Klara and the Sun

I could now see Rick, standing a little way away, his hand raised in response. Then he started to move through the fragments towards us. I couldn’t tell if Mr Vance, who was looking in the correct direction, had identified Rick or not. In any case, at that moment, one of the theater’s waistcoat officials came and stood between Mr Vance and the approaching Rick.

‘Do you already have a ticket for this show?’ the waistcoat official asked. ‘Or maybe you do, but you’d be interested in an upgrade?’

Mr Vance stared at him, saying nothing. Then Rick came past the waistcoat official and Mr Vance said: ‘Hey! This is your boy? He looks terrific.’

‘Thank you, Vance,’ Miss Helen said quietly.

‘Hello, sir,’ Rick said, and his smile was like the one he’d had when first greeting the adults at Josie’s interaction meeting.

‘Hi, Rick. So I’m Vance. Old, old friend of your mother. Heard a lot about you.’

‘It’s kind of you to meet with us, sir.’

‘So here you are!’ Josie suddenly filled the space before me. Beside her was a girl of eighteen who I realized was Cindy, the waitress, far less simplified now than when I’d last seen her.

‘Yeah, I don’t think your store actually moved,’ Cindy said. ‘But there’s a new store opened inside Delancey’s and maybe some of the AFs from your old store would have relocated there.’

‘Excuse me.’ A lady in a high-rank blue dress, who I estimated as forty-six years old, came in front of me, but facing Josie and Cindy. ‘We were just wondering if you were intending to bring this machine into the theater.’

‘Hey, what’s it to do with you if we were?’ Cindy said.

‘These are sought-after seats,’ the lady said. ‘They shouldn’t be taken by machines. If you take this machine into the theater, we’ll have to raise an objection.’

‘I don’t see why it’s any business of yours…’

‘It’s okay,’ Josie said. ‘Klara isn’t going into the show and neither am I…’

‘That’s beside the point,’ Cindy said. ‘I’m angry about this.’ Then to the lady she said: ‘I don’t know you! Who are you? Just coming up and speaking to us that way…’

‘So this is your machine?’ the lady asked Josie.

‘Klara’s my AF, if that’s what you’re asking.’

‘First they take the jobs. Then they take the seats at the theater?’

‘Klara?’ The Father had brought his face close up to mine. ‘Are you still feeling okay?’

‘Yes, I’m fine.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Perhaps I was a little disoriented earlier. But now I’m fine.’

‘Good. Look, I have to be on my way very soon. So I’m wondering if you’d tell me now. Exactly what did we do back there? And what can we hope will happen as a result?’

‘Mr Paul trusted me and that was wonderful. Unfortunately, as I said before, I can’t tell you anything more without jeopardizing the very thing we achieved. But I believe there’s real hope now. Please be patient and wait for good news.’

‘As you please. I’ll call in at the apartment in the morning to say goodbye to Josie. So I may see you then.’

The Mother’s voice said somewhere behind me: ‘We’ll talk about this back at the apartment. We can’t talk here.’

‘But that’s all I wanted to say,’ Josie’s voice said. ‘I definitely don’t want you sealing it up, the way you did with Sal’s. I want it so Klara gets sole use of my room and she gets to come and go as she pleases.’

‘But why are we even talking about this? You’re going to get well, honey. We don’t have to think about any of this…’

‘Oh, Klara, here you are.’ Miss Helen had appeared beside me. ‘Klara, look, I’ve just been speaking with Chrissie. You’re to come with us for now.’

‘With you?’

‘Chrissie wants to take Josie back to the apartment and have a quiet word with her, just the two of them. So you stay with us for now. Chrissie will come and collect you in half an hour.’ Then leaning forward, she spoke quietly into my ear: ‘Can you see? Rick and Vance are really hitting it off! All the same, dear, Rick will really appreciate having you beside him as he goes through this. It could still be something of an ordeal.’

‘Yes, of course. But the Mother…’

‘She’ll come and collect you in very good time, don’t worry. She just needs a few minutes alone with Josie.’

‘What I want more than anything else,’ Mr Vance said with a laugh, coming towards us, ‘is for us to get out of this crush. Over there, that diner. That looks fine. Just somewhere we can sit down, look at one another and talk.’

There were arms encircling me, and I realized Josie was holding me in an embrace, not unlike the one she’d held me in that day at the store following the great decision. But this time, she spoke into my ear, so only I could hear:

‘Don’t worry. I’ll never let anything bad happen to you. I’ll talk to Mom. You go with Rick for now. Trust me.’

Then she released me, and Miss Helen was pulling me gently away.

‘Come along, Klara, dear.’