“Hey, sister!” Omar shouted as Emily hurried down the final stairs of her building and stumbled out into the impotent December sun. He was leaning against the wall opposite, locked in close conversation with a friend who wore flowing white trousers, a cream kaftan, and sandals despite the cold. Emily didn’t know this man’s name although he was always with Omar, but she and her new neighbour had taken to greeting each other like proper acquaintances. Most mornings he was there, propping up the building, and despite her apprehension, Emily had begun to look forward to bumping into him like this, though they never exchanged more than a few words and rarely ventured beyond the briefest of niceties.
“You’re early for a Saturday?” Omar stated as a question, his intense eyes brightening slightly as he dug into his back pocket for a cigarette and waited for her reply. He stood as always making a triangle with the wall, his slender shoulders grazing the red brick, his head leant slightly backwards against it so that whenever Emily spoke to him she had to lean in. Smiling, she smoothed down her fringe, aware as she always was of her untidiness against his beauty.
“I work at weekends now,” she informed him.
“Oh?” Omar’s face lit up with interest but his friend tapped him on the arm in an effort to direct him back towards their conversation. The man’s indifference to her was nothing new. Emily was used to him crossing his arms when she appeared, or speaking on the phone, or simply walking away. He had never offered her so much as a handshake, but this time he seemed actively irritated by her presence, or at least fed up with Omar’s continuing dialogue with her. Emily felt uncomfortable. Being inconsequential was one thing, unnoticed was good, but in the face of his seething acknowledgement, danger crawled beneath her skin.
“Congratulations, sister,” beamed Omar, flashing her his movie star smile to make up for his friend’s rudeness. “Does that mean no more night shifts?”
Emily nodded. “I’ve stopped cleaning altogether. I am a full-time carer now.”
“You’re practically a doctor.”
Emily smiled hesitantly, allowing herself to consider this assertion, how proud she was of it. And how, despite the difficulty in revealing some of her past to Lynn, despite how unsettled and dazed she’d felt for days afterwards, now she had begun to feel just the tiniest bit emboldened. Needed. Useful. Omar noticed her smile and his own grin broadened. She liked this grin, but then his friend hit his hand sharply against the wall, landing just short of Omar. “I should go,” Emily mumbled, and turned towards the road.
“See you later!” Omar called after her. Called, but did not move. It seemed that nothing weighed heavily enough on his shoulders to pull him away from idling by a brick wall. Emily shuffled away without looking back, but at the very edge of her periphery she noticed Omar standing up from his eternal recline, bending his head towards his friend, scowling, and the two of them exchanging urgent words. Was it possible that Omar was castigating him on her behalf? Emily smiled again and quickened her pace towards the bus stop.
They were going to tackle the china today, Lynn had told her. Emily would take each piece out of the display cabinet and clean it, and Lynn would tell her where and when and who it was from. In Emily’s bag, was a packet of Jammie Dodgers. And a silver elephant she had decided to return.