Tragedy

TRAGEDY

I

At the front desk of the King’s Motel, Mike Williams read a newspaper, absorbing further second-hand details of the quake’s impact along with all of the latest sports updates. The maid came in to work as usual but shrank away from cleaning one of the rooms. The guest there had screamed at her like a lunatic, she claimed.

Annoyed, Mike dropped the newspaper and stood up. Since the maid couldn’t be bothered to do her job today, it fell on his shoulders.

He snatched the maid’s cart from her and wheeled it to the room. The door stood slightly open, he noticed. He knocked. No one answered.

“Anybody in there?” he called. He allowed five seconds for a response before he pushed the red door wide open and walked in.

The room was vacant. The comforter lay halfway off the bed. The sheets were wrinkled.

The clock radio on the bedside nightstand blared the news. He almost switched it off, but decided not to bother. At least it gave him something to listen to while he took his