Two weeks later, it turned out that Derek was a fast learner. He had already picked up the basics of robotics and paid close attention to everything that Adette taught him. Whenever she tried to acknowledge the fact of how well he was doing he would brush her off, but both of them knew that his progress was undeniably remarkable.
And, each day, as he got more involved with Adette and her teachings of robots, his addiction faded away more and more into his past. He struggled with intense cravings for cocaine and nightmares, along with the occasional irritable mood, but he found that each day it got easier.
He was sitting at the breakfast table when Adette marched in and slapped the newspaper down on the table in front of him, wearing the excited beam of a child from ear to ear. When he gave her a confused look, she brightly explained, “The carnival is in town!”
“And?” he frowned, still not understanding why this was such brilliant news.
“Haven’t you ever been to a carnival before?”
“What do you think?” he responded dryly, giving her a look.
“Not once, in your entire life?” The look of horror on her face was almost comical.
“No.”
“The carnival is my favourite place in the entire world! Whether you like it or not, you are going.”
He groaned. “What, so I can go sit on the merry-go-round and whatever the hell else?”
“You bet!” she exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear like it was the most thrilling prospect in the entire world.
“I really don’t have a choice here, do I?” he sighed. But secretly, he had to admit that he was curious. He’d never seen her this excited, not even over her robots; which had to mean something. “Okay, I’ll go.”
Adette gave what was quite possibly the cutest squeal he’d ever heard any living being make and hugged him like she’d just won lotto. He froze up at being hugged, his instinctive reaction to either escape or lash out. “Thank you Derek!” she cried, and then skipped out of the room, humming.
He rubbed his arms and stared after her. Something had to have happened to make her love carnivals that much. She was acting like a kid. Maybe that’s part of the explanation in itself, he thought.
A noise he nearly didn’t recognize snapped him out of his thoughts. An annoying ringing sound that seemed familiar from somewhere, like a sound you’d heard in your childhood or a distant dream. After racking his brain for several moments, he matched the sound as being the sound of a phone; and then realized it was on the table in front of him.
He glanced over his shoulder to see if Adette was coming. The room was empty except for him and the phone, which continued to ring insistently. He stared at it for another moment and then in a flash of movement, picked it up, holding it like it might bite him.
“Hello?” he mumbled uncertainly. He was answered by the sound of breathing. “Um… is anyone there?”
“Adette,” a male voice whimpered. He sounded quite upset. “Why don’t you call Adette? Why won’t you call back?”
Derek was silent, his mind racing a thousand miles a second.
“Why don’t you speak to me!” the voice at the other end wailed. Derek could have sworn he heard “You will pay,” before the line crackled and the man hung up.
Derek stared at the phone; the screen blinked “CALLER ID UNKNOWN”. A thousand questions raced through Derek’s head all at once.
Adette walked in, saw him holding the phone, and her expression of cheerfulness melted to horror. In a swift movement she had crossed the room and snatched the phone from his hand.
“No! No, you do not ever answer the phone, understand? Ever!”
Derek watched and chose his words carefully. She looked near hysterics.
“Well, sure, but who was that-“
“Look, it’s none of your business, okay? Just forget it!” she abruptly shot back. She seemed to be staring at some fixated point in the distance before she suddenly turned and ran out of the room. He heard the door slam and the muffled sounds of her screaming into a pillow. Just who was it that called and upset her this much?
