Cet après-midi-là, j’ai participé à une visite à pied parce que Mikayla m’avait fait promettre de quitter le navire.
At an outdoor market, I passed painted bowls and bright metal tins.
Then I saw a blue one.
My hand froze above it.
***
Twenty-five years earlier, I'd found our cruise tin empty.
Frank came home while I was holding it.
Ma main s'est figée au-dessus.
"Where's the money?"
His pause told me everything.
His brother's hardware store had been failing for months. Frank had asked whether we could help.
I'd said no.
He helped anyway.
"You gave him all of it?"
His pause told me everything.
"He said he could save the store."
"You mean you decided you could save it."
"It was a loan."
"Vous ne lui avez pas prêté votre argent. Tu lui as donné le nôtre. »
"Pam, s'il te plaît."
"Non. Ne dis pas mon nom comme si c'était moi qui avais cassé quelque chose."
Le magasin a fermé quelques mois plus tard.
"Pam, s'il te plaît."
The money never came back.
Frank m'a présenté ses excuses en privé.
Mais quand sa famille m'a traité d'égoïste pour être en colère, il est resté silencieux.
Je lui ai pardonné assez pour rester sa femme.
I never forgot what it felt like to be blamed for noticing the wound.
The money never came back.
***
Ce soir-là, des femmes près de la piscine m'ont entraîné dans un concours de danse.
"Je ne danse pas."
One glanced at my feet. "They appear functional."
"My husband was the dancer."
"Then you've had years of practice avoiding his shoes."
I laughed.
It surprised me enough that I joined them.
"I don't dance."
I danced badly, but I also won.
Mikayla called while I was carrying a cheap plastic trophy back to my cabin.
"Vous avez l'air heureux", a-t-elle déclaré.
"Je crois que je le suis."
J'ai entendu Daniel bouger en arrière-plan.
« Ton frère est là ? »
"Il l'est."
"Dis-lui que j'ai mal dansé et survécu."
« Ton frère est là ? »
