turns off.
She lies down on the mattress.
She wants to believe she has come home. She is lying on a bare mattress. There are no sheets and no blankets. She is still wearing her dress.
She has not come home.
There is a truck in the alley behind the store. Its engine is running. It is morning. Isobel is lying on the bed. She had been asleep. Now she is awake. The sound of the truck woke her.
She rubs at her eyes. She sits up in the bed. It was cold during the night. She had no blankets. She did not sleep well. Her body is stiff. She is still tired. She stands up. She rubs at her eyes again.
She goes over to the sink. She looks at herself in the mirror. She looks like she just got out of bed. She tries to make her hair look nicer. She pushes at it. It does not make her hair look nicer. She looks like she just got out of bed.
She grits her teeth.
She wants to look nicer.
She turns the water on. She washes her face. She dries her face on her dress again.
She looks at herself in the mirror. She tries to not scowl. She takes a breath. She opens the door and she goes out of the room.
She is above the grocery store. In the room at the back of the grocery store there are two men. They are carrying crates. There are crates in the truck behind the grocery store. The men are carrying the crates from the truck into the store.
Isobel comes down the stairs. She goes into the room at the back of the store. She stands there.
The two men see her.
They look at her.
One of the men says: ‘Isobel.’ He stops. He says: ‘What are you doing here?’
Isobel pulls her hands through her hair. She does not scowl. She lets out a breath.
She says: ‘Good morning, Mr. Koch.’
Isobel is sitting on a chair.
She is sitting with her hands between her legs. She is nervous. She is fidgeting because she is nervous. She is trying not to fidget but she cannot keep herself from fidgeting.
Mr. Koch is standing in front of her. He is holding two cups of coffee.
He gives Isobel one of the cups of coffee.
Mr. Koch is the owner of the grocery store. This is his office. It is a small room at the back of the grocery store.
There is a desk in the office. There is a desk and a machine for making coffee and a chair behind the desk and the chair Isobel is sitting in.
Mr. Koch sits down behind his desk. He grunts when he sits down. Isobel is sitting in front of his desk.Mr. Koch looks at her. She is holding her cup of coffee with both hands.
Mr. Koch makes a noise in his throat.
He takes a cigarette from the pack of cigarettes on his desk. His hair is grey. He is not young. He was thin when he was young. Now he is not. He is fat.
He puts the cigarette to his mouth. He lights it. Smoke comes out of his mouth.
Isobel does not look at Mr. Koch. She holds her cup of coffee in her lap. She uses both hands. She should look at Mr. Koch but she looks into her cup of coffee instead.
She lifts her cup of coffee to her mouth. She takes a sip from it.
Mr. Koch puts his cigarette to his mouth. He coughs. He looks at Isobel. He says: ‘What are you doing here?’
Isobel says: ‘I could work for you.’ She does not look up. Her hair falls into her face. She does not move her hair out of her face. She feels safer with her hair in her face.
Mr. Koch does not hear what she said.He says: ‘Excuse me?’
Isobel looks into her cup of coffee. There are ripples on the surface of the coffee. Her cup is shaking. Her cup is shaking because her hands are shaking. She tries to hold her hands still.
Isobel says: ‘I could work for you.’
Mr. Koch shakes his head.He makes a noise in his throat. He puts his hand to his mouth. He coughs.
Isobel does not say anything.
Mr. Koch puts his cigarette to his mouth. He draws on it. He takes his cigarette away from his mouth. Smoke comes out of his mouth.
It is a small room. It does not have a window.
Mr. Koch says: ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ He shakes his head again. He says: ‘You’re too young.’
Isobel does not look at him.
He says: ‘Isobel, go back to your family.’
Isobel says: ‘No.’
She says: ‘I don’t want to.’ She says: ‘I could work for you.’
Mr. Koch grumbles. He says: ‘You are too young for that.’
She says: ‘No.’
Mr. Koch says: ‘What will happen when your mother finds you here?’
Isobel’s shoulders sink. She looks into her cup of coffee.
Mr. Koch says: ‘What would I say to her?’
Isobel does not look up. She looks into her cup of coffee and she says: ‘No.’ She says it softly. She is trying to keep her hands still. She does not want her cup of coffee to shake.
Her cup of coffee is shaking.
Mr. Koch is looking at her. She knows that Mr. Koch is looking at her. She does not look at him. She wants more of her hair to fall into her face.
She should move her hair so it is not in her face. She should look at Mr. Koch.
She raises a hand to her hair. It is thick and almost black.
She wants more of her hair to fall into her face. She grabs a handful of it.
Mr. Koch looks at her hand move. He puts his cigarette to his mouth. He draws on it. He takes his cigarette away from his mouth.
Isobel does not say anything.
Mr. Koch says: ‘What would I say to her?’ Smoke comes out of his mouth.
He coughs. It is a wet cough.
Isobel does not say anything. One of her hands is in her hair. She pulls it.
Mr. Koch makes more noises in his throat. He puts his cigarette to his mouth. He draws deeply on it. It makes him cough.
He shakes his head.
He stops coughing. He says: ‘It is impossible.’
