Mark Levy those words that. "The Words We Didn't Say to Each Other" - Mark Levy
The car in which Julia was traveling slowly moved along Fifth Avenue under a sudden downpour that hit the city. At the corner of Fifty-eighth Street, the car was stuck in traffic for a long time outside a large toy store, and Julia began to look at the window. She recognized a large plush otter with blue-grey fur peering at her through the glass.
Tilly was born on a Sabbath day similar to today: then the rain lashed just as violently and water ran down the windowpanes in streams. Julia was sitting in her office, deep in thought, when suddenly these jets turned into rivers in her imagination, the wooden frames into the banks of the Amazon, and the swirling pile of leaves into the hut of a small animal that was threatened to be swallowed up by this terrible flood that alarmed the entire colony of otters.
Night fell, but the rain did not stop. Sitting alone in the spacious computer room of the animation studio, Julia sketched out the first sketch of her future character. Now it is impossible to even count how many thousands of hours she spent in front of the screen, drawing and coloring this blue-gray creature, thinking through his every movement, every grimace and smile, in order to breathe life into him. It is impossible to remember how many meetings that flowed into nightly vigils, and how many weekends it took to fulfill his plan - to write the story of Tilly and her brethren. But the success of this cartoon more than rewarded two years of effort by Julia herself and the fifty employees who worked under her.
“I'll get off here and walk home,” Julia told the driver.
He pointed to the thunderstorm outside the window.
“That's great, it's the first thing I like today,” Julia announced as the driver closed the car door behind her.
He just had time to see how his passenger rushed to the toy store. And she couldn't care less about the rain, because Tilly, who was sitting behind the glass of the shop window, greeted her with a smile, as if she was delighted with the arrival of the hostess. Julia, unable to restrain herself, waved to her; much to Julia's surprise, the little girl standing next to the plush toy responded in kind. The girl's mother angrily grabbed her by the arm and tried to lead her out of the store, but the child resisted and suddenly threw herself into the otter's wide-open arms. Julia was excited by this scene. The girl clung to Tilly, and her mother slapped her hands, forcing her to release the toy. Julia entered the store and walked towards them.
– Do you know that Tilly is endowed with magical charms? Julia asked.
“If I need the help of a saleswoman, I will call you, miss,” the woman snapped, incinerating her daughter with a look.
- I'm not a saleswoman, I'm her mother.
- I'm sorry, what? Mom exclaimed loudly. - I'm her mother, try to prove that this is not so!
“I'm talking about Tilly, that stuffed animal, I think she took a liking to your daughter. It was I who brought her into the world. Let me give it to your girl! It makes me very sad to see Tilly sitting alone in the window in this bright light. In the end, she will fade completely under the lamps, and she is so proud of her blue-gray fur coat. You can’t even imagine how many hours we worked to find the right shades for the crown, neck, tummy, muzzle, we wanted these colors to return her smile after the river carried away her house.
“Your Tilly will stay here in the store, and my daughter must understand that you cannot leave me when we walk around the city!” - answered the mother, pulling her daughter's hand so hard that she had to let go of her fluffy plush paw.
“But Tilly would be so nice to have a girlfriend,” Julia insisted.
– Do you want to give pleasure to a plush toy? Mom asked in surprise.
“Today is my special day, and Tilly and I would be happy, and your daughter, it seems, too. One short "yes" and you will make three people happy at once - don't you really want to give us such a gift?
So, I say no! Alice does not need gifts, and even from a strange woman. All the best, miss! the woman said as she walked towards the exit.
- Alice fully deserved such a toy, and you will regret your refusal in ten years! Julia called after her, barely able to contain her anger.
The mother turned around and gave her a haughty look.
“You gave birth to a plush toy, and I gave birth to a real child, so keep your moralizing to yourself, understand?
- You are right, my daughter is not a plush toy, it will not be so easy to sew up holes made by a cruel hand on her!
The woman walked out of the store with an offended look and, without turning around, walked off towards Fifth Avenue, dragging her daughter behind her.
“I'm sorry, Tilly dear,” Julia said to the plush otter, “I don't think I'm a diplomat. You know I'm a complete layman in this business. But don't be afraid, we'll find you a good family, you'll see.
