"Don't you get it, Ben? How the hell do you think I just came in?"
"The back way." Pendleton decided to try a drink on her and then find
out who her doctor was these days.
"I was the cat. Now you know about it and can go away, Ben." She let
herself fall to the floor and she huddled there, crying.
"How long have you had this idea?" He knelt beside her, running one
hand over her back.
"You know who put that silly damn boat in your pocket?" she asked.
"Sure. You were that little old man."
Beth rolled and sat up, her legs tangled in the robe. She took a deep
breath. "Listen, Ben. I got a kick out of changing into different kinds
of people. It was a help in my work at the Actors' Lab. Then I got the
idea it would be fun to try other things. Animals, chairs, tables. One
rainy night I was a footstool until it was time to go to bed."
"I was a tea kettle as a boy. Stop kidding."
"I don't know, Ben. It gets sort of vacant all around when you're away
somewhere. I had this feeling that I wanted to see if I could just step
into a store or someplace and try to swipe something. Anything."
* * * * *
Pendleton found himself starting to shake. He put his arms around Beth.
"That was you, then, taking junk from an old Chinese."
"I could change, you see, and take things as all sorts of odd
characters. If I was spotted and followed, I'd try to duck in an alley
or a doorway and change again. The clothes are extra. Sometimes I could
hide clothes in a lot. Most of the time, though, I'd have to change
into something new. A bird, a cat. Then I'd carry what I had stolen
in my beak or around my neck." She laughed softly. "Once I copped an
umbrella and changed into a big dog and went off with it in my mouth."
She twisted slightly in his arms. "I'm sorry. It's all sort of odd and
silly. I do it."
"Well, why?"
"I don't know."
"Beth?" He inched up, lifting her with him.
"Yes?" She let him sit her in the sofa chair.
"You have to go see somebody. You have to stop."