“Eir! But she’s just a baby, mom!”
“You’re mom’s baby too,” Manami kissed her son’s hair. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
Peter silently got up from the armchair.
“OK, I promise you,” said Manami when she saw how sad her son was. “If dad comes tonight, I’ll wake you up. But just tonight.”
“Really?” Peter was overjoyed.
“Really. I see that you want to be present when Mr. Alexander speaks well of you to your father. How smart you are and how you know everything.”
“I want to,” Peter smiled. “But also the other thing we agreed to ask him.”
“Alright, alright… we’ll ask him,” Manami smiled. “Now off to bed.”
“I’m going. Good night.”
“Good night, Peter,” said Pascal.
Manami got up from the armchair and sat across from Pascal, at the table.
“You’ve really won over my son,” she said. “You’re very good at that, sir.”
Pascal silently looked at her.
“You have nothing to say, sir?”
“Ma’am, that red cover with the black rose… in the middle…”
“Yes?”
“You…” Pascal stopped and looked down.
“What about it?” Manami asked.
“It isn’t important. Forgive me… and this… what you were joking about. I will really tell the Mayor what a brilliant boy your son is.”
“What about the cover?”
“You sleep in that room, I assume? In that bed?”
“Yes. With Eir. And Peter is in the room with the bunk beds. He says he doesn’t want to be in a girl’s room. He sleeps on the upper bunk. He finds it interesting. And I fear that he might fall down in his sleep…”
“I slept on it…”
“On the red cover?”
“Yes.”
Manami was silent.
“I mean, I wasn’t really sleeping… when Raul and the Mayor drugged me. I guess it was easies for them to put me down there… I don’t know.”
Manami was still silent.
“That red cover… it’s made of silk?”
“Yes,” said Manami.
“When I woke up… it was dark, I didn’t know where I was… but I felt its smell… It was stale…”
“I immediately washed it. It smells nice now.”
“Do you also sleep on it? Or do you cover yourself with it?”
“No. I don’t use it. I put it away in the dresser.”
“Not even once… You’ve never laid on it?”
“I’m sleepy, too. Good night, sir.” Manami got up and went to her quarters.
Chapter 96
“There, you see, Peter, dad doesn’t come only at night,” said Manami.
“Dad! Daddy!” shouted Peter, when Seneca entered the living room. “You’ll let me, won’t you? Mom says it’s ok.”
“Don’t make things up, Peter!” Manami laughed. “I told you to ask your dad.”
“Ask what?” Seneca smiled, caressing his son’s hair.
“Dad, Mr. Alexander wants me to call him Pascal, to be on a first-name basis.”
“That’s out of the question,” Seneca got serious. “I’m so grateful to you, Alexander, for helping my son in his studies…”
“Allow him, Mr. Mayor. It will make it easier for me too. I demanded that of all my students. I always had a friendly relationship with children. And I had excellent results.”
“What do you say, Manami?” Seneca asked.
“Say it’s alright, mom! Say it’s alright!” Peter pleaded.
“I’m alright with that, Julius. Peter is doing very well. If Mr. Alexander believes…”
“Alright, alright…” Seneca smiled. “I see that you’ve already decided.”
“Pascal!” shouted Peter
“Yes, Peter?” Pascal smiled.
“Tell my dad what kind of a student I am!”
“This is tearing my eardrums,” Seneca whispered to his wife.
“Let them, Julius… if they want.”
“You have a brilliant son, Mr. Mayor. Intelligent, hard working, responsible, well-behaved… in every way.”
“Ts, ts, ts,” Seneca smiled. “Peter, how did you bribe your teacher to praise you so much?”
“I really think that, Mr. Mayor. Your son will succeed you. He is similar to you in every way.”
“Thank you, Alexander, for those words. They mean a lot to me in these times,” Seneca bent over and kissed his son.
“Julius,” said Manami. “You’ve come at the right moment. Let’s all have lunch together.”
“Dad…” Eir called out. She was leaning forward and stretching her hands towards her father.
Seneca took her from her mother’s arms.
“How is daddy’s girl?” he asked, kissing her hair and sitting down at the table.
After lunch Peter went to his room, to study. After Manami put Eir to bed in their bedroom, she returned to the living room.
“Manami, it’s nice that you covered up that fluorescent-green color of the couch. Not only does it remind me of Prince, it’s also an eyesore,” Seneca said.
“Yes,” said Manami. “It’s too irritating.”
“And this is a nice cover. Raul and I placed you on it that day, Alexander.” Seneca looked at Pascal. “I still didn’t know that I would be brining my family to the shelter. I thought it best if you slept in that room. It’s the most comfortable one.”
“I know,” Pascal bowed his head.
“Forgive me for reminding you of Raul,” Seneca apologized.
“Yes. I’m trying not to think about my friends. And then I have a guilty conscious. You thank me for working with your son, Mr. Mayor.” Pascal looked at Seneca again. “But it means a lot to me, too. It sidetracks my thoughts.”
“I understand.” Seneca nodded and got up from his chair. “Thank you for lunch, Manami. I have to leave,” he said while going towards the door.
“Julius,” Manami called out to him, while getting up from the table.
“Yes?” Seneca turned around.
“The next time you are buying food for us, buy a few packages of chili.”
“Chili? For Mr. Alexander?”
“Ma’am, please don’t burden the Mayor with that,” Pascal protested. “That really isn’t important.”
“Everyone knows that you like spicy food, Alexander. Of course I’ll get some,” Seneca laughed and walked out of the shelter.
As soon as he heard the elevator go up, Pascal sat down on the couch covered with the red cover with the black rose.
“Could you sit on the couch for a moment, ma’am… on the other end… please,” Pascal whispered.
Manami looked at him for a while. Then she approached him and stood in front of him:
“I won’t sit now, sir. I will sit tonight… when the children are asleep. And I won’t sit on the other end. I will sit next to you and place my head on your shoulder. And I will sit like that… for a long time, a very long time.”
Chapter 97
Pascal sat on the couch, waiting for Manami to check whether Peter and Eir had gone to sleep.
“Don’t turn around, sir,” said Manami, while entering the living room.
“Why?” Pascal asked with a surprised tone.
“Because I’m in my nightgown,” said Manami as she turned off the light. She walked over to Pascal in the dark, sat next to him and put her head on his shoulder.
“I could die right now,” Pascal thought. “Do you know that, my love? I don’t need anything else.”
Pascal took a deep breath. He simply slowly placed his cheek on her head. “Darling, I have to… just that… to touch your hair. To smell it. Only that.”