The plum stone appeared and dropped into the sack. A look of pain came over the fat, blank face. She thought. You could see her thinking the way you can see a snail move if you watch hard enough.
“She might be in the—the bathroom,” she said at last. “I should wait and ring again.”
Quite brilliant in a dumb kind of way.
“She’s not in there. I’ve looked.”
She was about to put the bite on another plum. Instead she lowered it to look reproachfully at me.
“That wasn’t a very nice thing to do.”
I took off my hat and ran my fingers through my hair. Much more of this and I would be walking up the wall.
“I knocked first,” I said, through clenched teeth. “Well, if she’s not with you I’ll go back and try again.”
She was still thinking. The look of pain was still on her face.
“I know what I would do if I were you,” she said.