Page 382 - Demo

382It was quiet upstairs in the house. Lillie had Alan still clutched to her body. They had gone back to the house where Nancy had given a whole bottle of whisky to him, and they had sat for a few minutes as he drank it without stopping until it was all gone. He had asked for another, and Hazel had looked at Nancy, who thought for a minute, before saying, %u201cOh, go on then. He%u2019ll be more fun to watch when we let him lose on Annie. Er... do you have a long-nose gas lighter?%u201d%u201cYes, by the cooker. The ignition to the hob doesn%u2019t work so I use it to light the gas.%u201d%u201cPerfect,%u201d Nancy said, left and retuned with it. %u201cI filled it up.%u201dShe passed it to Alan. %u201cHere, I know you like to play with this, Alan.%u201dHe took it and clicked it on and off a few times, adjusted it so it had a long hissing flame, and said, %u201cThank you, Nancy.%u201d%u201cI also took the liberty of removing these kebab skewers from your drawer, Hazel. He loves playing with them.%u201d Nancy told her, and passed a fistful of long skewers to him. She held up a ball of string and the scissors. %u201cIt might be easy to tie Annie to something. Not the bed, as it%u2019s likely to get messy, unless you have a plastic decorator%u2019s dust sheet, we can put down.%u201dBut that was earlier. Hazel was about to open the door to her bedroom, but Nancy%u2019s hand touched her, and she whispered, %u201cNo. I have a better idea. Lillie, take Alan and put him down somewhere in the garden. Alan, please give me the skewers and the lighter. Lillie is going to give you another two bottles of whisky to drink while you wait for me to arrange something beautiful for you.%u201dHazel was intrigued. Alan gave the things to Nancy, and Lillie crept off downstairs with Alan. %u201c%u201cCome back and wait by the back door once you have set him down,%u201d Nancy whispered to Lillie. %u201cDon%u2019t go anywhere near him once you leave him alone with the booze, not if you value your life. I have never seen him when he loses all control through boozing too much. It will be interesting to see the full extent of his pain.%u201dHazel and Nancy were alone.The Equestrian