The store manager, who was watching this scene carefully, approached Julia:
“It's nice to see you, Miss Walsh, you haven't looked at us in a month.
“I've had an awful lot of work lately.
– Your brainchild is a wild success, we are already ordering the tenth copy. Four days in the window and - goodbye! the director announced, putting the toy back in its place. “Although this one has been sitting here for two weeks now. But what do you want in this weather! ..
“Weather has nothing to do with it,” Julia said. “It's just that this Tilly is a unique picky woman, she wants to choose her own foster family.
“Well, well, Miss Walsh, you say that every time you come in,” the headmaster said with a smile.
“But because they are all unique,” Julia objected and said goodbye.
The rain has finally stopped. After leaving the store, Julia decided to walk through Manhattan, and soon her silhouette was lost in the crowd.
***
The trees on Horatio Street drooped under the weight of wet leaves. As the day wore on, the sun finally came out before sinking into the waters of the Hudson. A soft purple light flooded the streets of the West Village. Julia greeted the owner of the Greek restaurant opposite her house; he bustled about setting the tables on the terrace for supper. Returning the greeting, he asked if he could leave a table for her for tonight. Julia politely declined, promising to come to lunch tomorrow, Sunday.
She unlocked the front door of the small house where she lived with the key and climbed the stairs to the top floor. Stanley was waiting for her, sitting on the last step.
- How did you get in here?
“Zimur, the store manager on the ground floor, let me in. I helped him carry boxes of shoes to the basement, and we discussed his new collection of shoes - it's just a miracle! But who can afford such works of art these days?!
“Some can, judging by how many customers he has on Sundays, and a lot of them, believe me, go out shopping,” Julia said. She asked as she opened the door to her apartment:
- Do you need something?
“I don’t, but I’m sure you need company.
“My friend, you look so restless that I don’t know which of the two of us suffers from loneliness more.
- Okay, I agree to amuse your pride: I myself, on my own initiative, came here as an uninvited guest!
Julia took off her gabardine cloak and threw it on a chair by the fireplace. The room was fragrant with wisteria climbing up the red brick façade.
“Your place is really very comfortable,” Stanley exclaimed, flopping down on the couch.
“Yeah, at least I got it this year,” Julia said, opening the refrigerator.
- Did what?
“Renovate an entire floor of this wreck. Do you want beer?
- Beer is death for a figure! Maybe a glass of red is better?
Julie deftly set down the two cutlery, took out a plate of cheeses, uncorked a bottle of wine, slipped Basie's disc into the player, and motioned for the visitor to sit across from her. Stanley glanced at the label of the Cabernet and whistled admiringly.
“A real festive dinner,” Julia confirmed, sitting down at the table. “A couple hundred more guests, and cakes, and close your eyes, and you might think that we are at a wedding.”
Let's dance, dear! Stanley suggested.
Without waiting for Julia's consent, he left the table and led her in the swing.
“You see, we still had a festive evening,” he said, laughing.
Julia rested her head on his shoulder.
“What would I do without you, old Stanley?!
Nothing, and I've known that for a long time.
The music stopped and they returned to the table.
Did you at least call Adam?
Yes, Julia used her outing to apologize to her fiancé. Adam said he fully understood her desire to be alone. It was he who should ask her forgiveness for his tactlessness during the funeral. Even his mother, whom he called after returning from the cemetery, reproached him for indiscretion. Tonight he is going to his parents' country house to spend the rest of the weekend with them.
“I'm starting to think your father wasn't so stupid for forcing you to bury him today,” Stanley muttered, pouring himself some more wine.
“You just hate Adam!”
“I never said that.
- You know, I lived alone for three years in a city where two million bachelors live. Adam is kind, generous, courteous. He tolerates my irregular work hours. He goes out of his way to make me happy, and most importantly, Stanley, he loves me. Therefore, do me a favor, be a little more lenient towards him.
- Yes, I have nothing against your fiancé, he is truly flawless! I just want to see next to you a person who would really turn your head, even if he is full of flaws, and not someone who attracts you only with “positive” qualities.
“It’s easy for you to teach me, but why are you alone yourself?”
