Forgive me Brother, I do not know what day it is. It is less hot, so I am thinking it is winter.
I have been living on the rooftop now for what seems like years. The girl, she is here less and less, and I am still trying to get her to tell me what has happened. She has been taking animals as weather grows colder. I am hoping it is to a warmer place. It is windy up here. No place for cats or lizards. I am growing more and more lonely. Girl still brings me food, though. I will not starve. Last week she is wanting to hear story, but I am not thinking of any. Then, she speaks. She tells me to repeat the story of when I am falling through ice. More than anything, I am surprised. This is first time I am hearing her speak. But I do not show surprise. I tell her story. She gives me food. She leaves.
---
I have not been down from rooftop in months. I spend more and more time watching city. All problems seem small from here. I am particularly watching one man. He is post officer, but does not drive truck. Instead, he drives shopping cart full of mail, and later puts up posters. He is running back and forth, back and forth around town. Now he is going to pet store. Now leaving, with large bag. Alfonso follows. Then, as he is walking away, I catch glimpse of Girl. She is taking down posters Man put up. I am wondering why, but I know she will not tell me. Perhaps if I can see this poster, I could understand.
"Morning." Said Julius.
ReplyDeleteSilence
"Mind if I stay up here for a bit?" Asked Julius.
The man answered with a nod.
"Well...I'm Julius, if you care to talk at some point." said Julius.
With that, Julius turned on the radio he brought with him. WTF was playing John Cage's 4'33"...
Sure enough, there was a little tent on the roof. (How on earth had I managed to see that from the pet store?) Over the rain, I could hear snoring emanating from behind the fabric, which made me feel strangely creepy. It was still really dark outside, so of course they would still be asleep. What was I up here for? My curiosity was still unsatisfied, however, and I tiptoed towards the tent. Dang, someone was an accomplished snorer. But I'd seen two people on the roof. I found myself wondering which of them snored, and laughed to myself that it was probably the woman. I crept around the side and opened the flap just wide enough to put one eye up to the gap.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to horrifying myself as to whether or not this espionage qualified me as a full-fledged stalker, I was baffled. Only one silhouette lay snoozing in the early morning light.
...
To my surprise, the phone actually picked up. But it wasn't Xiu Li's voice on the other end of the line. I heard the rush of the rain, and then an accented voice, saying, "So we forced to sell, you know. Was not good time for anyone." Then I thought I was going to have a heart attack, because Xiu Li's voice did appear in the conversation. It said, "Oh my!" and then my call cut off.
...
I pushed open the yellow door and looked out. A disheveled-looking man was sitting out on the roof. It was only spitting now, thankfully. The smoke from the fire was wafting out across the city, easily visible from up here. The man saw me come out onto the roof and asked, "Why there is smoke?"
I jumped. I'd heard his voice before.
Recently.
On the phone.
Oh my god.
I lost it. "YOU!" I screamed. "YOU KIDNAPPED MY DAUGHTER, YOU BASTARD!"
He looked surprised and then genuinely confused.
"Daughter? What?"
I was kind of ashamed of myself. Was I wrong? "My daughter," I said defiantly, shaking with anger. "Xiu Li Zheng. Blonde girl. Short hair. And you have her somewhere."
Something dawned on his tired face.
"Juli! Yes, she was here. Comes every day, brings food. I tell her stories of home country."
Oh...
"Where is she now?" I was feeling pretty awkward now for yelling at him. But at least I had a clue on where she was.
"Do not know. She leaves, never stays."
...
"Hey..." I wasn't sure what to say to the guy. "I'm really sorry, you know, for yelling at you and all that. I didn't mean to accuse you of kidnapping her."
"Is fine," he said. He actually looked really unfazed.
"Would you be willing to ask her about her father tomorrow?" I blurted out. He looked slightly caught off guard by that one, but he finally replied, "I will try."
I wished beyond all wishes that I didn't have work in the morning. I could even come up here to wait for her myself. But maybe this man could help.
Suddenly, something occurred to me. "Are you Russian?" I asked. Oops, that was a bit rude. Or was it? I can never tell.
"Yes. I am from Russia."
"Can you read this for me? I'm trying to figure out who this is for." I brought out Dmitri's letter from my pocket and unfolded it. I left the money in there, just in case. After all, he might have tried to steal it, living on the roof and all that.
He began to read the letter to himself, and then a big smile lit up his face. "This is letter for me!" he exclaimed. Oh. Oops. "So you're Dmitri?" I said. "Yes, yes," he said. Then he frowned. "Brother says letter had money. Is lost?"
Oh, right.
"No," I said. "It's right here." I gave him the wad of money. He smiled again.
Feeling a little better about myself, I said good night to Dmitri and went back down the stairs.
Then I made my journey back up to the roof. I wished I'd brought a sweater, it was getting kind of windy and chilly up there. Dmitri didn't seem to mind, though. He smiled at me when I showed up with the waffle, and gratefully took it. But some of the animals didn't seem to really like the coldish weather.
ReplyDeleteWithout prompting, Dmitri launched into one of his stories. It seems to be a thing he does a lot. But I really didn't mind, seeing as he has good stories and tells them wonderfully. And his accent is marvelous. This particular story was about one time he and his brother skipped school and got in huge trouble. When he finished that one, he seamlessly transferred into another one where he slipped and fell through ice. I know it's terrible, but I couldn't stop laughing at that one. It was comical.
"I convince myself that fish hide under ice," he said. "So I tell Yuri, 'Yuri, why do we not try to break ice and catch fish for eating?' and of course, my brother, he knows I fall, but he thinks funny, Dmitri falling in freezing water. So he says 'Sure, Dmitri, I stand here and spear fish, and you go put hole in ice.'" I was giggling. I'd never had a sibling, but I liked the interaction between him and his brother. It reminded me of my friend Caila, whose older brothers pranked her all the time. "So I go onto ice," continued Dmitri, "and I of course stomp around, because is fabuloful way to break ice. Very safe. And what knowing! Ice breaks, and I sploosh into freezing pond. I scream. Yuri laughs, but then notices me freezing to my death and comes running out onto ice and I 'YURI, do not fall too, Yuri!' He does not fall. He grabs hand and puulllls me to ground, and we run to Mama, she give me warm drink and blanket. I was lucky, I did not get sick. My friend Alexei, he got very sick from ice, almost died once."
He told a couple more stories, and then I had to leave for work. I never know if I'm supposed to talk back or tell stories back, but it's worth bringing food to him to hear the stories. I wondered if he thought we were friends. Not really something you can just ask people, is it?
...
I took my daily pay and went back up to the roof to hear some more of Dmitri's hilarious stories, carrying a sandwich with me. It was just starting to get dark, so the temperature was dropping, and I worried again for the animals. I gave Dmitri the sandwich, which he ate gratefully, and I sat there awaiting a story. But he didn't say anything. He just sat there in silence, lost in thought. Finally, he looked up and shrugged apologetically. I didn't want to leave without hearing a story, so I asked him if he'd retell the ice one from earlier.
He nodded, and told the same story again. It was just as funny the second time, honestly. (Maybe it's just that I'm the kind of person who will keep laughing at something long after it's over... and I love rereading books and rewatching movies.) But by then it was dark. I said goodbye and made my way back to the roof exit, but then something occurred to me. I stopped.
"Dmitri... do you mind if I take some of the animals with me?"
He shook his head. And so it was that I took two dogs, a cat, and a bunch of lizards down the stairs of Castle Apartments and back to the electrical tunnels.