An Imperfect Librarian - Elizabeth Murphy [75]
When Cyril finishes installing the electric baseboard heaters, I move back to my flat. “You can leave the heat on blast 24/7 now,” he says. The fly on the ceiling appreciates the change. I haven’t seen him as active since the summer. The spider is tricked into thinking there’s been a change in season and gives birth to a ball of eggs. The earwigs pack up camp to migrate to damper climes.
“By the time I’m finished with the repairs and additions, you won’t be wanting a new place,” Cyril says.
The heater in the bathroom doesn’t trip the breaker any more and I could swear the water is warmer in the shower.
Mercedes and Cyril invite me for a Valentine’s dinner. Henry and Nancy are already there when I arrive direct from the office. We congregate in the kitchen. Mercedes pushes past me to access the stove, past Cyril for the sink, past Nancy and Henry for the fridge. The two lovers are glued together. You’d think they needed to be that close to stay warm. She’s taller so her arm falls down over Henry. His arm is around her waist. He told me already that they were an ideal match height-wise because, when he faces her, his eyes are at her cleavage. On the counter next to me is a vase with two-dozen red roses. The card says, Happy Valentine’s, Goddess. Love, Henry.
Mercedes singles me out. “Where’s Norah?”
“She couldn’t be here tonight, unfortunately.”
“More turkey for us,” Henry says.
“There’ll be no turkey for anyone if you don’t move out of the kitchen,” Mercedes says.
“Where’s the powder room?” Nancy asks.
Henry and I move to the living room. Cyril stays in the kitchen to help Mercedes.
“She’d be here with you if it wasn’t for Francis,” Henry says. “You can blame it all on him. It wasn’t enough that he tried to take your job out from under you. He took your woman as well.”
“He was with her long before I came along.”
“Defending him, are you now? You really are a fool.”
“What do you expect me to do?”
“I expect you to stop moping around like an invalid. Prove your integrity. Expose Francis for what he is – a self-serving, arrogant, incompetent, power hungry, loud-mouth cock–”
Nancy returns from the powder room, Henry returns his arm to her waist, Cyril returns with an ale and the conversation returns to rants about how City Council should be doing more to remove snow from sidewalks. Meanwhile, the invalid returns his hand to his pocket to rub two beach rocks between his fingers. Mercedes has to do a hospital shift at eleven. The guests are invited to leave early. I take the basement stairs down through the furnace room, past the broom closet, under the pipes, directly to my bed. Upstairs, the toilet flushes. A door closes and a car engine revs. Mercedes is off to work. Soon after, the furnace cuts in and drowns out the sound of Cyril snoring in the living room where he probably fell asleep in front of the television. I fall asleep thinking about how we danced that night downtown and the man in the cowboy hat sang about the colour of a heartache.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
upside down moon
THE PRIVACY POLICY RECEIVES FINAL approval. The unit most affected is Digital Systems. There’s a temporary freeze placed on my budget. My database access is curtailed. A committee headed by Francis is set up to oversee implementation of the policy. The committee will also monitor Digital Systems operations. In other words, I might as well be working directly under Francis. The union can’t do anything for me because administration hasn’t actually changed my position. They’ve merely reorganized the unit. Henry offers his familiar I told you so as well as his Stand up to the prick. Some days, I can barely get out of bed, let alone stand up.
I haven’t talked to or seen Norah for nearly two months. That’s not long enough for me to forget those six words that changed everything in the time it takes a pin-prick to burst a balloon. “Perhaps