They are still sitting out there on the balcony as if he has just dragged her from the sea.
Clara is too tired for Dvorak so puts on Kind of Blue. She saw Miles Davis play in Washington, 1973. All her pleasures have another side. The Cold War.
As the CD tray closes the phrase modern history pops into her head.
Lyn and her electrician, modern history. A new build new drama. A balcony scene. She wonders if Miles ever played Verona.
Clara sits at her table and draws people on the christmas card of Cap d’Antibes, birds too, zip down, zip up, zip down, zip up. Alison’s message inside is friendly, wishing her well for the move north, but Clara had not responded, she had still been cutting away, cutting away everything that was awkward, that didn’t fit. She decides she will send the card back to Alison, reworked, invite her to Wakefield, meet her off the train, walk her up from the new station, bring her up through the crowds in Burgage Square. Then perhaps they will travel together again. She is not ready to live in an old people’s courtyard with trees and melons.
Where did melons come from?
Herta Muller.
Time for bed.