The Hamlet Trap by Kate Wilhelm Read Free Book Online Page A

week, for Christ sake! What do you expect?” He said, more quietly, “Look, Ginnie’s having Ro, the two of us, and her friend from the university for dinner tomorrow night. Peter can introduce you to a whole new set of people, not theater people.”
    That was the problem, she admitted to herself. When they first met, he had moved into her circle of friends effortlessly. Over the year she had dropped most of them, but it had been gradual, and there were a few she had kept to the end in Connecticut. He had not moved into the university theater group the way he was doing here. He had known that was a stopgap, temporary, and he had not cared to make the effort then. And she had been busy. There had never been quite enough time there, but when she gazed into the future here, the next months anyway, all she could see was herself alone in a stranger’s lovely house where there was nothing for her to do.
    She jerked the car when she shifted gears climbing their steep hill. “Goddamn it!” She glanced at Gray; he was looking out his window and seemed very distant, too far to reach.
    â€œIgnore the mess,” Ginnie called out when they arrived at her house the next night. “Just step over anything, or kick it out of the way.”
    She had yelled for them to come on in, and now as they stood in the foyer, she appeared, wiping her hands on a towel. “I sent Peter out for some whipping cream, and Uncle Ro’s late. He’s always late for dinner at my house. He hates the preliminaries, all that cheese and stuff. Hang up your things in the closet behind you. My hands are sticky.” She backed her way into the living room, leading them. “Come on out to the kitchen, okay? I’m up to my elbows in pie crust.”
    The house was all up and down. Stairs led up to the kitchen, which was large with many cabinets, a handsome oak table with six chairs. Other stairs led to other areas. It seemed too big a house for a single person. On the table in the kitchen there was a blue ceramic platter with Brie and wheat crackers, grapes, and prosciutto, paper thin, rolled and held with toothpicks. White wine was in a cooler, red wine in a decanter.
    â€œPlease help yourselves,” Ginnie said, waving to the table. “I have to get this goddamn crust in one piece in the pie pan… .” She worked at the counter, muttering under her breath. After a moment, she drew back and surveyed her effort. “To hell with it,” she said. “That’s why I decided to send Peter for whipping cream. It can hide a multitude of sins.”
    Ro and Peter arrived almost together and she moved the platter and wine to the living room. Dinner was late.
    When it was finally ready, Ginnie brought a casserole to the table and said in awe, “My God, look at it! It’s gorgeous!”
    It was salmon with shrimp and crab stuffing, and it was beautiful.
    â€œHaven’t you made it before?” Laura asked.
    â€œNope. I always try things out on company. Oh, salad.” She jumped up to get the salad from the refrigerator.
    â€œI’m too chicken to experiment like that,” Laura said. “What happens is that I try everything out the week of the dinner party, and by the time we have it a second time, I’m bored with it.”
    â€œI guess I figure why should I suffer alone if something doesn’t work.” She looked at her uncle. “William said that Sunshine was in the costumes today. Anna will take her head off for her.”
    Ro looked unhappy. “I know. We straightened that out. She was just trying on stuff, she said, smiling like an angel. I marched her around the theater, showing her what’s off limits, where she’s allowed to go. She wanted to go below and see the trapdoor mechanism. Her words.”
    Gray shrugged helplessly. “Darned if I know what to do with her.”
    Ro said, very quietly, “Me too.”
    And that, Ginnie thought, was