He walks around the front of her. Pokes her belly with his foot. She breathes a big grumbly breath. Makes it so he can see she is still breathing. She doesn’t want him to take her to the bush. To think she is dead. She wants him to think she is sleeping. Almost dead but not quite. Then he will leave her alone. Let her die of thirst some more. And she can chew chew chew on the tape.
She is smarter than him.
She hears him sit on the end of the bed. He is watching her. She can feel his eyes on her, though her eyes are closed. She can hear mice in the walls. She can hear the fridge popping into life. She can hear the rumble of his hungry belly. She can hear the whizz of cars on the road outside. She can hear the squawk of crows and far away thunder. She can hear grasshoppers eating grass.
S
