Read Online Stranger by David Bergen - Free Book Online Page B

wait for him to walk through the door, but of course he was gone.
    She had his contact information, which he’d given to her before the accident, and one day she sat down and typed up a message and sent it. She kept everything simple. She talked about the clinic, and the staff, and she said that he was missed. She said that she was still studying on Saturdays, and that she was reading Shakespeare. She didn’t understand it very well. She said that her work was regular,and the women were all the same. They were still hungry . He had used that word to describe the women at the clinic, and she imagined that the word might spark something in him. She said that she hoped he was recovering. Tell me about yourself, she said. And say hello to your wife.
    She added the last part because she was certain that the doctor’s wife would be screening his mail. She waited for a response, but nothing came.
    Three months passed. She felt wild and hollow. And then she did something she had not thought possible: she spent some time with Illya’s cousin Roberto, who was from Argentina and was living in Panajachel during his school break. Íso had first met him at Illya’s wedding. There were two weddings, one in Buenos Aires, and a second, smaller version in Panajachel. Íso was invited to the second wedding, which was a dinner and dance. She bought a dress that was loose and teal blue and quite modest—the hemline fell to her knees—and she wore a necklace of her mother’s, and blue pumps. The day was windy and she had to hold her hair in place as she rode the boat across the lake.
    At the reception she danced with Illya, and she danced with two or three boys whose bodies felt immature. Their minds were empty. It was not their fault. She had been spoiled.
    Roberto was slightly older, in university studying law, and he found her near the end of the evening and they talked in a back corner at a small table. He talked about himself mostly, and she listened to him and she did not listen. He was very good looking, with a convincing jaw and beautiful eyes and delicate hands. Hewent out to smoke, and she walked out with him and they stood in the shadows as he smoked and talked about the differences between their countries. He said that the poverty was more evident here. The politics are backwards, he said. Though we have our own despots as well. They were speaking Spanish, of course. He showed her a tattoo on his shoulder. Unbuttoned his shirt and pulled down the shirt and told her that this was his mother’s name. Alejandra. He said that it had been difficult to find space on his shoulder for the number of letters in his mother’s name, but it was okay. What do you think? he asked.
    It’s good, she said.
    And you? he asked. Do you have a tattoo?
    She laughed and shook her head.
    Illya does, he said.
    Of course.
    He put out his cigarette and touched her face. You’re unhappy, he said.
    No. I’m happy, she said.
    I don’t think so.
    She shrugged.
    What would make you happy? he asked.
    She said the answer to that was impossible.
    He bent to kiss her and she let him. She was curious, that was all. He tasted of cigarettes and she smelled a perfume on him. He did not put his tongue inside her mouth, though she wouldn’t have minded. She held the back of his head and was aware that he was shorter than Eric.
    He pulled away and said, Happier now?
    I’m happy, she said.
    They went back inside and they danced, and then Illya appeared and she danced with them as well, and then Illya and Roberto danced and Íso sat down and watched them.
    It is over, she thought.
    She saw Roberto again, and was free with him, and slept with him two times, even though she was constantly thinking about Eric. She had not yet told anyone about the baby. One evening, a few weeks earlier, she had stopped at a farmacia where she did not know the owners and they did not know her, and she had purchased a pregnancy test.