metanoia

Chapter Six

The next morning, I woke up disoriented. I was woken by the hot sun in my eyes, lying on a soft couch covered in a light purple fluffy blanket. I didn't remember getting here. I smelled cookies and bacon. I heard someone humming an upbeat song, and I remembered where I was.

"Evie?" I shouted.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Good morning..." I said softly as she entered the room. "Why do you always dress like...?"

"Like what?" she asked, pulling up her socks. Every time I saw her she kept wearing little dresses and black knee high socks. With that apron on, she definitely looked provocative.

"Like... that..." I mumbled while she took off the apron.

"I like these dresses. Don't you? Should I stop wearing them?" she looked down and pulled the hem of the minty green dress.

"Oh no. I love them." I laughed. "The socks are a nice touch. You look cute."

"Why did you ask why I wore them, though...?" she asked, clearly confused. She cocked her head like a puppy.

"They're so innocent..." I started slowly.

"Wanna go to the bookstore?" she asked suddenly.

"Um, sure?" I replied. It was my turn to be confused. "Why?"

"I just want to. It's close enough that we can walk."

She'd already grabbed her coat, so I went to the door and we left.

----------------------------------------------------

"It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenburgs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York..." Evie began. It was the beginning of her favorite book, The Bell Jar, a relatively thick book with a woman in a dress on the cover. I'd walked in with her and followed her through the maze of books, and when she'd pulled out one, she went to the back of the store where three baby chairs sat and began to read to me. Now is as good a time as any to tell you that she was beautiful. While she sat there reading to me, her voice flowing like a river does, seamlessly over rocks and grasses, her eyes glittering as she got to her favorite parts. She lifted her hands to push her bangs back every once in a while, and she'd left her coat on. The sleeves went just over her hands, hitting the middle of her slender purple-tipped fingers. She hiccuped once in the middle of the word 'caviar', so it sounded like 'ca-hic-iar' and it made me smile. She made me smile a lot. I'd never been as happy as I was with my Evie. It was like she lived in a fairytale. The word wasn't bad in her eyes, it just needed more good people. She tried so hard to be one of those, and I think she succeeded. She made the world a much brighter place, even though she never got recognized for it.

That day when she read to me was when I fell in love with her. It happened quick. The way my name rolled off her tongue as she asked "Michael, am I boring you?" made my heart jump, and I knew. I was in love with Evangeline. My little bookworm, my little sunshine.

"You could never bore me, Evie. No matter how hard you tried." I said. "Read more."

So she did, and we sat in those too-small chairs for 2 and a half hours until she said the last words of the book.

"The eyes and the faces all turned themselves toward me, and guiding myself by them, as by a magical thread, I stepped into the room. The end." she closed the book with a sigh.

"I loved it." I said.

"Me too. This is my favorite book." She said, absently stroking the letters on the cover.

"I like the way you read it." I traced the bones in her hand while I spoke, and she watched.

"Thank you. I read to the people at the home I work at. I'm trained." She giggled.

"I'd listen to every audiobook in here if you read it." I said. She smiled.

"Let's go walk again." She grabbed my hand and led me out of the store, smiling and waving at strangers with her free hand.

----------------------------------------------------

We walked on the sidewalk slowly, still holding hands, window shopping. We passed small businesses, big chain-stores, a small cafe or two (which, I decided, I would take Evie to for breakfast someday) and a hardware store. I remembered my shift later in the afternoon and thanked God it was only noon.

"I have to work today at 1." I told her.

"Aww..." she sighed. "Oh well. I'll go to the nursing home and do that thing." She said with a smile.

"You should probably get some sleep. You look tired." I said. She had bags under her eyes and her posture was poor.

"No, I'm okay... I want to go help the people. I'll be okay." She muttered.

"If you say so." I said. I made a mental note to make sure she slept soundly that night.

We went into a few small stores until it was 12:15. I hugged Evie and laid a little kiss on the top of her head and walked into the store. I watched her through the glass doors as she walked up and down the sidewalks, occasionally dropping something or waving at someone. The sun made her hair shine and gave her an angelic glow. I watched her until she was a little dot on the horizon, taking the sunshine with her to give to someone else.