Klara and the Sun(74)
‘As you please. I’ll call in at the apartment in the morning to say goodbye to Josie. So I may see you then.’
The Mother’s voice said somewhere behind me: ‘We’ll talk about this back at the apartment. We can’t talk here.’
‘But that’s all I wanted to say,’ Josie’s voice said. ‘I definitely don’t want you sealing it up, the way you did with Sal’s. I want it so Klara gets sole use of my room and she gets to come and go as she pleases.’
‘But why are we even talking about this? You’re going to get well, honey. We don’t have to think about any of this…’
‘Oh, Klara, here you are.’ Miss Helen had appeared beside me. ‘Klara, look, I’ve just been speaking with Chrissie. You’re to come with us for now.’
‘With you?’
‘Chrissie wants to take Josie back to the apartment and have a quiet word with her, just the two of them. So you stay with us for now. Chrissie will come and collect you in half an hour.’ Then leaning forward, she spoke quietly into my ear: ‘Can you see? Rick and Vance are really hitting it off! All the same, dear, Rick will really appreciate having you beside him as he goes through this. It could still be something of an ordeal.’
‘Yes, of course. But the Mother…’
‘She’ll come and collect you in very good time, don’t worry. She just needs a few minutes alone with Josie.’
‘What I want more than anything else,’ Mr Vance said with a laugh, coming towards us, ‘is for us to get out of this crush. Over there, that diner. That looks fine. Just somewhere we can sit down, look at one another and talk.’
There were arms encircling me, and I realized Josie was holding me in an embrace, not unlike the one she’d held me in that day at the store following the great decision. But this time, she spoke into my ear, so only I could hear:
‘Don’t worry. I’ll never let anything bad happen to you. I’ll talk to Mom. You go with Rick for now. Trust me.’
Then she released me, and Miss Helen was pulling me gently away.
‘Come along, Klara, dear.’
We emerged from the theater crowd, Mr Vance leading the way towards the diner, Miss Helen hurrying to walk alongside him. Rick and I followed the adults a few steps behind, and as the emptiness and cool air moved in around us, I felt my orientation returning. When I looked back, I was surprised to see how dark and quiet the street actually was, aside from the single dense cluster of people around the streetlight. In fact, as we moved ever further away, this crowd – of which I’d so recently been a part – appeared like one of those insect clouds I’d seen in the evening field, hovering against the sky, each creature within it busily changing position, anxious to find a better one, but never straying beyond the boundary of the shape they made together. I saw Josie, waving with a puzzled expression from the crowd’s edge, and the Mother, standing behind her, a hand on each of Josie’s shoulders, watching us with empty eyes.
* * *
—
The darkness grew, and the noises of the theater crowd became more faint, but I knew my observational abilities hadn’t been too badly impaired because I continued to see clearly before me the illuminated diner towards which we were walking. I could see how it was shaped like a pie segment, the sharp end pointed towards us; and how the street forked on either side of it, and how the diner’s windows ran alongside both the diverging sidewalks, so that no matter which way passers-by went, they’d be able to look into its lit interior – at the shiny leather seats, the polished tabletops, and the bright see-through counter behind which the diner manager was waiting for customers in his white apron and white cap.
With no vehicles approaching and the surrounding buildings so dark, the diner was this area’s only light source, throwing slanted shapes onto the paving stones. I wondered which side of the fork Mr Vance would choose, but as we came closer, I noticed a door just at the pointed corner itself. The only reason I hadn’t spotted it earlier, I supposed, was because the door so resembled the diner’s windows – it was made mostly of glass and had painted writing going across it. Mr Vance opened the door, then stood aside to allow Miss Helen to go in first.
When I came in behind Rick a moment later, I found the lighting so strong and yellow I couldn’t immediately adjust to it. Only gradually did I make out the slices of fruit pie, each one shaped like the diner itself, displayed inside the see-through counter, and the Diner Manager – a large black-skinned man – standing very still behind it, his face fixed away from me. I then realized he was watching Mr Vance and Miss Helen as they chose their booth and settled themselves into it, facing one another.
I saw Rick’s figure cross the shiny floor and sit down beside his mother. As I did so, Josie’s parting words to me returned to my mind, and I wondered what important matter the Mother wished to discuss with her at the Friend’s Apartment, and why my absence was necessary.
Miss Helen and Mr Vance continued to gaze at each other silently for the entire time it took me to go over to them. I didn’t feel I knew Mr Vance well enough to sit beside him. Also, he was sitting midway across the seat intended for two, and I could see I wouldn’t be able to take my seat without disturbing his comfort. So instead I sat down alone in the neighboring booth across the aisle.