Moonchild

CHAPTER TEN

And I still remembered the way I felt when he stepped inside through the door. How I felt cold while looking at him. How awful it must have been if...

'A guy?' she said suddenly, 'What guy? What did he look like?'

'Uhm, I couldn't see his face clearly, because he was wearing a hat that hid his features in shadow, but he wore a dark coat that reached the floor, and dark clothes. And gloves. He wore black glover. Does it ring a bell?'

'None that I can think of, no.'

We finished our cigarettes, but since there was no customers we stayed outside, sitting in the warm sunlight. Some passers by walked and nodded hello to Pani, and she smiled back. I didn't know her that well, but I could spot a fake smile in a mile. Something was bothering her, and I wasn't sure if I was to intrude her space by asking if something was wrong. Thankfully, she beat me to it.

'Strange.' she said quietly.

'What is?' I replied.

'You said, a man came to see him yesterday in the morning, and on the same day, but at night, my uncle was arrested.' She seemed deep in thought.

'It's quite strange, yes, but I'm not sure that one connects with the other.'

I started thinking myself what would possibly be the meaning of what a man, as dark clothed as the man that came yesterday morning, had anything to do with a man like Mr. Mark. There was no connection between the two of them to the naked eye. But what if Mr. Mark was deep in the darkness of the Night People? Gangsters, Criminals, Drug dealers, Drug users? Anything was possible, but he was a nice man, according to his wife, according to Pani.

'Shall we go in?' she said.

'Yeah.'

'I don't think that we'll have any customers, since it's lunch time, but nonetheless, let's go in and busy ourselves with chores.'

'Alright.'

We went inside, and the next thing I knew we found things to do: Pani wiped the floor, and I mopped it right after. She refilled the pastry display with croissants and cheese pies, and I refilled the coffee machine with coffee beans, right after I rinsed it. Then, Pani went to tidy up the office, and I redecorated the place, moved the tables and chairs around, to have a long empty path from the entrance towards the bar and till. I pushed everything around and made it look different, decent.

Something vibrated in my pants' pocket, and I realised that I had my cell phone on me this whole time. I checked that Pani was still in the office, and then I took a sneak peek and found a text from Mr. Peter that said:

Sophie will make pasta tonight.

She invited you to join us.

I DON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER!

see you at 8pm

I was looking forward to the best pasta that I'd ever tasted in my life. I wish I could eat pasta every single day. I smiled by how good Mr. Peter and Mrs. Sophie were to me and how lucky I was to have such great friends.

Friends.

Why does this word still haunt me?

As soon as I put my cell phone back in my pocket, Pani emerged from the office, and said that we could smoke again in two minutes, and then went inside the office again. It hadn't been an hour since our previous break. Is this my birthday? I thought, and made to dance, but chose otherwise. I found my cigarettes in my backpack, under the bar counter, and the lighter was in my other pocket in my pants.