Against God by Patrick Senécal Read Free Book Online Page A

then you go back into the building,
     over to door number one, knock, a woman in her thirties with furrowed skin and a
     rasping voice, she’s the landlady, there are two apartments for rent, a
     semi-furnished two-bedroom for the year and a furnished one-bedroom by the
     month, you visit the one bedroom on the third floor, rickety furniture, grimy
     oven and fridge, misshapen mattress, creaking bed, you say it’s perfect, you
     take it then and there for a month, five hundred dollars, you pay cash, then you
     stock up at the supermarket, canned goods, frozen fries, mounds of chips, a case
     of beer, everything for two hundred and fifty dollars, back to your apartment,
     you put the food away in the freezer and in the cupboards with their peeling
     paint, you remove your suit jacket, you open a beer, take a few swigs as you lie
     down on your bed, then you drop off almost immediately, shifting dreams of your
     children and wife falling into nothingness, the sound of footsteps on the stairs
     awakens you, six thirty, your beer has spilled onto the floor, you go to the
     door, you look through the peephole, you recognize Mélanie climbing the stairs,
     you hesitate for a second then you step out, you greet her, she stops halfway,
     sherecognizes you, she’s stunned, she’s happy, even
     reassured, she comes down to you and explains that, as it happens, she’s just
     come from Le Maquis where she hoped to see you again, then she asks what you’re
     doing in that apartment, you tell her, again she’s surprised, you explain that
     you’ll never go back to your house, just as you’ll never go back to Le Maquis,
     she nods her head gravely, silence, then Mélanie smiles, says again how glad she
     is to see you, on impulse she invites you over for dinner at her place, just
     like that, you accept indifferently, almost absentmindedly, she needs to get
     ready, you may come up in an hour’s time, finally you notice that her jeans are
     old and paint-spattered and that her face sports a few yellow spots as well, you
     return to the apartment, head for the bathroom and peer at yourself in the
     mirror, your white shirt, your black pants, your three-day stubble, your unkempt
     hair, you eye the shower, thoughtful, then in the end you leave the room, open a
     beer and drink it sitting on the couch, you do nothing, you wait, seven thirty,
     you go up to the fourth floor, Mélanie has had a shower, Mélanie is wearing
     clean clothes, Mélanie is cooking pasta, you scan the apartment vacantly,
     threadbare furniture, simple decorations, three movie posters on the walls, Titanic, Pretty Woman, Amélie, she asks if you would like something
     to drink, yes, a beer, she brings you one, you both have a seat in the living
     room, you’re surprised she’s not drinking but she shakes her head, evasive,
     maybe later, she notices the small bruise on your cheek, asks you what happened,
     you say it’s nothing, silence, thebubbling of the pasta
     cooking, you look around, two generic paintings, framed and sitting on the floor
     in a corner, Mélanie follows your gaze, she clucks, she says she’s been wanting
     to hang them for weeks now and always comes up with some reason not to, you
     don’t respond, silence, Mélanie doesn’t take her eyes off you, as though
     expecting something, you rub your nose, you set your empty bottle down on the
     table then, you stand up then, you take two steps then in the direction of the
     door intending to leave, but Mélanie chooses that moment to return to her stove
     and cry out with exaggerated enthusiasm that it’s ready, so you take a seat
     almost reluctantly at the table, you both eat, spaghetti and meat sauce, you
     make no comment about the food, Mélanie apologizes for not having any wine,
     silence, then you state, your mouth full, that you don’t know why you accepted
     her invitation, she isn’t upset by your comment, she even seems happy with the
     turn the conversation has taken, she