by Alan Reed
Oskar shrugs. He says: ‘I could.’
Isobel says: ‘Could you take me there?’
Oskar says: ‘Sure.’
Isobel says: ‘Thank you.’
She says: ‘I need to get my things.’
Oskar says: ‘Sure.’ He takes his hands out of his pockets. He gets into the truck. He does not start the engine.
Isobel goes into the store. She goes up the stairs. She goes into her room.
There is the suitcase by the door. Isobel’s things are in it. She picks up the suitcase. She looks at the room.
There is a bed in the room. It has plain white sheets on it. There is a blanket over the plain white sheets. There is a sink on the wall. There is a mirror over the sink and there is a window over the bed.
She looks at the room for the last time. She closes the door. She goes back down the stairs. She goes out of the store and into the alley.
Oskar’s truck is there. Oskar is waiting. Mr. Koch is standing beside the truck.
Isobel goes to Mr. Koch. She puts her arms around him.
Mr. Koch smiles. He pats Isobel on the back.
Isobel says: ‘Thank you.’
Mr. Koch says: ‘Hush.’ He says: ‘Off with you now.’
Isobel gets into Oskar’s truck.
Oskar is already in the truck. He starts the engine. They drive down the alley and then they turn onto the street.
Oskar looks at Isobel. He says: ‘Where are you going?’
Isobel says: ‘It doesn’t matter.’
She says: ‘I’m going away.’
They are sitting.
They are sitting, the two of them, on a bench on the platform of a train station.
It is early in the morning. They are waiting for a train to come.
They had been eating snacks. They had bought the snacks inside the station. There is a machine inside the station. It sells snacks. They put money into the machine and it gave them snacks.
They are not eating snacks anymore. They have eaten them. They are holding the wrappers that their snacks were in.
They want to say something.
They do not. It is too quiet. They should say something. There is nothing left to say. There is only what is going to happen.
Instead of saying something they are holding the wrappers their snacks were in.
They are sitting on a bench on the platform of a train station. They are waiting for a train to come. It is why they are here. They know that it is why they are here. They do not need to say it. They know.
It is all that there is to say. There is no need to say it.
There is nothing to say.
She says: ‘I don’t want it to be like this.’
Her hands are in her lap. She is holding on to the wrapper from her snack. Her hands are twisting it. She watches her hands twist it.
He does not say anything.
She does not look at him. She looks at her hands. She looks at how the paper wrapper twists. She says: ‘I don’t want it to be like this.’
He says: ‘What should we do?’
She says: ‘I don’t know.’
She stops speaking. She pulls on the piece of paper in her hands. She pulls it until it rips.
She says: ‘I don’t know.’
She says: ‘I want to see you again.’
She looks at her hands. Her hands are holding the pieces of the paper her snack was wrapped in.
She says: ‘Will I see you again?’
She still does not look at him. The paper wrapper in her hands is in three pieces. He looks at her hands. He does not touch her hands. He wants to but he does not.
He does not know what to do.
He looks at her.
He says: ‘I do not know.’
He is quiet. He looks at his hands. He is holding a paper wrapper in his hands. He cannot see what is written on it clearly. His eyes are wet.
He says: ‘I hope so.’
She looks at him. She says: ‘Okay.’
She smiles.
They are sitting on a bench on the platform of a train station. They are sitting beside each other.
They are waiting for a train to come.
It is almost time for the train to come. They cannot see the train. They know that the train is close but they cannot see it yet.
She says: ‘What will you do?’
He says: ‘I will go home.’
He says: ‘I will find Nicolas. I will find him and we will go home.’ He says: ‘I will meet Agatha.’
He says: ‘I will give her the film.’
She says: ‘And then?’
He says: ‘Agatha will show the film.’
She says: ‘And then?’
He says: ‘I do not know.’
He is quiet for a moment.
He says: ‘I will do something.’ He says: ‘I do not know what it will be.’ He says: ‘I will get caught up in something.’
He says: ‘It is what happens there.’
The train has not come. They still cannot see it. It does not matter that they cannot see it. They know that it is coming.
They know what will happen.
They do not have to say anything. It will not change what will happen. They both know what will happen.
He says: ‘What will you do?’
She says: ‘I don’t know.’
They are sitting on a bench. They are sitting beside each other. They are sitting close beside each other.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There are people I would like to thank for their support while I was writing this book: Bryony Henderson, Michelle Horacek, Barbara Bridger, Ted Blodgett, Katharine Southworth, Leigh Gillam, Emma Hooper, Jacob Wren, Olchar Lindsann, Sharon Budnarchuk, David McDerby, Barry Corber and, most of all, Carina de Klerk.
This book is dedicated to the memory of Gilbert Bouchard (1961–2009). I wish you could have seen this, old friend.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alan Reed is the author of a collection of poems, For Love of the City. He lives in Montreal.
Typeset in Fournier
Printed and bound at the Coach House on bpNichol Lane
Edited and designed by Alana Wilcox
Cover puppet and photo by Leigh Gillam
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