Isobel and Emile by Alan Reed Page B

they sit down everyone stops clapping. Then Agatha says something else and everyone claps again.
    Agatha says Emile ’s name.
    He is sitting in the balcony. He hears his name. He is supposed to stand up. He does not stand up all the way. He stands up enough for Agatha to see him.
    She looks on the floor. She does not see Emile. Someone in the balcony sees Emile stand up. He starts clapping. Agatha hears him start clapping.
    She looks up. She sees Emile. She points to Emile. Everyone starts clapping.
    Emile tries to smile. He sits down.
    Everyone stops clapping.
    Agatha says the name of another film. Everyone claps. She says the names of the people who made the film. They stand up. Everyone claps again. The people who are standing sit down. Everyone stops clapping.
    Agatha reads the name of the last film written on the piece of paper in her hand. There is clapping and people standing up and sitting down and then the clapping stops again.
    Agatha puts her hands behind her back.
    She says: ‘Thank you, everyone, for coming out tonight.’
    Everyone claps again. There are some people who shout. Agatha walks back to where she was sitting. The light in front of the screen goes off.
    There are curtains over the screen. The curtains open. Everyone stops clapping. The films start playing.
    Emile says: ‘Don’t look.’
    Isobel puts her hands over her eyes.
    This is not in the movie theatre. It is the room over the grocery store. It is Emile’s film.
    Isobel is sitting on a bed. It is the bed with plain white sheets. Emile is sitting beside her.
    She has her hands over her eyes. Emile stands up.
    He says: ‘Promise you won’t look.’
    Isobel says: ‘I won’t.’
    It is summer. The window is open. Emile’s and Isobel’s feet are bare.
    Emile walks to a corner of the room.
    There is a suitcase in the corner. Beside it there is a knapsack. They are both on the floor. Beside the knapsack there is a pile of clothes. They are Emile ’s clothes.
    Emile opens the suitcase. He reaches inside the suitcase. He does something with his hands inside the suitcase and then he lifts them up into the air. He is moving carefully. There are strings hanging from his fingers.
    A girl climbs out of the suitcase. She is not really a girl. She is too small. She fits inside a suitcase. She is made of wood.
    She climbs out of the suitcase and she stands on the floor. She turns her head like she is looking around the room. It is like she is looking for something.
    She starts to walk. She puts one of her feet in front of her other foot. She moves clumsily. She takes a step. She takes another step.
    She is walking towards Isobel.
    Emile says: ‘Open your eyes.’
    Emile is kneeling in the middle of the room. Isobel opens her eyes. She sees him. His body is bent over the girl standing on the floor. Isobel looks at Emile and then she looks at the girl standing on the floor in front of him.
    The girl stops moving.
    She stops moving because there is someone looking at her. It is like she is shy. She looks down at the floor. She stands still. Isobel looks at her. Isobel makes a small sound. The girl looks up at her.
    Isobel says: ‘Is that my hair?’
    The girl has thick black hair. It hangs down her back to her waist. Her eyes are made from dark glass beads.
    Emile says: ‘It is.’ He says: ‘This is you.’
    Isobel says: ‘Oh.’
    She looks at the girl again. The girl looks up at her. Isobel smiles.
    Isobel says: ‘I like her.’
    Emile says: ‘She wants to say something.’
    Isobel says: ‘She does?’
    Emile says: ‘She does.’
    The girl moves her hands to touch her hair. She moves it so that it is not in her face. She moves her hands over her dress. She makes it look neat. She holds her hands in front of her.
    Emile looks at Isobel. He says: ‘Say something.’
    Isobel says: ‘I don’t have anything to say.’
    The girl