by Alan Reed
Agatha picks up the carafe. She pours some wine into the glass in front of Emile. She pours some wine into her glass.
She picks up her glass.
She says: ‘Welcome home, Emile.’ Emile picks up his glass. They touch their glasses together. She says: ‘We’ve missed you.’
Emile looks down. He smiles. He does not say anything. He drinks from his glass. It is cheap wine. It does not taste very good. It is that kind of café. They cannot afford to go anywhere else. They have learned to like it.
Agatha drinks from her glass. She puts it back on the table. She looks at the reel of film on the table and then she looks at Emile.
She says: ‘Did you get it done?’
Emile nods his head.
He picks up the reel of film. He gives it to Agatha. She holds it in her hands.
Agatha says: ‘Did it work out?’
Emile says: ‘I think so.’
Agatha says: ‘Good.’ She says: ‘You’re just in time for the festival.’
She puts the film next to her purse. She picks up her glass. She drinks from it.
She says: ‘You will come, won’t you?’
Emile is a puppeteer. He makes shows with puppets.
Agatha went to see one of Emile ’s shows. It was before Emile left. She sat down in a theatre. She crossed her legs. The curtains opened. She watched the show.
When the show was done she walked up to Emile. She said: ‘I liked your show.’ She said: ‘You should make a film.’
Emile said: ‘I don’t have a camera.’
Agatha said: ‘Don’t worry. I can get you a camera.’
She met Emile in a bar. They drank a bottle of wine together. They left the bar.
They stood in the street outside the bar. It was late. Agatha took a pack of cigarettes out of her purse. She put one of the cigarettes to her lips. She was carrying a small case. It was closed with clasps. It had a handle on it for carrying. She gave Emile the case.
She said: ‘The camera’s inside.’
Agatha lit the cigarette. She used a lighter. They were both drunk from the wine.
Emile said: ‘How does it work?’
Agatha said: ‘You don’t know?’
Emile said: ‘No.’
It was a warm night. It was almost summer. Emile and Agatha were not wearing jackets. Agatha’s shoulders were bare.
Agatha said: ‘Well.’ She put her cigarette to her lips. She drew on it. She dropped it onto the sidewalk. She took a tube of lipstick out of her purse. She put lipstick on her lips. It was very red lipstick.
She said: ‘Come to my place. I’ll show you how it works.’
She put her arm in Emile’s arm. They walked together down the street.
Emile passed out on Agatha’s couch.
It was after they went to the bar. The camera was on the table in front of the couch. Agatha had shown Emile how it worked. There was a bottle of brandy on the table beside it.
Agatha was standing beside Emile. She was holding a blanket. She bent over him. She touched his hair, gently. She put the blanket over him.
Agatha was drunk. Some of her hair was still piled on top of her head. The rest of her hair was falling onto her shoulders.
She walked away from the couch. She did not walk steadily. She kept one hand touching the wall. She went into her bedroom.
In the morning they sat in Agatha’s kitchen. Emile wore the clothes he wore the night before. He was wearing a white shirt and a worn pair of trousers. He had slept in them. They were rumpled. He was rumpled. Agatha was wearing a dressing gown.
They sat in Agatha’s kitchen. They drank coffee. Agatha lit a cigarette. She gave it to Emile. He smoked some of it. He gave it back to Agatha.
They did not say anything.
The window in Agatha’s kitchen looked over an alley. There was a dog barking outside.
Agatha and Emile sat in the kitchen. They drank coffee. Agatha said: ‘Do you want anything?’ She looked at Emile. He did not say anything. She said: ‘Breakfast?’
Emile shook his head. Agatha’s dressing gown was made of something like silk. It had Japanese flowers printed on it.
They drank coffee. They did not say anything. Agatha’s legs were bare. Emile did not know if Agatha was wearing anything under her dressing gown. Agatha stood up.
She said: ‘I’m going to have a shower. I’ll be quick.’
