“I wouldn’t want to trouble you.”
“What if I told you it would be a dream come true?”
“I’d think you were joking around.”
“No, you’re wrong, Vronsky. It would give me immense pleasure to go shopping with you and buy you real clothes.”
“As you know, I don’t like new clothes. I know it’s sil y and irrational, but I feel self-conscious in new clothes. How are you?”
“How do I look?”
“Worried. A bit pale.”
“Tel me what else you’ve noticed.”
“Your shirt is a lit le torn, at the sleeve.”
“What else? In the restaurant?”
“Nothing’s changed here. The waitress has had a haircut. That’s al .”
The waitress heard us and came over to take our order. “My friend likes your new hairstyle,” I told her. Vronsky was embarrassed, but he smiled.
She smiled back. “Thanks, my boyfriend thinks it’s too short. But everyone else likes it. Maybe he doesn’t want me to be too pret y!” She took our order. I always had the same thing, spinach cannel oni, but Vronsky went down the menu, dish by dish, and then he’d start at the top again, so that every week he had something else. He was very particular about food, and one reason he liked this restaurant was that he thought the chef was excel ent. He once surprised me and the waitress by commenting, at the end of the meal, “I guess the chef’s on vacation?” He’d noticed the dif erence at once.
While we waited for the food to arrive I said, “Tel me about your latest patients.” This was one of our favorite topics.
“Wel , today a very young child came in with internal injuries. They were rather unusual, and we were ba ed, and the parents were ba ed too. They couldn’t think of anything that had happened. We were al cal ed in to see if anyone had any ideas. Final y, after we quizzed the parents for a very long time, we discovered what it was. Water. They’d held this poor child too long under the tap at the beach.
quizzed the parents for a very long time, we discovered what it was. Water. They’d held this poor child too long under the tap at the beach.
The stream was too strong for him. And apparently he’d screamed his head o , but they thought it was just because he didn’t like the water.
They decided for that reason to keep him under the jet longer, to desensitize him, so to speak. Get him used to the water, make a man of him. And the pressure of the jet caused some internal damage. I’m surprised a shower jet would be that strong.”
“That’s real y weird.”
“Yes, it was an unusual case. A very sensitive child.”
“No, that’s not what’s weird. What’s weird is that I know who you mean, I think. I think I saw them. A young couple, immigrants, he has freckles, she has very large breasts?”
“That may be them.”
“That’s the strangest coincidence! I saw a couple on the beach this morning and they were holding this thin lit le scrawny kid under the tap
—it’s not a shower tap, it’s one of those low taps for washing your feet. That’s why the stream is so strong. And the kid was screaming, that’s why I remember it. The more he screamed, the more determined they were. They were in on it together, enjoying it together, it was horrible.
I nal y went up to them, but I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t say anything; I guess I was intimidated. I feel so bad that I didn’t say anything.”
“I’m sure nothing you could have said would have helped. They’re quite stupid, the two of them.”
“Wil he be okay?”
“We’re keeping him under observation, we’l see how things develop.”
“Why are doctors so vague?”
“Wel , diagnosis is not an exact science, you know. The whole eld of medicine is fraught with uncertainty. Look at the strange story of your ankle.”
“Don’t let that kid go back. Vronsky, promise me you’l alert the social workers. If you don’t, I wil . Those parents are dangerous.”
“In fact, the social worker has already opened a file; it’s mandatory in such cases.”
“Maybe I could adopt him,” I said hopelessly.
“Yes, him and al the thousands of other children with imperfect lives. Dana, imperfect lives are the norm. Your childhood was the exception: doting, responsible parents, a degree of af luence—and even in your case tragedy hit when you were only fourteen.”
“That reminds me of something that happened a long time ago. Something Daniel and I saw.”
“Yes?”
“You know, I’ve seen a lot of very sad things. Sometimes they’re so sad I think I won’t be able to bear it. Refugee camps, people at roadblocks, Dar al-Damar … But the saddest thing I ever saw, the worst