“I'm not alone at all, my Julia, I'm a widower, and that's not the same thing. And if the person I loved died, this does not at all prove that he left me. You saw Edward and you know how beautiful he was even in a hospital bed. His illness did not deprive him of his splendor one iota. He joked to the very end, to the last words.
And what were those words? Julia asked, squeezing Stanley's hand.
- I love you!
For several minutes they sat in silence, looking at each other. Then Stanley stood up, put on his jacket and kissed Julia on the forehead.
- Go to sleep. Tonight you won the game: loneliness will get me.
- Stay a little longer. Those last words... did they really mean he loved you?
“What difference does it make, he was dying because he cheated on me,” Stanley replied with a bitter smile.
***
In the morning Julia woke up on the couch and opened her eyes to find that Stanley had covered her with a blanket before he left. And when she sat down to have breakfast, she found a note under her cup: “No matter what nasty things we say to each other, you are my closest friend, and I love you too. Stanley."
Julia is preparing for the wedding, trying on a dress. Her friend Stanley helps her. The day of their wedding with Adam is already set. Unexpectedly, Julia receives news of her father's death in Paris. Julia did not communicate with her father for a year and five months. Her mother was mentally ill, and her father did not pay attention to his daughter at all, being on constant trips.
The planned day of the wedding became the day of the father's funeral. Julia is passionate about work, she makes cartoons. She is notified of the delivery of a bulky package that contains a wax figure of her father, Anthony Walsh, brought to life with the help of a remote control. The father explains that he will continue to live for 6 days as an android (a robot in human form). Julia is not at all happy about this, she has lost the habit of her father.
But the father wants to communicate with her. Instead of fiancé Adam, he travels with Julia to Montreal. Julia reminisces about her life there, her trip to Germany, her meeting with Thomas, her love.
Her father helps her "return" to the past: he lets her read Thomas's letter, which he once hid, hangs his portrait. Finally, together with Julia looking for Thomas, they meet so as not to part again. And then it turns out that Anthony Walsh did not die, everything was thought out and played by him in order to make amends to his daughter.
Updated: 2017-08-14
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Toutes ces choses qu "on ne s" est pas dites
www.marclevy.info
© Cover photo. Bruce Brukhardt/Corbis
© I. Volevich, translation into Russian, 2009
© Edition in Russian.
LLC Publishing Group Azbuka-Atticus, 2014
Inostranka ® Publishing House
***
Marc Levy is a popular French writer, his books have been translated into 45 languages and sold in huge numbers. His very first novel "Between Heaven and Earth" struck with an extraordinary plot and the power of feelings that can work wonders. And it is no coincidence that the film adaptation rights were immediately acquired by the master of American cinema - Steven Spielberg, and the film was directed by one of the fashionable directors of Hollywood - Mark Waters.
***
There are two ways to look at life:
as if there could be no miracle in the world,
or as if everything in the world is a complete miracle.
Albert Einstein
Dedicated to Pauline and Louis
1
“Well, how do you find me?”
- Turn around, let me look at you one more time from behind.
“Stanley, you’ve been staring at me from all sides for half an hour now, I don’t have the strength to hang around on this podium anymore!”
- I would shorten it: hiding legs like yours is just blasphemy!
- Stanley!
“You wanted to hear my opinion, right? Come on, turn around to face me one more time! Yeah, that's what I thought: the cutout, front and back, is exactly the same; at least if you plant a stain, you take it and turn the dress over, and no one will notice anything!
– Stanley!!!
- And anyway, what kind of fiction is this - buying a wedding dress on sale, u-u-horror! Then why not through the Internet?! You wanted to know my opinion - you heard it.
“Sorry, I can't afford anything better with my computer graphics salary.
- Artists, you are my princess, not graphics, but artists! God, how I hate this machine jargon of the twenty-first century!
- What to do, Stanley, I work on a computer and felt-tip pens!
“My best friend draws and then brings her cute little animals to life, so remember: with or without a computer, you are an artist, not a computer graphic artist; and in general, what kind of business - do you definitely need to argue on every occasion?
So are we shortening or leaving it as it is?
