Page 67 of Homebound
“I’m sure. He heard you.”
Ruby shook her head. “What an odd creature.”
Gemma walked Ruby to the door knowing that the woman didn’t have a lot of time to spend with Gemma.
“About Arlo. Gemma, I do think he’s avoiding you.”
“So I figured.”
“Do you still see a reason to talk to him?”
“I do.”
“Well, I’ve been thinking. The only time Arlo ventures out is to go to the courtyard. You could catch him there.”
“I can’t. Because of the Obu.” She’d already considered it.
“Hear me out. Do you know how we line the inmates up according to whose cell is farthest from the door? Now with only the two of us, I take the lead, the guards walk with the inmates, and Arlo comes in last. If you get your timing right, you can ambush him then.”
Gemma’s feverish mind was furiously processing this scenario. “And the Obu is in the middle of the line, so he’d have already left.”
“Exactly.”
“Ruby, you’re a genius.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Thank you.”
“Be careful.”
“I will.”
“Don’t try today. You’re dead on your feet.”
Ruby checked the time and left without looking back.
Gemma leaned her forehead to the door. The aliens’ outing would be happening in thirty minutes. Like hell she wasn’t trying today.
Making an excuse to disappear was easy today, with everyone feeling sympathetic to Gemma’s poor health. No one asked her any questions.
She assumed a waiting position near the showers. The short nap that Ruby had awoken her from helped, and she was feeling somewhat more like herself. Out of a small window, she watched the aliens line up and heard the door being opened for them to walk back upstairs. She heard conversations, Ruby telling someone to hurry up, and recognized the gurgling cooing of the Birdies.
Tiptoeing, she slid along the wall and emerged in front of Arlo like a wraith.
He yelped.
“Gemma!” There was a fake greeting if ever she heard one.
“Arlo!” she responded in kind. “Fancy bumping into you.”
“Yes, what a nice surprise. But look at the time! Gotta go.” He tried to follow the inmates.
“A word with you, please.”
She was cutting off his escape route, and unless he physically moved her out of the way, he was stuck. And Arlo wasn’t one for fistfights.
Realizing he was trapped, he crossed his arms. “You look like shit, by the way.”
