That Time of Year by Marie NDiaye

Author:Marie NDiaye
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Two Lines Press
Published: 2020-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

PART TWO

1 – Herman would pass by the inevitably wide-open door to Alfred’s room, shared by Charlotte, and see the bed strewn with the cassettes she listened to whenever she had a free moment, and magazines devoted to cooking or scandals involving people whose names meant nothing to Herman but were well known to Charlotte, which she read with a passion that—Herman grumpily told himself—she never threw into anything else. Charlotte would get up very early to bring the president his breakfast, and often he would criticize what she brought him; he was always out of sorts in the morning. Then he would leave for work at the town hall and Charlotte would set about cleaning the rooms, giving Herman no chance to approach her like he wished he could: she worked with great diligence, fearing her mother, and although she never said it to his face she didn’t like him even simply asking a question that would force her to turn off the vacuum to hear, or pause as she scrubbed out a sink or swatted a bedspread. Any other time of day, the mother would have urged Charlotte to talk with Herman for as long as he liked. But during housekeeping hours she’d come creeping up, stand behind Herman, smiling, affable, and assign Charlotte some task or other—keeping her eyes on her—in a voice that Herman found nothing short of exquisite in spite of himself. And, since he hadn’t yet talked to her about the exorbitant price of his board and didn’t feel at ease in her presence, he’d soon wander off, slowly, regretfully. He went back to his room, glancing toward the window. The rain poured down, erasing the hills in the distance. Sometimes, with the skies so gray and the clouds so low, he couldn’t even see the face of the old woman across the way, but he no longer minded being watched. Because was there ever anything strange or private in his behavior? The whole village could have had their eyes glued to him twenty-four hours a day, watching his every move, and they would have nodded their heads with unwavering approval.

Then, having nothing else to do, he would take a little nap. He would also sometimes walk past Gilbert’s room, but quickly, staring straight ahead. And if he sensed that Gilbert was there, lying on his bed, smoking, then he would race to the toilets at the end of the hall and lock himself in until Gilbert was gone.

Sometimes the father would happen upon Herman and, to make conversation, tell him with a sigh:

“Our Gilbert’s out of work, it’s been more than two years, what hope do we have of finding something for him in the village?”

And the mother would chime in:

“It’s sad, seeing him hang around here all the time with nothing to do. At least he has his weekend connections in L., something’s going to come of that, I’m sure of it.”

But the parents, proud of their son’s handsome face, didn’t want him to be offered a position as some sort of subordinate.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.