Isobel and Emile. Alan Reed
feet hit other things. She stumbles. She drops some of the food she took. She cannot see where it dropped. She does not stop to look for it.
She reaches the bottom of the stairs. She puts her hand on the banister. She goes up the stairs.
One of her hands is on the banister beside the stairs. The other is holding the food she took. At the top of the stairs there is a room. It is not really a room. It is more like an attic. She goes to the top of the stairs. There is a door. She opens the door. She is in the room.
There is a window in one of the walls. There is a curtain over it. The curtain is flimsy. A bit of light from the alley comes through it.
Isobel can see a bed. It is against one wall of the room. She can see a sink on one of the other walls. There is a mirror on the wall over it.
She goes to the middle of the room. There is a light bulb hanging from the ceiling. She cannot see it but she knows it is there. She stands under the light bulb. She reaches up. She pulls on the string hanging from it.
The light bulb turns on.
The bed against the wall is a small bed. There is a bare mattress on the bed frame. It is the bed she woke up in this morning. The plain white sheets are gone. There is not supposed to be anyone here. The sheets have been put away.
Isobel sits down on the floor. The floor is made of planks of wood. She puts the food she took on the floor. She eats some of the food. She uses her hands.
When she is done eating she stands up again. She goes over to the sink. She washes her face. There is not a towel hanging by the sink. There had been a towel there this morning. It has been put away too.
She wants to feel at home here.
She scowls. She has to use her dress to dry her face.
She walks to the middle of the room. She pulls on the string hanging from the light bulb again. The light bulb turns off.
She lies down on the mattress.
She wants to believe she has come home. She is lying on a bare mattress. There are no sheets and no blankets. She is still wearing her dress.
She has not come home.
There is a truck in the alley behind the store. Its engine is running. It is morning. Isobel is lying on the bed. She had been asleep. Now she is awake. The sound of the truck woke her.
She rubs at her eyes. She sits up in the bed. It was cold during the night. She had no blankets. She did not sleep well. Her body is stiff. She is still tired. She stands up. She rubs at her eyes again.
She goes over to the sink. She looks at herself in the mirror. She looks like she just got out of bed. She tries to make her hair look nicer. She pushes at it. It does not make her hair look nicer. She looks like she just got out of bed.
She grits her teeth.
She wants to look nicer.
She turns the water on. She washes her face. She dries her face on her dress again.
She looks at herself in the mirror. She tries to not scowl. She takes a breath. She opens the door and she goes out of the room.
She is above the grocery store. In the room at the back of the grocery store there are two men. They are carrying crates. There are crates in the truck behind the grocery store. The men are carrying the crates from the truck into the store.
Isobel comes down the stairs. She goes into the room at the back of the store. She stands there.
The two men see her.
They look at her.
One of the men says: ‘Isobel.’ He stops. He says: ‘What are you doing here?’
Isobel pulls her hands through her hair. She does not scowl. She lets out a breath.
She says: ‘Good morning, Mr. Koch.’
Isobel is sitting on a chair.
She is sitting with her hands between her legs. She is nervous. She is fidgeting because she is nervous. She is trying not to fidget but she cannot keep herself from fidgeting.
Mr. Koch is standing in front of her. He is holding two cups of coffee.
He gives Isobel one of the cups of coffee.
Mr. Koch is the owner of the grocery store. This is his office. It is a small room at the back of the grocery store.
There is a desk in the office. There is a desk and a machine for making coffee and a chair behind the desk and the chair Isobel is sitting in.
Mr. Koch sits down behind his desk. He grunts when he sits down. Isobel is sitting in front of his desk.Mr. Koch looks at her. She is holding her cup of coffee with both hands.
Mr. Koch makes a noise in his throat.
He takes a cigarette from the pack of cigarettes on his desk. His hair is grey. He is not young. He was thin when he was young. Now he is not. He is fat.
He puts the cigarette to his mouth. He lights it. Smoke comes out of his mouth.
Isobel does not look at Mr. Koch. She holds her cup of coffee in her lap. She uses both hands. She should look at Mr. Koch but she looks into her cup of coffee instead.
She lifts her cup of coffee to her mouth. She takes a sip from it.
Mr. Koch puts his cigarette to his mouth. He coughs. He looks at Isobel. He says: ‘What are you doing here?’
Isobel says: ‘I could work for you.’ She does not look up. Her hair falls into her face. She does not move her hair out of her face. She feels safer with her hair in her face.
Mr. Koch does not hear what she said.He says: ‘Excuse me?’
Isobel looks into her cup of coffee. There are ripples on the surface of the coffee. Her cup is shaking. Her cup is shaking because her hands are shaking. She tries to hold her hands still.
Isobel says: ‘I could work for you.’
Mr. Koch shakes his head.He makes a noise in his throat. He puts his hand to his mouth. He coughs.
Isobel does not say anything.
Mr. Koch puts his cigarette to his mouth. He draws on it. He takes his cigarette away from his mouth. Smoke comes out of his mouth.
It is a small room. It does not have a window.
Mr. Koch says: ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ He shakes his head again. He says: ‘You’re too young.’
Isobel does not look at him.
He says: ‘Isobel, go back to your family.’
Isobel says: ‘No.’
She says: ‘I don’t want to.’ She says: ‘I could work for you.’
Mr. Koch grumbles. He says: ‘You are too young for that.’
She says: ‘No.’
Mr. Koch says: ‘What will happen when your mother finds you here?’
Isobel’s shoulders sink. She looks into her cup of coffee.
Mr. Koch says: ‘What would I say to her?’
Isobel does not look up. She looks into her cup of coffee and she says: ‘No.’ She says it softly. She is trying to keep her hands still. She does not want her cup of coffee to shake.
Her cup of coffee is shaking.
Mr. Koch is looking at her. She knows that Mr. Koch is looking at her. She does not look at him. She wants more of her hair to fall into her face.
She should move her hair so it is not in her face. She should look at Mr. Koch.
She raises a hand to her hair. It is thick and almost black.
She wants more of her hair to fall into her face. She grabs