Chapter 123

SEPTEMBER 2013

When I returned to Elena’s house, the sky had cleared and the storm was little more than a memory in the silver puddles on the streets. I didn’t ring the doorbell; I just cautiously peeked in and took off my shoes on the porch, so as not to get mud on the very fine polished parquet floors. Something smelled very bad inside the room and it took me a while to identify it because it was a smell that I was not used to: menthol tobacco. I went to the kitchen and found her there, sitting sideways at the same table where hours before we were on the verge of losing our temper. I couldn’t tell how she felt because of the smoke clouding the air in the room.

Elena wore her long blonde hair tied up on top of her head in a neat, wet bun; she was wearing an amber plush robe, her pajama bottoms, and slippers. Without makeup on her face, she no longer looked so much like Anya.

She had a lit cigarette in her hand and there were several crushed ones in an ashtray.