Theory of Remainders by Carpenter Scott Dominic

Author:Carpenter, Scott Dominic [Carpenter, Scott Dominic]
Language: ara
Format: epub
Publisher: Winter Goose Publishing
Published: 2013-05-26T06:00:00+00:00

A little before two o’clock they trotted down the steps of the Palais de Justice with an enormous packet of photocopies supplied by a less fierce, more compliant woman at the Bureau of Records. As they departed, the sour harpy of the morning crossed their path in the other direction, returning from lunch. Her icy stare followed them as they rushed ahead, and they didn’t turn back.

To celebrate this documentary triumph, Roger dragged Philip off to a bar where he downed one Belgian beer after another, Philip accompanying him with tonic water. The more Roger drank, the more he spoke about Élisabeth, insisting that he was not going to let her interfere with his bachelor lifestyle—a lifestyle that served him well, thank you very much, and that needed no fixing, especially not at the hands of a woman who had booted him out of her own life several times, which showed how poorly qualified she was to give advice. How could anyone expect him to live with a woman like that? He could take care of himself, couldn’t he? Each question came like another card at the top of a teetering structure.

“Is it really me you’re trying to convince?” Philip asked.

And the house of cards collapsed. Roger stared into his glass.

“What is it you really want?” Philip asked.

“I only wish I knew.” He took a deep breath. “All my problems come down to women. Think of it: if I hadn’t run off to shag Élisabeth that night, your daughter would still be alive.”

There it was. That old chestnut. “Of course,” Philip replied. “Just like me: if I’d not returned to Paris. Or hadn’t brought her out to Anne-Madeleine’s in the first place. Or had taught her to stay at home with dolls and tea parties. We can play the what-if game all day, but don’t think you can win at it. It’s a contest everyone loses.”

Roger hung his head. “You know what? I saw Élisabeth the other evening, and for a little while I remembered—vaguely, mind you—why it is we got married. But the next morning, not so much. That’s how it goes, back and forth. Again and again. It’s dragged on like this for years now. All in all, I find it terribly distressing.”

Philip fingered the edge of the file from the courthouse, as thick as a dictionary. “Well, at least there aren’t any children involved.”

“Of course there aren’t.”

His combative tone gave Philip pause. “Do you wish there were?”

He harrumphed. “You know what? I’m done talking about this.”

“Ignoring problems won’t make them go away.”

“Could have fooled me,” Roger shot back. “It seems to have worked pretty well for you over the past fifteen years.”

Philip absorbed the blow. He’d touched a nerve, and now he let a long silence hang between them as Roger’s shoulders rounded.

His head bowed, Roger rasped out a question. “Hypothetical. Say a man walks into your office one day. Tells you he hates his life. Wants to begin anew. What advice do you give him?”

Philip paused, trying to catch his brother-in-law’s eye.

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