- Five centimeters, no less! And then, it is necessary to remove in the shoulders and narrow in the waist.
- In general, everything is clear to me: you hated this dress.
- I don't say that!
You don't talk, but you think.
- I beg you, let me take part of the expenses for myself, and let's look at Anna Meyer! Well, listen to me for once in your life!
- Why? To buy a dress for ten thousand dollars? Yes, you're just crazy! You'd think you've got that kind of money and it's all just a wedding, Stanley.
– yours wedding.
“I know,” Julia sighed.
- And your father, with his wealth, could well ...
“The last time I caught a glimpse of my father was when I was standing at a traffic light and he passed me on Fifth Avenue… and that was six months ago. So let's close this topic!
And Julia, shrugging her shoulders, descended from the dais. Stanley took her hand and hugged her.
“My dear, any dress in the world would suit you, I just want it to be perfect. Why not offer your future husband to give it to you?
“Because Adam's parents are already paying for the wedding ceremony, and I would feel much better if his family stopped talking about him marrying Cinderella.
Stanley danced across the trading floor. The shop assistants and saleswomen, who were chatting enthusiastically at the counter next to the cash register, did not pay any attention to him. He removed a tight white satin dress from the rack by the display case and returned to it.
- Well, try on this, just don’t try to object!
“Stanley, this is a thirty-sixth size, I will never fit into it!”
- Do what you are told!
Julia rolled her eyes and dutifully made her way to the dressing room where Stanley had directed her.
“Stanley, this is size thirty-six!” she repeated, hiding in the booth.
A few minutes later the curtain was pulled open, with a jerk, as decisively as it had just been drawn.
- Well, finally I see something similar to Julia's wedding dress! Stanley exclaimed. “Walk down the runway one more time.”
“Do you have a winch to drag me there?” I have to lift my leg...
- It suits you like a miracle!
“Perhaps, but if I swallow even one cookie, it will burst at the seams.
“It is not proper for a bride to eat on her wedding day!” Don't worry, loosen the tuck on your chest a little bit and you'll look like a queen! .. Listen, will we ever be honored by at least one salesman in this damn store?
“I think it’s me who should be nervous right now, not you!”
- I'm not nervous, I'm just amazed that four days before the wedding ceremony, it's me who has to drag you around the shops to buy a dress!
- I have been working up to my neck lately! And please, don't let Adam know about today, I swore to him a month ago that everything was ready.
Stanley picked up a pin cushion someone had left on the arm of a chair and knelt down in front of Julia.
- Your future husband does not understand how lucky he is: you are just a miracle.
“Stop picking on Adam. And in general, what do you blame him for?
“Because he looks like your father…”
- Don't talk nonsense. Adam has nothing to do with my father; besides, he can't stand it.
“Adam is your father?” Bravo, that's a point in his favor!
“No, it's my father who hates Adam.
“Oh, your parent hates everything that comes near you. If you had a dog, he would bite her.
- But no: if I had a dog, she would have bitten my father herself, - Julia laughed.
“And I say your father would have bitten a dog!”
Stanley got up and stepped back a few paces, admiring his work. Shaking his head, he let out a heavy sigh.
- What else? Julia was worried.
"It's flawless...or not, you're flawless!" Let me fit you a belt, and then you can take me to dinner.
“To any restaurant of your choice, Stanley dear!”
“The sun is so hot that the nearest terrace of the cafe will do for me - provided that it is in the shade and that you stop twitching, otherwise I will never finish with this dress ... almost flawless.
Why almost?
“Because it's on sale, my dear!
A saleswoman passing by asked if they needed help. With a majestic wave of his hand, Stanley rejected her offer.
Do you think he will come?
- Who? Julia asked.
"Your father, you idiot!"
“Stop talking about my father. I told you I haven't heard from him in months.
Well, that doesn't mean anything...
- He will not come!
“Did you let him know about yourself?”
“Listen, I refused to let my father’s personal secretary into my life a long time ago, because dad is either away or in a meeting, and he has no time to personally talk with his daughter.
“But did you at least send him the wedding notice?”
- Will you finish soon?
- Now! You and him are like an old married couple: he is jealous. However, all fathers are jealous of their daughters! Nothing, he'll get over it.
