Part 35 (1/2)
Madison clapped her hands together in prayer. ”Jonas?”
”Take the Scotch, my friend.”
”I don't drink alone. What do you take me for?” Jonas downed his Scotch, put on his jacket, and slipped into his shoes. ”I'll be across the street. If you guys decide you need a mediator or just a friend, give me a ring.”
Rajinder met him at the door and shook his hand. ”Thank you for your understanding. Madison and I really must”
”I know, I know.” Jonas opened the door and left, his footsteps on the porch and down the stairs. His head bobbing in front of the picture window. Madison watched him, and used him as a reason to remain silent as long as she could.
Bizet was a veil over the room. Weeks ago, when they had been alone, conversations had been easy. They were a couple of chatty introverts, unfolding their lives. Now it felt as though a CBC producer stood at the end of the hall, begging them to be authentic.
Madison had only been this uncomfortable once before, on the night of her sixteenth birthday. She returned from a roller-coaster party at West Edmonton Mall to encounter her parents at the dining room table with a small paperback called Talk s.e.x by Dr. Sue Johanson. David and Abby wouldn't accept Madison's a.s.surances that she already knew everything from health cla.s.s and movies, and they proceeded to deliver a speechbased on handwritten notesabout masturbation, heavy petting, oral s.e.x, and...it.
”Jonas is a comical man,” said Rajinder.
”He is.”
”You have known him a long time.”
”Ten years or so. He's a good guy.”
”Yes. Yes.”
”And a complete a.s.s, too.”
”It is difficult to be funny. One is born with it, I think. Like eye colour.”
”I'm not funny.”
”Yes, you are funny at times.” Rajinder coughed and shook his head. ”But I am not. When I try to be funny, I merely confuse people.”
”Some books are funny. There's this one book”
”I am beyond sorry,” said Rajinder. ”I behaved poorly.”
Madison had wanted to be tough, but her tear glands did not co-operate. ”No, no it was all my fault. I was scared to tell you because I thought you wouldn't like me any more, and then when I did tell you I”
”Like you?” Rajinder hurried over to her chair and lifted her out. ”I love you.”
”You do not.”
”No, I really actually do.”
Madison sobbed violently. Snot gushed out of her nose and on to Rajinder's father's favourite suit. It took fifteen minutes for her to say she loved him too.
85.
the edmonton remand centre Due to the ferocity of his attack on the university president, the special testimony of Claudia Santino, and his own snooty behaviour the following morning at the bail hearing, Raymond spent a few days in jail. When s.h.i.+rley Wong refused to pay for his release, and forbade his friends to do it, Raymond spent two more.
On the fifth day, s.h.i.+rley asked Abby to look after the Rabbit Warren and she took the LRT downtown. Since Raymond wasn't a risk to the Crown, the police allowed them to meet in a small conference room in the Remand Centre.
In the conference room, his beard patchy and uneven, Raymond cradled his left arm in his right hand. Before s.h.i.+rley had a chance to ask him what had happened, he showed her his new tattoo. The word BEEYATCH spanned three inches just below his elbow.
”You want to know how they made my tattoo?”
s.h.i.+rley was horrified. It was a b.l.o.o.d.y mess.
”They cut me with a sewing needle and used the ink from a Bic pen. A Bic pen! And guess what would have happened if I had complained or cried out?”
Raymond lifted his hand to stop her before she could speak.
”Other forms of initiation.”
When she had endeavoured to teach Raymond a lesson, this was not what she had imagined. s.h.i.+rley had a.s.sumed prison was sort of like M.A.S.H., without the doctoring, and not in Korea.
”I hope these past weeks have been gratifying to you.” Raymond slouched in his chair. ”With your little hockey players.”
”On the contrary.”
”You hate me.”
”I don't hate you.”
”Well, it's some lunatic sicko kind of love, letting me spend a week with a collection of addicts and mental defectives. My bunkmate, a charming drug dealer and chronic masturbator from Saskatoon, gave me a nickname. You want to know what it is?”
s.h.i.+rley pursed her lips. She wanted to wait a few minutes before telling Raymond he was free.
”The pink lady.”
”The pink lady?”
”They call me the pink lady.”
”Why?”
Raymond pounded the table and slouched again. ”I'm not telling.”
”The kids are coming home for Christmas.”
”Both of them?” Raymond's tone changed, and he smiled. He shook his head. ”I can't believe it. How long has it been?”
”Six years.”
”Am I allowed to come? I mean, at least to dinner?”