has it all. Do you understand?â Rus smiled and wanted to take Wandaâs hand, but he forgot there was glass in between and he bumped his hand against the glass. âHa!â Rus said. âSee-through.â
Rus did not drink any more vodka after last night. What was happening to him was more like a combination of shock, the cold, and not eating.
Wanda looked over her glasses. âThe letter did not come from me,â she said. âThe system sends out those letters. The system has to sign with the name of an employee, because it does not have a name of its own. And the money isnât for me either; it all goes into the system. Now if you could give me your full name, please.â
âMy full name is Rus,â Rus said. âIâm named after my father.â
âRight,â Wanda said. âWas that your fatherâs first name or his surname, then?â
âIâve never met him,â Rus said. âMy mother has met him, though. He was a sailor, like me. I was conceived on the deck of a cargo ship not so far from here. I can show you where it was, if you like.â
Wanda tilted her head and looked at him pensively. âCan I see your passport?â
ââName him after me,â my father yelled at my mother when his ship sailed out. But she never really got his name. Sheâd been meaning to ask, she said. But there was always something that made her forget. Eight months later I was born. So she just called me Rus until he would come back. But he didnât.â
âDid she ever even register you?â Wanda asked.
âShe left me a note,â Rus said, his voice growing louder with emotion. ââLike the birds we are going to Africa. The debit card is in the flowerpot.ââ
He swallowed loudly. He felt just as moved as the first time heâd read that simple, beautiful note. He had to sit down.
Wanda came up from behind her desk and bent over Rus. She lifted his head up from his chest and looked at him. Her eyes were soft suddenly, and her hands felt nice and cool on his cheeks. âOh, sweetie,â she said, nodding slowly. âYou need someone to help you.â
âRight you are,â Rus agreed, and he watched Wandaâs face and the whole tax office circling around him, and it reminded him of a cinema where he went once with Modu, where you lie on your back in your seat to see all the planets circle around the sun.
WALKING HOME
The secretary walked uphill in the sea-green dress. The bus stop was at the train station. Next to her a train was rolling up the hill very slowly. Her sandals hurt her feet. âIt is no problem,â she said to herself. âWe will see how it goes.â
The people behind the windows of the train looked at the secretary. It was raining a little bit. She tried to think about her diary, or the helicopter, or the letter she was writing to Glenn, but the thoughts did not really want to come. Instead she looked at the pavement and thought about how it was very likely that by next year she would not even remember walking here.
MRS. BLUE PHONES THE STUDIOS
âI just think it is not good manners to create characters, let them go through all this trouble, and then leave them there. That is all Iâm saying.â Mrs. Blue had called information and asked for the phone number of the people who stopped Change of Hearts. She was now speaking with the public services of the Overall Production Studios.
âBut you must see that they are not real,â the lady at public services said. âDo you understand that?â
âWhen you start telling a story, the characters and the world they live in are created. You have an obligation to Grace and the others to end the story properly,â Mrs. Blue said.
âHave you tried In the Eye of the Beholder ? Itâs our new show and I think you will love it.â
âAre you out of your mind?â Mrs. Blue asked. âDo you
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