“Look, this is the first time I've heard you defend him. If we are like an old married couple, it is one that got divorced many years ago.
The tune "I Will Survive" sounded in Julia's bag. Stanley looked questioningly at his friend.
- Can I give you a cell phone?
- It must be Adam or from the studio ...
“Just don’t move, or you’ll ruin all my work.” Now I will bring it.
Stanley reached into Julia's bottomless bag, pulled out her cell phone, and handed it to her. Gloria Gaynor fell silent at once.
“It’s too late, they’ve already switched off,” Julia whispered, glancing at the number that appeared.
- So who is it - Adam or from work?
“Neither,” said Julia sullenly.
Stanley looked at her inquisitively.
- Well, shall we play a guessing game?
“They called from my father's office.
So give him a call!
- Well, I do not! Let him call.
But he just did exactly that, didn't he?
- No, it was his secretary who did it, but I know his number.
“Listen, you've been waiting for this call since the very minute you dropped the wedding notice in the mailbox, so drop these childish insults. Four days before marriage, it is not recommended to fall into stress, otherwise you will get a huge sore on your lip or a purple boil on your neck. If you don't want that, dial his number right now.
- What for? For Wallace to tell me that my father is genuinely upset because that is the day he has to go abroad and, alas, will not be able to cancel the trip he planned many months ago? Or, for example, that he has a matter of extreme importance planned exactly for that day? Or God knows what other explanation.
“What if your father said that he would be happy to come to his daughter’s wedding and called, just wanting to make sure that she would seat him in the place of honor at the wedding table?”
- My father does not care about honor; if he did show up, he'd choose a seat closer to the locker room - assuming, of course, that there was a reasonably pretty young woman nearby.
- All right, Julia, forget about your hatred and call ... But, however, do as you know, only I warn you: instead of enjoying the wedding ceremony, you will look through your eyes, looking for whether he came or not.
“That’s good, it will distract me from thinking about snacks, because I won’t be able to swallow a crumb, otherwise the dress you chose for me will burst at the seams.
- Well, honey, you got me! – caustically said Stanley and headed for the exit. "Let's have lunch some other time when you're in a better mood."
Julia stumbled and almost fell as she hurried down the podium. She caught up with Stanley and hugged him tightly.
“Well, I’m sorry, Stanley, I didn’t mean to offend you, I’m just very upset.
- What - a call from your father or a dress that I so unsuccessfully chose and tailored to you? By the way, pay attention: not a single seam burst when you were so awkwardly descending from the podium.
“Your dress is gorgeous, and you are my best friend, and without you I would never have dared to walk down the aisle in my life.
Stanley looked at Julia carefully, took a silk handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her wet eyes.
“Do you really want to walk down the aisle arm in arm with a crazy friend, or maybe you have an insidious plan to make me pretend to be your motherfucking dad?”
“Don’t flatter yourself, you don’t have enough wrinkles to look believable in this role.
- Balda, I'm giving you a compliment, hinting at how young you are.
“Stanley, I want you to lead me to my fiancé!” You and no one else!
He smiled and said softly, pointing to his cell phone:
- Call your father! And I'll go and give some orders to this idiot saleswoman - she, in my opinion, does not know how to deal with customers; I will explain to her that the dress should be ready the day after tomorrow, and then we will finally go to dinner. Come on, Julia, call quickly, I'm starving!
Stanley turned around and went to the checkout. On the way, he stole a glance at Julia and saw that she, after hesitating, did dial the number. He seized the moment and discreetly took out his own checkbook, paid for the dress, for the fit, and paid extra for the urgency: it should be ready in two days. Slipping the receipts into his pocket, he returned to Julia just as she turned off her cell phone.
- Well, will he come? he asked impatiently.
Julia shook her head.
“And what pretext did he put forward this time in his defense?”
Julia took a deep breath and glared at Stanley.
- He died!
For a minute the friends looked at each other in silence.
- Well, yes, the pretext, I must say, is impeccable, you won’t undermine! Stanley finally muttered.
“Listen, are you crazy?
“Sorry, it came out so easily… I don’t know what came over me.” I feel very sorry for you, dear.
