Once he’d finished eating, they went into the living room and began on his homework. When it was done, Nassim sat down at the PlayStation. Tiphaine went back into the kitchen, put the cereal away in the cabinet, the milk in the refrigerator, and the bowl and spoon in the sink. There were a few other dirty dishes in there and so, almost instinctively, she washed them and put them to dry on the rack. She didn’t know what to do after that.
Although in fact she did. There was something she wanted to do. To see, really. A place she could never stop thinking about that exerted an irresistible pull on her. On Tuesday, when she’d babysat Nassim for the first time, she’d not been able to keep from thinking about the room upstairs. But she’d had to look after the boy and, on top of that, exploring the first floor had kept her from rifling through other memories. Now, though she didn’t know why, the obsessive thought manifested itself almost the moment she entered the house. Perhaps Sylvain hadn’t been entirely wrong in thinking that coming back here was a bad idea.
Tiphaine went into the living room, as if the kitchen and its proximity to the entryway that led to the stairs were no longer safe. She stood for a few minutes behind Nassim, watching with a distracted eye as he destroyed unlikely aliens with equally improbable weapons. Then she randomly took a book off a shelf and settled down in an armchair.
She didn’t read a word, but the very fact that someone might come upon her and see nothing unusual made her feel more relaxed. She felt in control of her emotions and allowed her thoughts to wander freely. Her eyes skimmed the walls, floor, and ceiling. Everything was so different. Even the way the house smelled wasn’t the same anymore.
She stood up from the armchair, walked around it, and began pushing it toward the dining room, all the way to the corner where her grandmother’s old rocking chair had once stood.
“What are you doing?”
Nassim was standing in the opening between the two rooms, holding his joystick in one hand and looking at her, wide-eyed. Startled, Tiphaine stared back at the boy, then at the armchair, then back at Nassim.
“Well, as you can see, I’m moving the armchair.”
A beat of silence.
“Why?” asked Nassim.
Tiphaine took a moment to answer.
“Because...because it’s better here...Right?” Faced with the child’s doubtful silence, she added, “Don’t worry. I’ll put it back before your mom gets home. What do you think?”
The child pouted, an expression of aversion more than approval, and went back to his game without another word. Tiphaine watched him walk away with a sense of dismay. This kid didn’t seem driven by any emotion. It was like trying to grab hold of a bar of soap that kept slipping from her hands.
She braced herself and walked back to the living room, where she planted herself in front of Nassim.
“What do you like to read?”
The child looked up at her, startled.
“Stop gawking at me like an idiot every time I say something to you! We can talk, can’t we? Do you read books? Stories, comics?”
“Yes, I like comic books.”
“What are you reading at the moment?”
“Titeuf.”
“I know Titeuf!” she exclaimed with exaggerated enthusiasm. “Milo used to read them all the time. Have you got some at home?”
“Yes. Up in my room.”
Tiphaine’s heart sank.
“Will you...will you go and get one?”
“Which one?”
“Your favorite.”
Nassim hesitated for a moment, torn between wanting to continue his game and being obliging and polite; then he stood up, dropped the joystick on the floor, and walked out of the room.
He came back a few minutes later and handed a book to Tiphaine, who took it and thanked him. He went back to his video game and Tiphaine sat down in the armchair she’d moved and opened the book. This time, she was really reading. From time to time, she let out an exclamation, followed by a giggle. After a moment, intrigued, Nassim went over to where she sat, leaving his avatar to be obliterated by extraterrestrials.
“Why are you laughing?” he asked. Tiphaine noticed the warm curiosity in his voice.
“Because it’s funny. Have you read this one?”