She went into the bathroom. She closed the door. Emile sat at the table. He heard her turn the shower on. He stood up from the table.
He put the camera into its case. He went to the bathroom door. He said: ‘I am going.’
Agatha said: ‘What?’
Emile said: ‘I am going.’
Agatha said: ‘Emile, I can’t hear you.’
She said: ‘Come in.’
Emile had the case in his hands. He walked to the door that went down to the street. He put on his shoes.
He left.
Emile and Agatha are sitting in a café. There is a carafe of wine on the table between them. There is no wine left in the carafe.
There are two glasses on the table. They are empty.
Agatha leans back in her chair. She says: ‘Oh, Emile. I don’t want to say it, but I should be going. I have so much to do for the festival.’
Emile nods his head. They stand up.
Agatha is taller than Emile. She is wearing high-heeled shoes. They make her even taller. They walk out of the café.
They stand in the street.
Emile says: ‘I liked making the film.’ He does not look at Agatha. He looks at the sidewalk.
Agatha says: ‘Then keep the camera.’ It is cold out. Emile and Agatha are wearing their jackets. Agatha’s jacket has fur around the collar.
Agatha smiles. She says: ‘Make another one. Do us all proud.’
Agatha has a wolfish smile. It makes her teeth look sharp.
It is getting late.
It is not late yet. It is only getting late.
Emile turns up his collar. He is standing on the street outside the café. Inside, the old men are still playing backgammon. Agatha has left. When she left she put her hand on his arm and she leaned over towards him. He kissed her on one cheek and then he kissed her on the other cheek.
She said: ‘Goodbye, Emile.’ She winked at him. She said: ‘I’ll see you soon.’
She left. She walked away down the street.
Emile is still standing on the street in front of the café.
He does not know where to go. There are not as many people on the street. They have gone home. A couple walks past him. They are young. They are holding hands. One of them says something. The other one laughs.
Emile could go home.
He walks down the street. There is a stop for the streetcar at the end of the street. The couple that walked past Emile is standing at the stop. They are standing close to each other. There is a woman watching them. She has a purse. She is holding her purse with both of her hands.
Emile stops. He waits for the streetcar.
A streetcar comes. It stops. The people standing at the stop get on. Emile gets on with them. He puts some money into the fare machine. The driver gives him a ticket. He finds a seat. He sits down.
The streetcar moves and then the streetcar stops. The doors open. People get on the streetcar. The doors close. The streetcar moves again. The streetcar stops. Emile stands up. The doors open.He goes to the doors.He gets off the streetcar.He is standing on a platform in the middle of the street.
He crosses the street. It is starting to get dark. He walks down the street and then he stops. There are shops on either side of him. They are closed for the night. He is standing in front of a door between them.
He opens the door.He goes inside.There are stairs inside.He goes up the stairs. There are two flights of stairs inside. He goes all the way up the stairs.He comes to a door.He opens the door. He goes inside.
He is home.
Nicolas is not at home. He is working at the bar.
Emile turns the lights on. He takes his jacket and his cap off. He hangs them on a hook in the wall.
There is a table in the middle of the apartment. There are four chairs around it.
Emile sits at the table.
There are apples and oranges on the table. They are in a bowl.
Emile takes some of the apples and some of the oranges out of the bowl. He puts them one in front of the other.
He puts them so that they are in a row pointing away from him.
He picks up the apple at one end of the row and he moves it forward slightly. He stands up to do it. He picks up the apple behind it and moves it forward slightly. He picks up the orange behind it and moves it forward slightly.
He moves all of the apples and oranges again. He sits down again. The apples and oranges are further away from him.
He wants to know what it is like to watch someone leave. He stands up again. He moves the apples and oranges again.
They are further away from where he was sitting.
He sits down again. He stands up again. He moves the apples and the oranges further away. He moves faster.
He keeps moving them until they fall off the end of the table.