“But I don’t feel anything, Stanley, absolutely nothing - not the slightest pain in my heart, I don’t even want to cry.
– Don't worry, everything will come later, you haven't really got it yet.
- Oh no, it's over.
“Could you call Adam?”
“Not now, later.
Stanley looked worriedly at his girlfriend.
“Would you like to tell the groom that your father died today?”
– He died last night in Paris; the body will be delivered by plane, the funeral is in four days,” Julia said in a barely audible voice.
Stanley quickly counted, curling his fingers.
That is, this Saturday! he exclaimed, widening his eyes.
“That's right, just on my wedding day,” Julia whispered.
Stanley immediately went to the checkout, canceled the purchase and took Julia outside.
- Come on I I'll invite you to dinner!
***
New York was bathed in the golden light of a June day. The friends crossed Ninth Avenue and made their way to Pastis, a French restaurant with authentic French cuisine in the rapidly changing Meat Packing District. In recent years, old warehouses have given way to luxury shops and boutiques of trendy couturiers. Prestigious hotels and shopping centers sprang up here like mushrooms. The former factory narrow-gauge railway turned into a green boulevard that stretched all the way to Tenth Street. The first floor of the old factory, which had already ceased to exist, was occupied by the bioproducts market, production companies and advertising agencies settled on the other floors, and at the very top there was a studio where Julia worked. The banks of the Hudson, also landscaped, have now become a long promenade for cyclists, joggers and lovebirds who have chosen the Manhattan benches - just like in Woody Allen's films. From Thursday evening, residents of neighboring New Jersey filled the block, they crossed the river to wander along the embankment and have fun in the many trendy bars and restaurants.
When the friends finally settled in on the outdoor terrace of Pastis, Stanley ordered two cappuccinos.
“I should have called Adam a long time ago,” Julia said guiltily.
“If only to announce the death of my father, then certainly. But if you also want to tell him that you have to postpone the wedding, that you need to warn the priest, the restaurateur, the guests, and most importantly, his parents, then all this can wait a bit. Look how wonderful the weather is - let Adam live in peace for another hour before you ruin his day. And besides, you are in mourning, and mourning excuses everything, so take advantage of it!
- How can I tell him?
“My dear, he must understand that it is quite difficult to bury a father and get married on the same day; but even if you yourself consider it possible, I will tell you right away: to others this idea will seem completely unacceptable. Oh my god, how could this happen?!
“Believe me, Stanley, the Lord God has absolutely nothing to do with it: my father chose this date - and only he alone!”
“Well, I don’t think he chose to die last night in Paris for the sole purpose of interfering with your wedding, although I admit that he showed quite refined taste in choosing such a place for his death!”
“You don’t know him, he can do anything to make me cry!”
- Okay, drink your cappuccino, enjoy the hot sun, and then we will call your future spouse!
2
The wheels of an Air France Boeing 747 screeched down the runway at Kennedy Airport. Standing against the glassed-in wall of the arrivals hall, Julia watched the long mahogany coffin float down the conveyor to the hearse. The airport police officer came to the waiting room for her. Julia, her father's secretary, her fiancé, and her best friend got into a minicar that took them to the plane. An official from the US Customs Service was waiting for her at the gangway to hand over a package containing business papers, a watch, and the deceased's passport.
Julia leafed through her passport. Numerous visas spoke eloquently about the last months of Anthony Walsh's life: St. Petersburg, Berlin, Hong Kong, Bombay, Saigon, Sydney ... How many cities she had never been, how many countries she so wanted to see with him!
As the four men fussed around the coffin, Julia thought of her father's distant travels in those years when she, still quite a bully girl, fought for any reason at recess in the schoolyard.
How many nights she spent without sleep, waiting for her father to return, how many times in the morning, on the way to school, she jumped on the pavement tiles, playing imaginary hopscotch and guessing that if she didn’t go astray now, he would certainly come today. And sometimes her fervent prayer at night actually worked a miracle: the bedroom door opened and the shadow of Anthony Walsh appeared in a bright streak of light. He would sit at her feet and put a small package on the blanket that should have been opened in the morning. These gifts illuminated all of Julia's childhood: from each trip, her father brought his daughter some funny little thing that told her at least a little about where he had been. A doll from Mexico, an ink brush from China, a wooden figurine from Hungary, a bracelet from Guatemala – these were real treasures for the girl.
