Incident No. 8: Waking
Though she has been suicidal for some five months, Ruthie awoke one morning in an excellent prescence of mind. She descended the staircase and entered the kitchen with her arms spread. She kissed all the children and all the house animals. She kissed her servants, her attendants and accountants, finally ending with a kiss to the center of the floor. She also did a twirl after that.
The faces of her servants were especially grim, so she asked them, “Does my sudden change of face frighten you? Does it shock you really?”
“No”, a maid said. “But did you forget? You locked the other maid Madeline in the meat locker last night and burned her possessions. Do you not remember? It was dreadful.”
But Ruthie’s mind was in such a state of bliss that she couldn’t comprehend such disaster. And she did let Madeline out of the meat locker and gave her four days of paid vacation and $500 spending money.
