“Oh.” I had no idea. But it’s somehow suiting that he’d bring me here.
“The former owners did a lot of remodeling, and we did more,” he says. “But we never did get around to knocking the bars out of this particular window.”
I point at the bed. “There are no bedsheets, by the way.”
“I’ll fetch yours,” he tells me. “You’ll have to undo the knots you put into the sheets if you want a bed to sleep in tonight.”
I cringe, thinking about how much work that’s going to be. I tied some of those knots pretty tight, plus they only tightened further under my weight.
He leaves and I hear the click as he locks the door. He returns momentarily and tosses the balled up sheets to me.
“Looks like you undid my main knot fairly quick,” I comment.
He flashes a switchblade. “Actually, I cut it free.”
“No fair,” I tell him, but he’s already leaving.
After the lock clicks shut, I sigh, sit down on the mattress, and get to work.
I hear a knock on the door. Gentle. Can’t be Massimo, he never knocks.
“Come in,” I call.
I hear the click as the door unlocks.
Rosa slips inside.
“Rosa!” I say. “I love your hair.”
She reddens slightly and self-consciously brushes the locks draping the right side of her face. The left half of her scalp is shaved.
“I love yours too,” she tells me.
“Thanks.” I smile. “Your style is really popular on campus these days, I hear.”
Rosa smiles. “I suppose. It’s an import from mainland Italy. And they got it from Estonia, I hear.”
“Well, I envy the style,” I tell her.
She frowns. “You could easily cut your hair like this.”
“Oh, I don’t want to. I only envy it because of the freedom you have. You see, my father would never let me cut my hair like that.”
“Ah.” Rosa approaches the bed and nods at the knotted sheets. “Could you use some help?”
“Please,” I tell her, patting an empty spot on the bed beside me.
She sits down and scoops up the opposite end of the bedspreads and begins the tedious process of unknotting her segment.
“Your father’s a bit strict, is he?” Rosa asks.
“Just a little,” I reply.
“Did Massimo tell you what your fatherdid to him?”
I nod. “Unfortunately.”
We continue working.