And then her mother showed the first symptoms of a mental disorder. Julia remembered how dismayed she had once been at the cinema, at a Sunday screening, when her mother suddenly asked in the middle of the film why the lights had been turned off. Her mind was declining catastrophically, memory lapses, at first insignificant, became more and more serious: she began to confuse the kitchen with the music salon, and this gave rise to heart-rending cries: “Where did the piano disappear to?” At first she was surprised at the loss of things, then she began to forget the names of those who lived next to her. The real horror was the day when she exclaimed at the sight of Julia: “Where did this pretty girl come from in my house?” And the endless emptiness of that December, when the ambulance came for her mother: she set fire to her dressing gown and calmly watched it burn, very pleased that she learned how to make fire by lighting a cigarette, and she never smoked.
This is how Julia's mother was; a few years later, she died in a New Jersey clinic, never recognizing her own daughter. Mourning coincided with Julia's adolescence, when she spent endless evenings poring over her lessons under the supervision of her father's personal secretary - he himself still traveled around the world, only these trips became more and more frequent, more and more long. Then there was college, university and leaving the university, to finally surrender to her only passion - animating her characters, she first drew them with felt-tip pens, and then revived them on a computer screen. Animals with almost human features, faithful companions and accomplices ... It took one stroke of her pencil to make them smile at her, one click of the mouse to dry their tears.
“Miss Walsh, is this your father's ID?”
The customs officer's voice brought Julia back to reality. Instead of answering, she gave a short nod. The clerk signed and stamped the photograph of Anthony Walsh. This last stamp in the passport with many visas no longer spoke of anything - only the disappearance of its owner.
The coffin was placed in a long black hearse. Stanley sat down next to the driver, Adam opened the door for Julia and gently helped her into the car. Anthony Walsh's personal secretary perched on a bench at the back, near the coffin with the body of the owner. The car left the airfield, taxied onto Highway 678 and headed north.
Silence reigned in the car. Wallace kept his eyes on the coffin that hid the remains of his former employer. Stanley stared at his hands, Adam looked at Julia, Julia contemplated the gray landscape of the New York suburbs.
- Which road will you take? she asked the driver as the Long Island junction appeared ahead.
“By Whitestone Bridge, ma'am,” he replied.
“Could you drive across the Brooklyn Bridge?”
The driver immediately turned on the turn signal and changed lanes.
“But this way we have to make a huge detour,” Adam whispered, “he was driving along the shortest route.
“The day is ruined anyway, so why don’t we make it happy?”
- Whom? Adam asked.
- My father. Let's give him one last walk down Wall Street and Tribeca and Soho and Central Park too.
“I agree, the day is ruined anyway, so if you want to please your father…” Adam repeated. “But then it is necessary to warn the priest that we will be late.”
Adam, do you like dogs? Stanley asked.
“Yes…well, yes…only they don’t like me.” Why did you ask?
“Yeah, just curious,” Stanley replied vaguely, lowering the window on his side.
The van crossed Manhattan Island from south to north, and an hour later turned onto 233rd Street.
The barrier went up at the main gate of Woodlawn Cemetery. The van entered the narrow lane, rounded the central flower bed, passed a series of family crypts, climbed up the escarpment above the lake, and stopped in front of a site where a freshly dug grave was ready to receive its future inhabitant.
The priest was already waiting for them. The coffin was placed on the goats. Adam went to the priest to discuss the final details of the ceremony. Stanley put his arm around Julia's shoulders.
- What are you thinking about? he asked her.
- What can I think about at the moment when I bury my father, whom I have not spoken to for many years ?! You always ask awfully strange questions, my dear Stanley.
- No, this time I ask quite seriously: what are you thinking about right now? After all, this minute is very important, you will remember it, it will forever become a part of your life, believe me!
- I was thinking about my mother. I wonder if she will recognize him there, in heaven, or will she wander among the clouds, restless, forgetting everything in the world.
So you already believe in God?
– No, but it is better to be prepared for pleasant surprises.