He wants the sound of the fruit hitting the floor to be like the sound of a train. It is not the sound of a train. It is the sound of fruit hitting the floor.
He sits at the table. He puts his hands on top of the table. He looks where the fruit was.
It is what it is like to watch someone leave.
Nicolas comes home.
Emile is sitting at the table. His hands are on the table in front of him. There are apples and oranges on the floor.
Nicolas picks one of the apples up off the floor. He looks at it.
Nicolas shakes his head. He says: ‘Emile, they’re bruised.’
Emile looks at Nicolas. His hands are still on the table. Nicolas puts the apple he picked up into the bowl on the table.
Emile says: ‘Oh.’
Nicolas goes into his bedroom.
Emile stands up. He walks to where the apples and oranges fell. He bends down. He picks up an apple. He looks to see if it is bruised.
It is bruised.
He picks up the apples and the oranges. He puts them back in the bowl on the table.He goes over to Nicolas’s bedroom. The door is closed.
He says: ‘I’m sorry.’
Nicolas does not answer. Emile wonders if Nicolas heard him. He wonders if he should say he is sorry again. He does not say he is sorry again.
He turns out the lights. He goes into his bedroom.
4
There is a bed here.
The bed has plain white sheets on it again. Isobel is lying under the sheets. They are tangled around her body. She is asleep.
It is morning. Last night Isobel got into the bed. She fell asleep. It was late when she fell asleep. She did not want to sleep. She knew she would have nightmares if she fell asleep. She did not want to have nightmares.
She tried to stop herself from dreaming. She turned her head away. She twisted and kicked with her legs. It did not work. Now it is morning. There is a window above the bed. There is light coming in through the window. There are specks of dust floating in the light.
There is a truck under the window. It is in the alley behind the store. Isobel hears the truck.
She is lying twisted in the bed. The sheets are tangled around her body.
She opens her eyes.
She has to be awake now. She closes her eyes again. She does not want to be awake. She is tired. Fighting her nightmares makes her tired. She rubs at her face with her hands. It does not change anything.
She is tired and she has to be awake now.
She sits up in the bed. She runs her hands through her hair. Her hair is tangled. It is matted against her head. She pulls her hands through her hair until it is less tangled.
She is in the room over the grocery store. There is a bed in the room. There is a sink. There is a window. There is a door.
She stands up. She is awake. She does not feel awake. She is standing beside the bed. She goes over to the sink. She looks into the mirror. There is a mirror over the sink.
She sees herself looking in the mirror. There are dark creases under her eyes.
She scowls.
She does not want there to be dark creases under her eyes. She wants her sleep to be better than this. She does not know how to make it better. She looks down. She fills the sink with water. She washes her face in the sink. She reaches for the towel hanging beside the sink. She dries her face.
She walks away from the sink. Her dress is on the floor. She picks it up. She smells it. It does not smell good. She puts it on the bed.
She looks at her dress lying on the bed. It is limp and shapeless and dirty. It should be washed. She pulls her hands through her hair. It is less tangled than it was when she woke up. It is still tangled.
She pulls her hands through her hair until it is less tangled. She puts her dress on. Her shoes are by the door. She goes over to the door. She puts her shoes on. She goes through the door.
She is standing at the top of the stairs. There is a window in the ceiling over them. Light is coming in through the window. There is dust floating in the light. The dust reminds her of other things.
She wishes that she were not so tired.
Isobel’s dress has frills on it. They go around the collar. She goes down the stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs is the room at the back of the grocery store. The room is full of crates. There are crates with nothing in them and there are crates with things in them.
There is a door going out to the alley. It is propped open. Mr. Koch comes in through the door. He is carrying a crate. It is a crate with things in it. He puts the crate down. His face is red. He sees Isobel.
Another man comes in through the back door. He is a young man. He is not that much older than Isobel. He is carrying a crate. He puts it down next to the crate Mr. Koch brought in.
They are making a pile of crates next to the door.
