be carried by public transportation from place to place?
Her feet seemed now to be at some enormous distance from her body. Her knees, in the unfamiliar crisp pants, were weighted with irons. She was sinking to the ground like a stricken horse who will never get up.
Already the bus had loaded on the few passengers and the parcels that had been waiting in this town. A woman and a baby in its stroller were waving somebody good-bye. The building behind them, the cafe that served as a bus stop, was also in motion. A liquefying wave passed through the bricks and windows as if they were about to dissolve. In peril of her life, Carla pulled her huge body, her iron limbs, forward. She stumbled, she cried out, “Let me off.”
The driver braked, he called out irritably, “I thought you were going to Toronto?” People gave her casually curious looks, nobody seemed to understand that she was in anguish.
“I have to get off here.”
“There’s a washroom in the back.”
“No. No. I have to get off.”
“I’m not waiting. You understand that? You got luggage underneath?”
“No. Yes. No.”
“No luggage?”
A voice in the bus said, “Claustrophobia. That’s what’s the matter with her.”
“You sick?” said the driver.
“No. No. I just want off.”
“Okay. Okay. Fine by me.”
SYLVIA HAD FORGOTTEN to lock her door. She realized that she should be locking it now, not opening it, but it was too late, she had it open.
And nobody there.
Yet she was sure, sure, the knocking had been real.
She closed the door and this time she locked it.
There was a playful sound, a tinkling tapping sound, coming from the wall of windows. She switched the light on, but saw nothing there, and switched it off again. Some animal — maybe a squirrel? The French doors that opened between windows, leading to the patio, had not been locked either. Not even really closed, having been left open an inch or so from her airing of the house. She started to close them and somebody laughed, nearby, near enough to be in the room with her.
“It’s me,” a man said. “Did I scare you?”
He was pressed against the glass, he was right beside her.
“It’s Clark,” he said. “Clark from down the road.”
She was not going to ask him in, but she was afraid to shut the door in his face. He could grab it before she could manage that. She didn’t want to turn on the light, either. She slept in a long T-shirt. She should have pulled the quilt from the sofa and wrapped it around herself, but it was too late now.
“Did you want to get dressed?” he said. “What I got in here, it could be the very things you need.”
He had a shopping bag in his hand. He thrust it at her, but did not try to come with it.
“What?” she said in a choppy voice.
“Look and see. It’s not a bomb. There, take it.”
She felt inside the bag, not looking. Something soft. And then she recognized the buttons of the jacket, the silk of the shirt, the belt on the pants.
“Just thought you’d better have them back,” he said. “They’re yours, aren’t they?”
She tightened her jaws so that her teeth wouldn’t chatter. A fearful dryness had attacked her mouth and throat.
“I understood they were yours,” he said softly.
Her tongue moved like a wad of wool. She forced herself to say, “Where’s Carla?”
“You mean my wife Carla?”
Now she could see his face more clearly. She could see how he was enjoying himself.
“My wife Carla is home in bed. Asleep in bed. Where she belongs.”
He was both a handsome man and a silly-looking man. Tall, lean, well built, but with a slouch that seemed artificial. A contrived, self-conscious air of menace. A lock of dark hair falling over his forehead, a vain little moustache, eyes that appeared both hopeful and mocking, a boyish smile perpetually on the verge of a sulk.
She had always disliked the sight of him — she had mentioned her dislike to Leon, who said that the man was just unsure of himself, just a bit too friendly.
The fact that he was unsure of himself would not make her any safer now.
“Pretty worn out,” he said. “After her little adventure. You should’ve seen your face — you should’ve seen the look on you when you recognized those clothes. What did you think? Did you think I’d murdered her?”
“I was surprised,” said Sylvia.
“I bet you were. After you were such a big help to her running away.”
“I helped her –,” Sylvia said with considerable effort, “I helped her because she seemed to be in distress.”
“Distress,” he said, as if examining the word. “I guess she was. She was in very big distress when she jumped off that bus and got on the phone to me to come and get her. She was crying so hard I could hardly make out what it was she was saying.”
“She wanted to come back?”
“Oh yeah. You bet she wanted to come back. She was in real hysterics to come back. She is a girl who is very up and down in her emotions. But I guess you don’t know her as well as I do.”
“She seemed quite happy to be going.”
“Did she really? Well, I have to take your word for it. I didn’t come here to argue with you.”
Sylvia said nothing.
“I came here to tell you I don’t appreciate you interfering in my life with my wife.”
“She is a human being,” said Sylvia, though she knew it would be better if she could keep quiet. “Besides being your wife.”
“My goodness, is that so? My wife is a human being? Really? Thank you for the information. But don’t try getting smart with me.
“I wasn’t trying to get smart.”
“Good. I’m glad you weren’t. I don’t want to get mad. I just have a couple of important things to say to you. One thing, that I don’t want you sticking your nose in anywhere, anytime, in my and my wife’s life. Another, that I’m not going to want her coming around here anymore. Not that she is going to particularly want to come, I’m pretty sure of that. She doesn’t have too good an opinion of you at the moment. And it’s time you learned how to clean your own house.
“Now,” he said. “Now. Has that sunk in?”
“Quite sufficiently.”
“Oh, I really hope it has. I hope so.”
Sylvia said, “Yes.”
“And you know what else I think?”
“What?”
“I think you owe me something.”
“What?”
“I think you owe me — maybe — you owe me an apology.”
Sylvia said, “All right. If you think so. I’m sorry.”
He shifted, perhaps just to put out his hand, and with the movement of his body she shrieked.
He laughed. He put his hand on the doorframe to make sure she didn’t close it.
