“Yes, of course!” Elo?se said.
Sister Elo?se didn’t lose time getting out of the room, proud of herself for taking such a risk and having it pay off. She had been waking up every night for the past few years, terrified of Rose, certain that she was next to the bed, still a tiny girl but with a look of judgment on her face. She imagined the grown-up Rose coming to the orphanage and denouncing her. Everyone would believe Rose now, she was so powerful, she had pull. Elo?se didn’t want to stay a second longer and risk her fortunes changing. Rose didn’t even seem to notice her leaving. She was transfixed by the miraculous six-year-old boy with bright blue eyes who was staring right back at her.
“What is your name, darling?” Rose asked the child.
The boy looked at her with a guileless self-assurance she recognized, and offered her a beautiful smile by way of introduction.
“Isaac,” he said. “Am I to live with you?”
“If you would like. I would love nothing but. You’re a generous little soul, aren’t you? Shall we get to know each other a little?”
“Perhaps we can go to the zoo?”
“There’s a lovely polar bear there, darling. It wants to meet you.”
“It will eat me!”
“I would never let anything touch a hair on your sweet head. The polar bear is behind a cage, and I swear he’ll act like a gentleman or we’ll walk off and have chocolat chaud without him.”
“Chocolat chaud!”
Rose began to laugh. It had been so long since she had allowed herself to feel joy, as it made her feel unfaithful to her dead husband. There were tears in her eyes, as though her eyes were ice cubes that were melting. She looked at Isaac. The thought of pleasing the boy made her mind fill with all sorts of ideas. For this little boy she would create a new puppet theater. For this little boy she would have clowns from Europe arriving by sea in no time. For this little boy she would create a wondrous animal show, with geese that sang traveling songs, and an elephant that played the trumpet. It all came so clearly to her mind. She would have the world’s greatest juggler to teach him the rules of science and of the natural universe, and the world’s most amazing escape artist would teach him to tie his shoes, and a white cat that walked on a tightrope would be his best friend. Their life was to be a marvelous circus, on and off the stage.
She went to get her coat. She swung open the door to tell Fabio and Tiny that she was going out for the afternoon. The small framed drawing of a snowflake that hung from a nail on the door swung back and forth as she spoke into Tiny’s ear. She went and took Isaac’s hand in hers, determined never to be apart from him again, not even for a moment.
As Elo?se turned down the street and headed along Saint Catherine, a man fell in behind her. He pulled out a gun and put a small bullet in the back of her brain. Her body was cleaned up quickly, so that Isaac would not see it or be disturbed by it.
Rose and Isaac would have a wonderful childhood together.