Thursday One Does Anyone Know Her Name?

One day, the river decided she was sick of running, so she curled up and turned into a lake.

Wow, that’s incredible, I marveled, impressed.

Oh, it’s nothing, she replied, this isn’t the first time I have done it.

I miss her, I said. She took that photo of me by a lake. I had long hair then. I have short hair now.

And who was the girl with the long hair? she asked.

I don’t know. A quiet, nice girl. A pushover, really. She hated that about herself.

I don’t think she was a pushover. A bit insecure, perhaps.

I said nothing to this.

Matkalla kotiin poikkesin leipomoon ostamaan reikäleivän ja rakastamiani pieniä suklaakakkusia. Monesti naisella, joka palveli minua, oli luppoaikaa, ja jutustelimme. Tänään hän oli kiireinen. Tein ostokseni joutuisasti, ja poistuin sivummalle täyttämään reppua. Kaiketi nainen oli kuullut uutisen.

Lähtiessäni myymälästä olin näkevinäni Hendersonit kaukana järvenselällä astelemassa pitkin luistinrataa, mutta tiesin ettei se voinut olla totta; Hendersonit olivat muuttolintuja, eivätkä he muutenkaan olisi osanneet etsiä minua täältä.

I braced myself and began climbing the stairs. Upward on the right, downward on the left, except when tourists or ill-behaved pickpockets or kids or dancers took over the whole staircase.

I had dreamed of dancing on the steps, too. Perhaps Adèle would see it, and make the nightmares stop.

Most people picked a Beyoncé song for the performance, or some other r’n’b artist, for the beat. In my dream, I danced to Fleetwood Mac’s Sisters of the Moon, wearing a top hat and a skirt and a shawl with long fringes, bought from right next door, my favorite vintage store I always frequented when visiting this neighborhood. People on the streets would stop what they were doing and sing along, and nobody would mind at all that it wasn’t a French song.