Hunched over her computer, just typing and typing like some secretary in an old-time Chicago bank. But that's what happens when you won't hire anyone else to help.
Why would you need to hire anyone? This isn't the New York Times, it's a dinky little paper that barely reaches more than a hundred and thirty two subscribers at best. Besides, hiring someone would mean having to pay them. Why waste good money on that?
So why are you complaining? Just finish the damn story and return to your boring little house and your bland-as-white-bread husband and your stupid little girl who you'd keep in a cardboard box if you could.
This is the life you wanted, Alice. So shut up and do what a good blond-headed Barbie doll like you does: work, eat, and sleep. Nothing more, nothing less.
That night, as Alice finished brushing her hair for bed, she decided to put on her special nightgown. Not the one that Hal had bought for her thirteen years ago. The one she'd bought for herself.
Deep in the back of her closet, it lay motionless on a dusty hanger, wrapped in crinkled plastic. The design wasn't anything fancy; it already had more than a few patches and thread lines from various periods of needlework. But it had a sentimental value, like an old heirloom passed down from another generation.
It was dark, the bulb having just burned out, so Alice had to use her hands to feel for the plastic. When she did find it, she pulled it right off the hanger and into the light.
Only it wasn't her old nightgown. It was a black leather jacket. With a green serpent stenciled on the back.
Alice froze. She could hear Hal's steps as he walked up the stairs. She barely managed to stuff the jacket under her bed before he entered.
"Alice, why are wearing a towel? It's almost ten in the evening."
"None of your damn business, Hal. Now give a girl some privacy!"
He shrugged and closed the door behind him. She was alone again.
Retrieving the jacket, Alice held it at arm's length, like a bag of garbage. She hadn't worn this rag in nearly thirty years; that wasn't going to change anytime soon.
But just looking at it brought the memories back. Back when things were very different. Back when she wasn't named Cooper.