She had a new hairstyle, with bangs. She seemed even more nervous than the first time she’d come, but as if she’d read my thoughts, she made an effort to put on a big smile as if to say that she was in good shape.
Léonard was waiting on the sidewalk, holding back a little, and when Madeleine rushed to him and put her arms around him, he remained inert and looked away. My sister hugged him to her, kissed him several times, then, sensing that he didn’t know what to do with this flood of affection, freed him from her embrace and turned back to me.
“You see, I kept my word, I’m even early!”
“Was your course shorter than expected?”
“No. I dropped out, and I’m not the only one. It was a scam.”
“I thought the teachers were great.”
“At first, but afterwards everything went wrong. I swear to you, it was crap, and besides, it’s a race against time to open the bar by the beginning of November.”
“The bar?”
“Patrice’s bar in Rheims. You have no idea what’s involved, especially as Patrice has left everything to me, he’s taking care of raising the money, you understand, and finding sponsors. Without sponsors there’s no point even opening, the clientele depends on word of mouth, the local bigwigs, the movers and shakers, that’s the way it works!”
It was a real verbal Niagara. No way to stop her. She told me that she had to supervise the work, fight with the suppliers over the phone, deal with a thousand details a day. The way she told it, she was working 24–7.
“And with all this going on, what are you going to do about Léonard?”
“I admit I did wonder about that. I even thought to ask you for a bit of an extension. And then Patrice took things in hand, that’s the way he is, you know, he’s a man of action.”
This Patrice was clearly a godsend. He’d managed to get an appointment at the best school in the region, and apparently it was possible to take in Léonard in the middle of the school year, except that the only day the principal of this sought-after establishment would agree to see them was tomorrow. Madeleine stopped to catch her breath. She looked at me for a moment. In spite of the effort I was making to hide my irritation, it must have been obvious.
“You don’t seem pleased to see me. Is it because I arrived unexpectedly? I know you hate that, but it’s in a good cause, I’m setting you free!”
There was another detail that had changed as far as her appearance was concerned. She was wearing high heels.
“I’m going inside, okay?”
I went into the house and Léonard walked past me and straight to his room. I remembered what Catherine Vandrecken had told me the first time we spoke. Children with Asperger’s didn’t have the same relationship to affection, to ties. They needed security and routine, but it wasn’t linked to any person in particular. He could find all that in Rheims, and for a longer time. What did I have to give him that wasn’t temporary? That’s what I should have been thinking. The rest was misplaced sentimentality.
My sister now came into the house and headed straight for the kitchen. She’d found what she was looking for in the trunk of the car. It was a glass bottle containing a greenish liquid.
“I hope you don’t mind, I’m going to eat my soup. It’s all I eat, but I’m ravenous.”
“Are you on a diet?”
“Have you noticed how fat poor people are? Poor people don’t order champagne in trendy bars. Having a good figure in my work is really important. Did you see my bangs?”
“It makes you look different.”
“It makes me look younger. That’s Patrice’s doing. He always says the secret of success is in the details.”
She heated the soup in the microwave and poured it into a bowl. She sat down at the table to drink it, but it was too hot. Her high heels were hurting. She took her shoes off under the table. She started blowing on the surface of the liquid.
“Apart from that, anything to report about Léonard?”
“How do you mean?”
“I don’t know, any problems you’ve had with him.”
“No.”
“Did you really manage to get him playing sports?”
“Yes.”
The last thing I wanted was a discussion, let alone an argument. Anything that might make it obvious I was unhappy about his going.
“And he’s been getting on okay?”
“Pretty well.”
“You know, I really appreciate your help.”
“I didn’t exactly have any choice.”
“I know what it cost you.”
“Let’s not exaggerate.”
“And you must tell me what you spent on Léonard. You’ll be repaid along with the rest.”
“The rest?”
“The loan.”
I looked at my sister. She put down the bowl. She realized we weren’t on the same wavelength. She turned very pale. “You forgot.”
“No. But I told you we’d talk about it face-to-face.”
“You mean you can’t do it.”
“I didn’t say that.”
She launched into a sales pitch that included the fabulous prospects for the bar, Patrice’s ability to generate money, like Jesus with the loaves, and even offered me a schedule of repayment with an 8-percent rate of interest. I made her out a check to stop her talking. I wanted them to leave quickly now.
Léonard came out of his room. He’d put his things in a plastic bag and was holding his chess set under his arm. He was ready. I walked them to the car. Léonard sat down in the passenger seat. My sister started the ignition. It was a pseudo-sports coupé, which compensated for its lack of power with lots of noise. I tried to imagine what Patrice looked like. There was something that didn’t quite tally between the friend of bigwigs and the chromium-plated wheel rims of that car. I stayed on the sidewalk watching them drive off. The rear spoiler was loose.
I went back inside and locked the door. I tried to make myself coffee but there were no more cartridges. In Léonard’s room, the two boxes from Gossin and Son lay on the chest of drawers. My nephew hadn’t taken either the boots or the gloves with him. I sat down on the edge of the bed, as he often did, and looked through the window at nothing in particular. I’d been right not to change the wallpaper. Everything passed. You could never build anything.