Untitled Story - Episode 6

Andy waited the entire Friday evening. It was almost midnight when he gave up waiting and called her. A woman picked up and asked him why he called this late. Andy apologized and asked for Adelaide to call him when convenient. When he asked if everything was okay, the woman said yes and hung up.

On Saturday he waited all day. He was surprised that he could wait like this, in an absolute vacuum, having only Adelaide on his mind. He observed the entire birth and death of a shadow as it slanted and stretched along his bedroom wall. Then he went to the bathroom mirror to wipe a layer of dust off his forehead. It was dark. He wandered off to Victoria Park to catch a football match just before kick-off. Night games were usually more exciting because the lights accentuated a player's every movement, but tonight, the players chased the ball around, there was no formation, no strategy, no passing, no goals. Still, one team celebrated in the end, so he figured somebody had won. He went home. Adelaide hadn't called.

On Sunday he waited until five o'clock when the sun was setting. He thought it more worthwhile to watch the colours of the sky than to watch shadows move along the wall. So he took his bicycle. It gave him immediate freedom. He rode to the village square. He bought chips from the snack bar and ate it sitting on the bench, observing the neighbourhood from an angle never before explored. Then he moved to another bench and caught a different view from a different angle. Then he sat on a curb to catch a dog's view of the streets. He felt very small. The sky changed from orange to purple to night. He went home. Adelaide still hadn't called.

Andy stared at his telephone. He saw it change from white to orange to purple.

Finally, Andy picked up the receiver and dialed. The operator put him on hold. A panicky voice came through the radio airwaves, it was a man, his age Andy couldn't tell, but it didn't matter, the man talked about his dying wife. There's no hope, he said, I just make time to see her everyday after work, sit with her for four hours, and do everything possible to make it less painful. There's no hope, he reinterated. Then, he tried to justify his decision to call the radio station by saying he didn't know why he called but only wanted to tell somebody, and that there are surely people in situations more miserable than his own. A child's crying was faintly audible. The man became sadly apologetic, as if he was embarassed to be telling his problems on the airwaves, so he said goodbye abruptly. Then it was Andy's turn.

"Well, I just wanted to say... That whatever happens I like to stay positive and I think we can change things. Sometimes it's just hard to relate,"

That was all he could say, so he said goodbye very quickly, and hung up.

He had actually forgotten Adelaide for a few seconds.

When Adelaide came back into his mind, a bottle of despair struck him so deeply that he switched off the radio and fell into bed.

He imagined the view outside Adelaide's window.

Then the phone rang. She finally called.

"I called you so many times, why didn't you pick up?" asked Adelaide, in a whispery voice afraid of being heard, unmistakenly Adelaide.

"I was on the phone."

"Who were you talking to?"

"I was talking to this person, a very unhappy person."

"Did you call me?"

"Yeah."

"How many times?"

"Well, I got the impression you didn't want me to call so I just kept waiting."

"Did my mother say something to you?"

Andy remembered he had called earlier and it was Adelaide's mother who answered. That flet like a long time ago.

"I know you share clothes with her."

Andy heard the shuffling sound of Adelaide's suppressed laughter

"Don't be stupid!"

"That's what you said. Listen. I thought about the things you told me, but I still don't know what's bothering you. I know something isn't right, but I can't piece it together just yet, so you need to tell me more."

There was long pause on Adelaide's end.

"How was your weekend?" she asked.

"I had a lousy weekend."

"Me too."

Then they would meet very soon and they would talk about their lousy weekend, Andy thought, and it cheered him up. He would tell Adelaide about the spectacular lights at Victoria Park, the neglected details of the village square, and the hopeless man on the radio. More importantly, he wanted her to know that he could listen, and that he wasn't happy all the time neither.