Isobel and Emile by Alan Reed Page A

watching her.
    She moves her hands over her dress. It is the same black dress she wore before. She moves her hands through her hair so that it is not in her face. Her hair is very long. It is not easy to get it so that it is not in her face.
    When her hair is not in her face she looks at Emile. He is standing in front of her. He is watching her. She looks at Emile and then she turns her head to look past him.
    She is standing in Emile’s room. She did not know that she was in Emile ’s room. She had been inside the suitcase. Emile is standing in front of her. She does not look at him. She looks around the room.
    Emile says: ‘I am here now.’
    She stops looking around the room. She looks where Emile is standing. He is standing in front of the open suitcase. She is still standing inside it. She tilts her head. It is like she is curious. It is like she is waiting for him to say more.
    Emile says: ‘I left.’
    Before they were in this room Emile said that he was going to go. They were in another room. They were lying on a bed. The bed was made with plain white sheets. She listened when he said: ‘I am going to go.’
    She said: ‘I know.’
    Now, she shakes her head. It does not matter anymore. He left. Everything is different. She is standing in the suitcase he had when he left.
    Emile says: ‘There are things happening.’
    She lifts one of her feet up. She puts it down on one of the bundles of cloth around her. She steps onto it. The thing shifts under her. It would moan if it could. She puts her arms out to balance herself. She is closer to where Emile is standing.
    He says: ‘I want to tell you what’s happening.’
    She lifts her other foot. She puts it on the edge of the suitcase. She balances on the edge of the suitcase and then she takes a step. She is not in the suitcase anymore. She is standing in the light. It is an electric light. It is the lamp on top of the dresser. She has been in the suitcase. It was dark in the suitcase. She is not used to light. She lifts her hands up to shield her eyes.
    In the room over the grocery store, the light had been harsh. It was too bright. The sun came in through the window in the morning and it was too bright.
    Isobel would kick the sheets away. She would roll over on top of him and hold his face in the light. He would try to turn away but she would hold him.
    He would wake up.
    They would sit in the bed together. They would look at each other in the light that was too bright. They could see each other too well.
    They did not mind.
    The light here is not bright. It is an electric light. It is dim and it flickers and it makes a buzzing sound. The two puppets are standing in the light the lamp makes. They are looking at each other.
    There are people going by on the street outside. There is a streetcar coming.
    She looks at him standing in front of her. She tilts her head. It is like she is curious. She looks around the room like she knows that there are things happening outside.
    Emile says: ‘I am not sure what’s happening.’
    She wants to know what is happening. There are people who have stopped to talk in the street outside. They have deep voices. It sounds like they have thick moustaches. They are talking quickly and heatedly. She can hear them. She does not know what they are saying but she can hear them speaking.
    He says: ‘I don’t know what is going to happen.’
    She looks at Emile. She should say something. It is like she knows she should say something. He wants her to.
    She does not say anything. There is nothing for her to say.
    Emile reaches for her hand. They are standing beside each other. She pulls his hand closer to her. She rests her head on him. He puts his arm around her body.
    The wood of their bodies makes a hard sound when they touch.
    He says: ‘I don’t know what I am going to do.’
    She burrows her face into his neck. He touches her hair with his hand. He looks up at