Isobel and Emile by Alan Reed Page A

middle of the room. She is standing under the light bulb. There is a cord dangling from it. She pulls the cord.
    The light turns on.
    Isobel is standing in the middle of the room. She does not stand up straight. She is stooped over. She does not want to stand up straight. Her body hurts. She turns towards the sink.
    There is a mirror over the sink. She does not want to look into it. She is wearing a nice dress. There are frills around the collar. It is what she wore to the train station.
    She wanted to look nice.
    The dress is dirty now. She does not have anything else to wear. She does not want to see herself.
    She goes to the sink. She pushes her hair away from her face. She washes her face in the sink. She dries her face with the towel hanging next to the sink. There is a towel hanging next to the sink.
    She goes back to the bed.
    She undoes the buttons on her dress. She lets it drop to the floor. She crawls into the bed.
    She wants something else to wear.
    She pulls the blanket over herself. She tries to go to sleep.

Emile, I am here.
    I am back in your room over the shop. I am here. I wasn’t sure that I would come, I wasn’t sure that I wouldn’t end up back at my mother’s house. I know that I said that I wouldn’t, but even when I said it I didn’t know if I had the courage to really do it.
    I did it.
    I walked from the train station. I came to the store and I went inside. I went up the stairs.
    It was dark. I was afraid to turn the light on. I was afraid that I would be found. I didn’t know what would happen if someone found me. And I wanted to have that one night. I needed it.
    I was sitting on your bed. Your bed. I spent the night drinking it all in, so that I will remember everything.
    The whole night, my heart was racing. I was terrified and exhilarated and I felt alive, Emile. Cold and hungry and alone and alive.
    I felt alive.
    I am living here now. I’m going to be working for Mr. Koch. But it doesn’t matter what happens now. I did it. And I will remember it. Whatever happens will be worth it, so long as I can remember that.
    I love you.

5
    Emile is sitting in a theatre.
    Nicolas is not sitting beside him. There are people he does not know sitting beside him. On one side there is someone wearing a hat. On the other is someone with dark brown hair.
    He does not know who these people are. He does not think that he had ever seen them before they sat down beside him. Emile is sitting between them. His hands are folded in his lap.He is trying to be calm.
    He is waiting for the lights to go out.
    The lights go out.
    The people in the theatre were talking. They stop talking. It is quiet. Emile makes his hands relax. He rests the palms of his hands on top of his legs.
    Everyone looks at the front of the theatre. Emile ’s palms are wet.He wipes them on his trousers. It is a movie theatre. A spotlight turns on in front of the screen.
    Someone stands up. She walks to the front of the theatre. She is wearing a nice dress and high-heeled shoes. She does not walk steadily. It is like she is not sure how to walk in high-heeled shoes.
    It is Agatha. She is nervous.
    Agatha walks to where the light is on in front of the screen. There is a microphone on a stand there. She is carrying a piece of paper in her hand.
    She speaks into the microphone. She says what is going to happen. There are going to be short films. They are going to play one after the other.
    She says the names of the films. She reads them off the piece of paper in her hand. After she says the name of each film she says the names of the people who made it. Her hair is piled on top of her head. There is a bit that is not piled on top of her head. It is combed so that it goes across her forehead.
    The people in the theatre clap after everything she says.
    When she says the names of the people who made the films, the people who made the films stand up. They are all in the theatre. When they stand up everyone claps. When