Klara and the Sun(48)
‘Klara! Come on! Over here!’
I came closer, then realized these weren’t cones at all, but Rick, holding back the grass with one hand and reaching the other towards me. Now that I’d recognized him, I had even more incentive to move towards him, but my feet sank further, and I knew if I attempted another step I’d lose balance and fall deep into the ground. I knew too that despite Rick appearing to be within touching distance, he was not in reality so near because of the fierce border separating our boxes. Even so, he continued to reach out towards me, and where his arm crossed into my box, it appeared elongated and bent.
‘Klara, come on!’
But I’d accepted now that I would soon fall into the ground, that the Sun was angry with me, and perhaps unkind, and that Josie was disappointed with me. I began to lose orientation, even as Rick’s arm grew longer and more crooked till it touched me. It stopped me falling, and my feet steadied a little.
‘Okay, Klara. This way.’
He was guiding – almost carrying – me across, and then I was in a kind box, the Sun’s generous pattern over me, and my thoughts found order once more.
‘Thank you. Thank you for coming to help.’
‘I saw you from my window. Are you okay?’
‘Yes, everything is fine again. The field posed more problems than I expected.’
‘I suppose these little ditches can get tricky. I have to say, from up there, you looked like one of those flies that buzz around blindly on the window pane. But that’s unkind, I’m sorry.’
I smiled and said: ‘I feel so foolish.’ Then remembering, I looked up to check the Sun’s position. ‘This journey is so important,’ I said, looking at him again. ‘But I estimated incorrectly and now I won’t get there in time.’
The grass was still too high to see Mr McBain’s barn in the distance, but Rick was looking straight in its direction, a hand shielding his eyes, and it occurred to me he was tall enough to see it.
‘I should have left the house earlier,’ I said, ‘regardless of the awkwardness when I returned. But I was waiting till Josie fell asleep, and to allow Melania Housekeeper to believe I was going on another errand to Rick’s house. I thought there’d be sufficient time, but the fields were more complex than I’d imagined.’
Rick was still looking towards Mr McBain’s barn. ‘You keep saying you won’t get there in time,’ he said. ‘But when exactly did you want to be there?’
‘Just as the Sun is arriving at Mr McBain’s barn. But before he disappears for his rest.’
‘Look, I don’t understand any of this. And I appreciate you can’t let me in on it for whatever reason. But if you want, I’ll take you there.’
‘That’s very kind. But even with Rick guiding, I believe it’s now too late.’
‘I wouldn’t guide you. I’ll carry you. Piggyback. We’ve got a way to go yet, but if we hurry, I think we can make it.’
‘You’d do that?’
‘You keep saying it’s important. Important for Josie. So yes, I’d like to help. This is over my head, but then I’m used to that. If we’re going, we have to hurry.’
He turned and lowered himself into a crouching position. I understood I was to climb on his back, and immediately I did so – clasping my arms and legs around him – he began to move.
* * *
—
Now I was higher, I could see better the evening sky, and the roof of Mr McBain’s barn ahead of us. Rick moved confidently, crashing through the grass, and since his arms were occupied holding me, most of the impact was taken by his head and shoulders. I felt sorry about this, and that there was so little I could do myself to push back the grass.
Then I looked up past Rick’s head and saw that the sky had become divided into segments of irregular shape. Some segments were glowing orange or pink, while others showed pieces of the night sky, sections of the moon visible at a corner or edge. As Rick moved forward, the segments kept overlapping and displacing one another, even as we passed through another picture frame gate. After that the grass, instead of being delicate and waving, came towards us as flat shapes, possibly made from heavy board such as the sort used for street advertising, and I feared they would cause Rick injury as he plunged into them. Then the sky and the field were no longer in segments, but one broad picture, and Mr McBain’s barn was looming before us.
The uneasy thought that had been growing in my mind could now no longer be set aside. Even before Rick had come to my aid, I’d started to wonder if the Sun’s resting place really was inside the barn itself. Of course, I’d been the one, not Josie, who’d first suggested such a thing, that time we’d gazed out together from the rear window, so any such error was entirely my own. Certainly, there was no question of Josie having misled me at any stage. Even so, it was a discouraging thought that the Sun was about to descend not into the place I was making such an effort to reach, but somewhere further away still.
What I now observed obliged me to accept that my fear was justified. Mr McBain’s barn was unlike any building I’d seen. It resembled the outer shell of a house the men hadn’t yet finished. There was a gray roof with a facing triangle in the usual manner, supported to the left and right by walls of a darker shade. But apart from the sections enclosing the roof, the structure had no walls front or rear. The wind, I knew, was even then blowing right the way through with barely any obstruction. And the Sun, I saw, had now fallen behind the barn’s structure, and was sending his rays through the rear opening back out to us as we approached.