5:01 PM

10
5:01 PM

     Angela tried to flip on the television, but nothing. She tried to turn on the lights. Nothing. Oh, hell, she thought. The power's out again. Instead of the news, she saw herself in the mirror.
     "A man's dead," she told herself. "And all you can worry about is the 5 o'clock news."
     The problem was not knowing. Not knowing if the doctor was the guy that had done Lorlene's abortion. Not knowing if Bill knew. Not knowing if Bill was capable of killing someone in cold blood. It could have been a lot of people, for a lot of reasons. It didn't necessarily have to be the reason that she was thinking.
     "But you suspected all along that he'd do it. You knew he would and then it happened and now you don't want to give him up."
     That was it, wasn't it. She felt some insane need to protect Bill from the law. Wouldn't it be better for him, she was thinking, if he wasn't caught. He knew what he did was wrong, but prison, well that would spoil his whole life.
     Whether it would or wouldn't was of no concern of hers! She had to pick up the phone and call the Sheriff. Tell him to go get Bill and lock him up!
     But how do you know they haven't gotten somebody for the crime already? she thought. If you'd flipped on the television, maybe you would have seen the guy had been picked up.
     She accepted that as the answer and decided to call the power company instead.
     You should make the call just in case, she told herself. But she didn't want to call and have been embarrassed to accuse him. No, that was foolish. She ought to get the power turned back on and then decide what to do.
     She thought of her son. Why she should, she wasn't sure. Nick had never done anything worse than light some things on fire he probably shouldn't have. Okay, he had blown up some household objects, but that was normal boy stuff. He hadn't meant to kill anything larger than a rodent.
     Angela sat down. Rationalization. Why was she rationalizing everything.
     "Because I feel at fault."
     She did. She felt like she had pulled the trigger. Where was Phil Donahue when you needed him. This would make a great episode. "I could have stopped him," she could imagine herself saying. And Phil would be in the audience nodding in his serene way. Then he'd pick the microphone back up. "I think we have time for a question."
     "Don't disappear into a make-believe world," she told herself. "This is serious. Somebody was killed."
     But it was too late. She had already escaped. Wow. And it was well after the time to start cooking dinner! Oh, damn, she remembered. Electric range. Should have gotten something from the diner before she left. Well, she still could go back.
     Rather get pizza than see anybody after she'd already left. She decided to call for the pizza right then.
     And you know what? She never even considered calling the Sheriff's Department once after that, though she did many times fantasize about being on Phil Donahue, or Oprah.
     "Oh, Phil," she would say. "Or, Oprah, I didn't want him to be disappointed with me. And Oprah would say, 'we're going to take a quick commercial break.' She always said that after the guest said something really terrible and damning."