CHAPTER TWELVESaturday, October 31, 1987—Halloween
ONE—Anna (3)
The tip of the black EI Marko pen made little squeeging noise, as Anna Sudek drew the rounded front of a capital “P” on the back of a square of cardboard cut from an empty box of Friskies dry cat food. The sound reminded her of that nurse’s shoes in the nursing home, but the smell of the ink in the pen was totally inhospitable—a harsh, chemical-inky odor that Anna found both unpleasant and vaguely stimulating this early in the morning.
As Anna finished writing the rest of the word “Please,” she found herself thinking of Alvin Miner, of those dark darting eyes undulled after years of institutional life and countless shock treatments, and of his sour breakfast breath. Poached eggs, most likely, she thought, as she drew two pa
