Chapter 7
When I walked to the kitchen Jack was already sitting at the table, chatting with Fred, and Anita was fixing our breakfast. Jam was on the table, and the room was filled with the smell of coffee and toasted bread. I thought that it must feel good to live this way, waking up every morning on a shared breakfast in a paid-off house just minutes away from the beach. My life seemed miles away from those standards, and I wondered what it would become many years from now, when I reached Anita’s age.
Anita saw me standing on the corner, and invited me to the table. “Did you sleep well?”, she asked.
When I told her I found the atmosphere of their place soothing Fred smiled, “I’ll have to go check few things in the lab, but if you guys are willing to stay a bit longer we can bring the boat for a stroll”, he proposed.
I would have wanted to accept the invitation, but Jack spoke before I did.
“Maybe another time, I think we should be heading back after breakfast”, he said. He looked down for a moment before adding, “We’ll be back”, and I was surprised that he had counted me in as if it was natural that when he was to come back I would be there too.
When we hit the road I felt the lightness that takes over after a long holiday, when one is hung up in between realities, suspended between the usual routine and the atmosphere of the vacation. The perception of my body was odd too, as if I was thin and floating. I let Jack drive and I indulged myself in the blurred lines of my sensations, watching the landscape race by.
By the time we reached my house I had fallen in a state in between wake and sleep, and I was surprised when the car came to a halt. When Jack turned around and thanked me I felt there was something else he wanted to add, and we stood there lingering in the moment a while longer. But then he just thanked me again and I walked to my door, waving at him before disappearing into my old house.