“Thanks for the heads up,” I say. “Is there anything else?”
“Good luck on your date on Sunday.”
I laugh for a moment as I get up. “Thanks… you guys really keep on an eye on us—don’t you?”
“I like to think I choose well. She’s pretty yeah?”
“Definitely,” I say as begin to walk away.
“One more thing,” Katharine says as I place my hand on the doorknob.
“Yeah?”
“What’s your date’s name?” Katharine asks.
I look back and she is folding her arms beneath her chest and a smirk is spread across her face. “Melissa Sydney.”
“Michelle Sydney…” Katharine says as she shakes her head.
“I’ve never been very good with first names,” I admit as I let out a sigh. “Sorry.”
“Just don’t forget on Sunday—memorize it,” Katharine says with the tone of a schoolteacher handing out an important assignment.
I reach Cherie’s apartment a little later than expected. I knock once and she immediately answers. She throws her arms around me and embraces me. I push her away as politely as I can.
“Are you upset?” She asks.
“No… no,” I say as I step away. She is already dressed for the day. A long pair of white jeans, brown boots with fur lined tops, a long white t-shirt with brown flowers and a matching brown scarf. I begin to wonder if she has any clothes that are not fall or spring appropriate. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“I was just worried, you were late,” Cherie says as she meekly steps away and begins to put her gloves on.
“It’s actually pretty warm outside,” I say as I attempt to stop her. “You probably don’t need the scarf either.”
“No scarf or gloves?”
“You’ll be more comfortable without them,” I say as I shrug my shoulders. “I mean look I’m wearing a short sleeved dress shirt and I thought it was pretty warm today.”
“Strange,” Cherie says as she looks at me for a while as though she is trying to gauge whether she should listen to my advice or not.
She eventually tosses the gloves upon the table and unfolds her long brown scarf. Although she is smiling the entire time, her eyes carry that familiar sense of sadness.
“I’m sorry I made you worry.” I feel terrible for pushing her away when she was trying to give me a simple hug—but I remember the danger that I’ve already put myself in. I cannot allow that to happen again… even if she seems like a perfectly normal, harmless person.
“It is okay, Ethan,” Cherie says, although continues to hold that saddened look in her eyes.
“Is there anything bothering you?” I ask attempting to fix the situation I know that I have caused.
“Is there anything bothering you?”
I wait for a moment as I look outside the window. It is a beautiful summer day. A tree outside the window fills the living room with a soft emerald light. It makes for the perfect shade so that it does not get too hot in the apartment… that must be why she’s always dressed like it is fall, then again, she does keep it rather cold inside here.
“It just…” Cherie says as she pauses and looks at me confused, “seems like there is something different about you today.”
“You were asking me?” I say embarrassed. I was sure she was mirroring me. I immediately feel terrible. “I thought you were… I thought you needed a moment.”
“You’re a good Sitter,” She adds as she looks down to the ground and nervously kicks one foot against the other. “My old one, she used to slap me in the face when I would repeat things—I could never help it though. You don’t do that. You’re patient.”
“I’m so sorry,” I say as I forget about my past thoughts. I embrace Cherie tightly in my arms. There is no fear. “I had no idea that was going on.”
“I thought you were afraid of me today,” Cherie says as she wipes her small red nose with a tissue from her pocket.
“No, it’s just that something happened recently and people are a little on edge—so when we go grocery shopping today, we just have to be a bit more careful. Don’t worry though I’ll take care of you.”
“I’ll take care of you.”
“Now you’re doing the thing right?” I ask, just to be sure. I do not want to come off as an ass again.
“…doing the thing right?”
“Got it,” I say as I nod and gesture towards the door. “Are you ready to go?”
“Got it… ready to go…?”
“Wait…” I say as I embarrassingly forget to do probably my only main duty as a Sitter. “You haven’t taken your pill.”
“Taken your pill…”
I go to the drawer and pull out the bottle and retrieve one of the white round pills. I hand it to Cherie, who attempts to hand me back something in her other hand; only it is empty. I smile and she returns the same in kind. I pour some water into a glass and hand it to her. I pretend to place the pill on my tongue and drink from a non-existent glass. She does the same and just like that, she has taken her Calm for the day. I take the glass from her and put it in the sink. I take a moment to pause at the window again. She sits beside me and looks out. It is a rather simple, but nice view—there is still great beauty to be found in a simple thing.
“I like the tree,” Cherie says, finally breaking out of her cycle. “I love the colors, all the different greens. I never knew there were so many different ways to be green.”
“It is a pretty view,” I say as I turn away. “Are you ready now?”
Cherie nods and follows me out the door. I pull my C-Shapes badge from my chest pocket and place it around my neck. I open the door for her and look around as a woman passing by on the other edge of the street gives us a dirty look, but keeps walking. I climb into the car.
“I used to have a nice car like this,” Cherie says. “I used to have a boat too… a big one.”
I nod silently. I take all this as memory issues—from her profile she was a poor artist. She was definitely a talented artist, but apparently not one with enough money to afford a nice car or a boat, unfortunately. Perhaps if she had a boat she could sail her way to Paris and actually be happy.
“Where do you normally go grocery shopping?”
“When I’m in Paris, I like to walk to the market—there’s no other place like it.”
“How about when we’re just in boring old Chicago…?”
“You probably know this area better than I do,” Cherie says as she runs her hand along the leather seat. “Anywhere is fine.”
“I used to work at a place not too far from here, stocking the shelves.”
“That sounds nice,” Cherie says as she turns her gaze to blankly stare out the window. “I’d like to see where you worked before.”
After a short drive, we arrive at a small place. I remember spending a few years here before I finally got recruited by C-Shapes, just kind of mindlessly stocking the shelves at night and occasionally covering for sick workers in the daytime. It wasn’t the greatest of jobs… but it kept me busy. Like I’ve said before, I never really had a talent, or higher calling to do anything meaningful. I’ve kind of meandered through life like one of those small creeks you see at parks, the kind with all the many twists and turns… the one that if you follow it—it will eventually lead nowhere. That is how I’ve felt about my life since V-Day… probably even before that day. Well, that’s not completely true, doing this… this makes me feel better.
“Are you alright?”
“Sorry,” I say as I notice I’ve been blankly staring off at the storefront for far too long. One might think we were both a pair of Catatonics hanging out in a car. That would be an odd practical joke to play on someone. “Just brings back memories.”