Representative

An Empty Library

'That's a pretty name. Did you come far?'

I gestured and then hesitated, tapping the Russian box. The Russian language came up on the keyboard. My finger lingered as I looked up at him, not sure how to respond, but shaking my head.

He waited a moment, before delicately taking the ipad. I looked intently to read his response

'Do you know how to write?'

"Nyet"

I frowned as I saw his brow furrow. My fingers shook slightly and I quickly withdrew my hand from the table into my lap, looking at him carefully to see how upset he was from my response. I didn't want to upset him, as it would upset Vanya.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. He seemed to be deep in thought. I'd seen Vanya go into the same trance as he considered the best option for something. He then smiled and simply took the iPad and typed,

'Then we can start from the beginning'

I looked surprised at how calm he seemed, but then gave a nod.

He leaned down and picked up his briefcase, opening it. He pulled out a stack of papers, text on one side. I didn't recognise them, but he turned them around to the blank back side, then moved further after the table to be sat next to me. He put his pen to the paper and wrote two letters: A, a. He then put the pen down on the sheet, looking me dead in the eyes. It was intimidating it a way. But, there was something there. Trust.

"Ah, aye"

"A-Ahy?"

He gave a nod, then hesitated,

"May I?"

I looked at him blankly. I had no idea what he'd just said, so instinctively I just nodded. I could trust him. I think I can, anyway.

I almost jerked my hand back as he reached out and took it, his palm against the back of my hand. I hadn't been prepared for it, but tried to keep a straight face so not to offend him. He wasn't a threat. I could trust him. He guided my hand to the pen and then moved my fingers to be holding the pen, pressing down with my thumb and resting it on my middle finger, while the index finger guided it. He still kept his much larger hand around mine, before pressing the nib of the pen to the paper and copying the two letters he had put before: A, a.

It made my wrist feel weird, but after the final line was curled, he let go of my hand, although I picked up on the seconds worth of lingering. He picked up the iPad again,

'Capital, small.'

Capital, small. Capital, small. I repeated it in my head and I looked at the letters. I wondered if he was referring to them, the first one a capital, the second 'small'. Sure, it was smaller, but capital? Wasn't that the head city of a country? What did that have anything to do with this? I sighed as it confused me, but didn't want to point it out.

I looked back up at Laurence. He had a worried expression: I bet if he was a lynx, his ears would be pinned back. I gave him a reassuring smile, the sigh must have thrown him off. Humans were like that, I'd learnt from Vanya.

'Should we continue?'

"Yes"

The word came off my tongue, I was not stupid. I knew some words. Very few. Yes, no, thank you, hello, you're welcome. Just enough to survive. He distracted me as he picked up the pen and drew the next 'Capital, small'

"Bee, beh"

"Bey?"

He didn't nod this time, but did move to touch my hand again. Before he could reach it, I placed it on the pen. Without the support of his hand, my fingers quivered, the touch strange as they adjusted to the new muscle positioning. Then the warmth of Laurences hand flooded across my own: warm, gentle, kind. It sent a prickle along my skin and made my wrist feel suddenly tense and itchy. How strange. I half blame the temperature for messing with my senses, it does that.