The Look Inside
Adam Lock
The bedroom is dark except for the blue light of the e-reader uplighting her face.
‘Did you come?’ I ask her.
She smiles weakly and says, ‘Twice.’
I’m not so sure.
She always reads her e-reader afterwards.
‘Why don’t you choose a book? Buy one?’
She shakes her head and swipes the screen. ‘No need.’
‘Don’t you want to finish one?’
‘It’s the “Look Inside,” bit I like. Any book I want.’ She shows me her e-reader.
‘But don’t you want to find out what happens?’
She squints then rests the e-reader on her legs folded into a teepee beneath the quilt.
‘It’s the beginning of books I like best. The middles are boring. And I know how they end by the time I’ve read the first twenty pages. So … ’ She shrugs and swipes the screen.
By the side of the bed is her over
