The Sin of Love

Chapter 9

Soon after that evening, thanks to Julian's help, Sam had a "rendezvous" at the store with Louison. The prospect of being able to communicate with the living world, with an adult moreover, was quite enticing, even if it required intense concentration and energy. Louison was waiting for him, Ouija board on the table and instinctively felt his presence when he came in.

- Anyone here ? - she called out.

Louison looked around and then at the wooden plank in front of her. She nudged the cursor with her fingertip, then let out a laugh.

- What am I even doing? - she said, moving the cursor slightly.- Do I have an appointment with a dead man?

She moved the cursor to Yes which made Sam smile.

- Did I listen to a little elementary school boy about his potential Imaginary Friend?

She pushed the cursor to Yes again, and laughed.

- Am I completely nuts?

She pushed the paddle in the direction of Yes but Sam stopped it with his fingertip and Louison, surprised, hurriedly let go of the stick and took a step back. Sam moved the cursor to No. The young woman approached the tablet again.

- Sam?

He moved to Yes.

- Wow that's amazing! This is... wow... -cried Louison.- Are you... you are... non-imaginary? I mean... did you actually exist as... an alive person long time ago?

"Yes"

- Wow, can Julian really see and talk to you?

"Yes"

- It's amazing... But why did you want to see me?

Impossible for Sam to do a whole sentence, moving the cursor already took a lot of energy and his finger was already going through every 2-3 seconds. But Sam had asked to talk with Louison about a specific topic. Something Sam couldn't bring himself to ask Julian, and probably wouldn't hear from Rosalie. A taboo subject that intrigued him and that he wanted to know more about in order to understand Rosalie's reactions and this one-parent family's.

"D.....A.....D"

- "Dad"? You mean Julian's daddy, don't you?

"Yes"

Louison sat down on the stool behind the counter and seemed to hesitate for a moment. This story, this father, seemed to have been murky and sensitive enough that even Louison was reluctant to talk about it.

- Oh after all, let's say I'm talking to myself! - she exclaimed.

She took a breath and began her story.

- Julian's father's name is Carlos Ramirez. Rosalie met him in high school, he was planning to enter a sports course to become a pro rugby player and she wanted to take courses to become a medical secretary and at the same time had subscribed to art class. She was smart enough to think that her paintings and drawings wouldn't always pay the bills, and her dream was to start a family. They quickly fell in love, Carlos promised her the world... After four years together, Rosalie got pregnant and they decided to get married. Everything was going well, Rosalie's pregnancy too. And then... this accident happened.

Louison crossed her arms and looked at the tablet.

- Sam, are you still here?

"Yes."

- Good... One evening, Rosalie had a huge pregnancy craving, raspberry donuts. She hadn't had to insist much, Carlos had taken the car without complaining. Except that on the way he had a car accident. It was... a simple accident, but... He injured his knee, cruciate ligaments, something like that and... the doctor told him he could say goodbye to his professional career ambitions. It devastated him. He... was deeply sad at first, he didn't go out, then he started drinking to forget. He then ... tried to find a culprit. He wanted to find the man who cut him off and forced him to deviate from his path towards the ditch, but to no avail. He then put the blame... on Rosalie and the baby who gave her that donut desire... He was avoiding her, blaming her, but she was holding on. She told herself that he needed to come to terms with his athletic career and anger was one of the stages. She told me that he would be better if he hugged his son... But when Julian was born, nothing got better. Fortunately he did not take it out on the little one, but still rejected him. He was rejecting THEM. Rosalie raised Julian with all the love she could possibly give, watching her husband sink into alcoholism, aimless, unemployed. She ran the household on her own, I offered her a job at the store and when she returned to work, that's when ... he started ...