Isobel and Emile Read Free Page B

They walk up the stairs. Nicolas is walking in front and Emile is walking behind him.
    They go up one flight of stairs and then they go up another flight of stairs. They are at the top of the stairs. They are standing in front of another door.
    Nicolas still has the keys in his hand. He opens the door. They go inside.
    They are in an apartment. It is dark.
    Nicolas turns on the lights. Emile puts his suitcase down by the door. He puts it down carefully. He takes his knapsack off. He puts it down beside his suitcase.
    There is a table in the middle of the apartment. It has four chairs around it. Emile sits down on one of the chairs.
    Nicolas takes his jacket off. Emile rubs at his eyes. He is tired. He rubs at his eyes because he does not want to be tired.
    Emile starts to make a cigarette.
    Nicolas looks at Emile making a cigarette. He says: ‘I’m sorry.’ He says: ‘I need to get to bed.’
    Emile says: ‘Oh.’
    He stops making the cigarette. He says: ‘Do not worry about me.’ He says: ‘I remember my way around.’
    Nicolas says: ‘Okay. Good night, Emile. I’ll see you in the morning.’
    Nicolas goes into his bedroom. He closes the door behind him. Emile is still sitting at the table.
    He remembers the girl on the platform. She did not wave goodbye.
    She was standing on the platform. The train was going to leave. She was wearing a dress with frills around the collar.
    She raised a hand to push her hair away from her face.
    She did not wave goodbye.
    Emile says: ‘Good night, Nicolas.’

2
    Isobel is standing on the platform of the train station.
    The train is gone. The people who got off the train are gone. There is no one here. The woman inside the station is knitting. She is making a sweater. Isobel is alone on the platform.
    She is standing at the edge of the platform. She is holding her hands together in front of her. She wants there to be something to look at.
    The train is gone. There is nothing to look at.
    She is standing at the edge of the platform. It is where she was standing to watch the train go. She stays at the edge of the platform and then she walks away from it.
    There is a bench on the platform. She goes to the bench. She sits down on the bench on the platform. She sits with her hands together in her lap. She squeezes her hands together. She does it so hard that her knuckles turn white.
    She does not know that her knuckles have turned white. She does not know what to do.
    The woman inside the station puts her knitting down. She gets out of the booth she sits in. She has her purse in her hands.
    The woman comes out onto the platform.
    She sees Isobel. Isobel is sitting on the bench. She does not say anything to Isobel. She walks to the end of the platform.
    She reaches into her purse. She takes out a pack of cigarettes. She takes out a cigarette. She puts it to her mouth. She takes a book of matches out of her purse. She lights her cigarette with a match.
    She holds the cigarette in her hand and she blows smoke out of her mouth. She looks at Isobel sitting on the bench. Isobel can feel her looking at her.
    The woman narrows her eyes.
    She finishes smoking her cigarette. She takes a stick of gum out of her purse. She puts it into her mouth.
    She goes back inside the station. She walks slowly. She is very fat. Inside the station a radio comes on. There is music playing on the radio. Isobel hears it from where she is sitting on the platform.
    Isobel stands up. She stands by the bench for a moment. She does not move. She stands still. It is like she is deciding what she is going to do.
    She goes inside the station.
    There is a snack machine inside the station. She goes to the snack machine. The woman is here. She is sitting in her booth. She is knitting.
    Isobel looks at the woman sitting in the booth as she goes to the snack machine.
    Isobel takes some coins out of her pocket. She counts them in her hand. She counts them and then she looks at the