Mr. Koch says: ‘Isobel, this is Oskar.’ He turns and he says: ‘Oskar, this is Isobel.’
Oskar says: ‘Hello, Isobel.’ He holds out his hand.
Isobel looks at Oskar’s hand. She puts out her hand the way he put out his hand. She does not step towards him. She does not know that she should. She is too young.He steps towards her. He takes her hand. He shakes it.
Isobel says: ‘Hello.’
Oskar lets go of Isobel’s hand. Oskar and Mr. Koch go back out the door. Isobel follows them out the door. There is a truck in the alley behind the grocery store. It is backed up next to the door.
Oskar gets into the back of the truck.
There are crates in the back of the truck. He hands a crate to Mr. Koch. Mr. Koch takes the crate. He grunts when he does. He goes into the grocery store carrying the crate.
Oskar picks up a crate to hand to Isobel. He says: ‘Be careful, it’s heavy.’
Isobel is too thin. She does not look like she is very strong. She cannot help that she is thin. She scowls.
Isobel says: ‘I’ll be okay.’
She takes the crate. It is too heavy for her. She takes it inside the store.
Mr. Koch is inside the store. He puts the crate he is carrying down. Isobel puts the crate she is carrying next to the crate Mr. Koch put down.
Oskar comes into the store after Isobel. He is carrying a crate. He puts the crate he is carrying on top of the crate Mr. Koch put down.
They stand inside the store. Mr. Koch is breathing hard. They look at each other.
Mr. Koch says: ‘Well, come on.’ He smiles.His face is red. He hitches the waist of his pants up. He goes back out into the alley. Isobel and Oskar follow him.
Oskar gets into the back of the truck. There are crates in the back of the truck. Oskar hands a crate to Mr. Koch.
Mr. Koch takes the crate and goes back into the store. He is still breathing heavily.
Oskar hands a c
rate to Isobel. She takes the crate inside the store.
There are steps going from the alley up to the door. Isobel slips on the steps. She slips but she does not fall.
Oskar sees her slip.He says: ‘Isobel!’ He sees that she did not fall. He says: ‘Be careful.’
Isobel says: ‘I’m fine.’
She stops on the steps. She changes how she is holding the crate. She does not want to drop it. She is not sure how to carry it.
She starts walking up the steps again. She goes into the store. She puts the crate she is carrying next to the crate Mr. Koch put down. She puts it down and she leans on it.
Mr. Koch is still inside. He pats Isobel on the shoulder.
Isobel does not look at him. She leans on the crate. She puts her hand into her hair. Oskar comes into the store. He is carrying a crate.He puts the crate he is carrying on top of the crate Mr. Koch was carrying.
Oskar looks at Isobel. She is scowling. He does not say anything. Mr. Koch and Oskar go back outside. Isobel pushes her hair out of her face. She has to go out to the truck. She has to do it. She follows Oskar and Mr. Koch. Oskar gets into the back of the truck.
Oskar hands a crate to Mr. Koch. He hands a crate to Isobel. They go back inside the store. Oskar picks a crate up. He follows them into the store.
They do this until there are no more crates in the back of Oskar’s truck.
When there are no more crates in the back of Oskar’s truck Oskar closes the doors that go into the back of the truck. He takes off the gloves that he wears while he carries crates. He puts them into the pockets of his overalls. He adjusts his cap.
He says: ‘Goodbye, Mr. Koch.’ He says: ‘Goodbye, Isobel.’
Mr. Koch says: ‘Say hello to your father for me. Tell him I miss seeing him.’
Oskar gets into the front of the truck.He closes the door. He starts the truck’s engine. Mr. Koch waves his hand. Oskar reaches his hand out of the window and he waves to Mr. Koch.
The truck drives away down the alley.
Isobel and Mr. Koch go back into the grocery store. Mr. Koch closes the door. They are in the room at the back of the store. There are crates piled beside them. Mr. Koch wipes his face. He puts his handkerchief in his pocket.