Chapters (10)
In my mind I could hear Thérèse’s wonderful laugh. I wondered if she still had that deep and free laugh, which just exploded from her body like thunder and lightning from the sky. I hoped against hope that Thérèse would laugh again. And as if I were suddenly possessed by Thérèse’s spirit, I raised Thérèse’s letter to my throat, opened my mouth as wide as I could, pushed my head back, and laughed and laughed and laughed Thérèse’s laugh. My whole body shook. My neck swiveled. My chest rattled. I waved my hands in the air, as though they were dancing.
Manman walked into the room and saw me sitting on the edge of the bed with Thérèse’s letter held against my throat.
“Are you well?” she asked.
I said, “I am laughing rather than crying for Thérèse.”
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27
Moy brought the girl at whose apartment he has been painting to meet us. She is not a girl at all, but a woman. According to Moy, she is twenty-five years old, a whole six years older than he is. She is pretty, though not as pretty as Thérèse. She’s shy and speaks in a very low voice.
Somehow, when Moy announced that he was coming back to live with us, at least until he saved enough money to rent a place of his own from Franck, she seemed a little happy.
Neither Manman or Papa appeared to like her, but they were both polite to her and didn’t say anything bad about her after she left.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28
Gary’s mother brought him to class to tell Mr. Marius she was sending him back to Haiti to live with his grandmother. Dressed in a suit and tie, Gary looked as uncomfortable as I had been my first day.
Mr. Marius wanted to take Gary’s mother outside to talk with her, but she said she wanted us to hear what she had to say. Then she turned to the class and addressed us all as Gary lowered his head and stared down at his well-polished shoes.
“I only came for his records,” she said in a tearful voice, “but I thought I would bring him to his class to say good-bye. Maybe you can all learn from this. I know he is my child and I should keep him with me, but he is always getting into trouble and he has left me no choice. I just don’t know what else to do.”
It was as if she was asking us all to forgive her.