home from hunting, he finds his wife deliriously ill with fever. He makes his living by bartering animal skins. The area around Cincinnati, Ohio, is almost unbroken forest, and a man named Murlock lives there in a small log cabin with his wife, Mary.
0 kommentar(er)