“Then, Julia, dear, I want to confess something to you, just swear that you will not laugh at me: the older I get, the more I believe in a good god.”
Julia replied with a barely perceptible sad grin:
“Actually, if we talk about my father, I’m not at all sure that the existence of God will be good news for him.
“The priest wants to know if everything is ready and if we can start,” Adam said as he approached.
“There will be only four of us,” Julia replied, beckoning her father's secretary over. - This is the bitter fate of all great travelers and lonely filibusters. Relatives and friends are replaced by acquaintances scattered all over the world ... And acquaintances rarely come from afar to attend the funeral - this is not the moment when you can do someone a favor or mercy. Man is born alone and dies alone.
“Those words were spoken by the Buddha, and your father, my dear, was a zealous Irish Catholic,” Adam protested.
“Doberman… You should have a huge Doberman, Adam!” Stanley said with a sigh.
“God, why are you so impatient to impose a dog on me?!
“Nothing, forget what I said.
The priest approached Julia and lamented that today he had to perform this mournful ceremony, instead of performing a wedding ceremony.
“Couldn’t you kill two birds with one stone?” Julia asked him. “I don't care about the guests. And for your patron, the main thing is good intentions, isn't it?
“Miss Walsh, come to your senses!”
“Yes, I assure you, it makes no sense at all: at least then my father would be able to attend my marriage.
- Julia! Adam reprimanded her severely in turn.
“All right, so everyone present considers my proposal unsuccessful,” she concluded.
- Would you like to say a few words? the priest asked.
“Of course I would like to ...” Julia answered, looking at the coffin. “And maybe you, Wallace? she suggested to her father's private secretary. “Ultimately, you were his most loyal friend.
“I don’t think I can do that, miss,” replied the secretary, “besides, your father and I are used to understanding each other without words. Although ... one word, with your permission, I could say, but not to him, but to you. Despite all the shortcomings that you attribute to him, know that he was a man sometimes tough, often with incomprehensible, even strange quirks, but undoubtedly kind; Also, he loved you.
“Well, well…if I counted correctly, that’s not one word, but many more,” Stanley muttered, coughing meaningfully as he saw that Julia’s eyes were clouded with tears.
The priest read the prayer and closed the breviary. The coffin with the body of Anthony Walsh slowly lowered into the grave. Julia handed her father's secretary a rose, but he returned the flower to her with a smile:
“You first, miss.
The petals scattered as they fell on the wooden lid, followed by three more roses into the grave, and the four who had seen Anthony Walsh on their last journey headed back to the gate. At the far end of the alley, the hearse had already given way to two limousines. Adam took his fiancee by the hand and led her to the car. Julia raised her eyes to the sky.
“Not a single cloud, blue, blue, blue, just blue, and not too hot, not too cold, and not the slightest breath of wind - well, just the perfect day for a wedding!”
“Don't worry, dear, there will be other fine days,” Adam assured her.
“So warm like this one?” Julia exclaimed, spreading her arms wide. - With such an azure sky? With such lush green foliage? With ducks like that on the lake? No, it looks like we'll have to wait until next spring!
“Autumn can be just as beautiful, you can believe me… Since when do you like ducks?”
- They love me! Have you noticed how many of them have just gathered on the pond, next to the grave of your father?
"No, I didn't," Adam replied, a little unnerved by this sudden burst of excitement from his fiancee.
- There were dozens of them ... yes, dozens of ducks, with beautiful ties around their necks; they landed on the water in that very place and sailed away immediately after the ceremony was over. They were mallard ducks, they wanted to attend MY wedding, but instead came to support me at my father's funeral.
“Julia, I hate to argue with you today, but I don't think a mallard has a tie around his neck.
- How do you know! Are you drawing ducks, not me? So, remember: if I say that these mallards have put on a festive outfit, then you must believe me! Julia screamed.
“All right, love, I agree, these mallards, all as one, were in tuxedos, and now let's go home.
Stanley and a private secretary were waiting for them outside the cars. Adam was leading Julia to the car, but she suddenly stopped in front of one of the gravestones on the spacious lawn and read the name and years of life of the one that rested under the stone.
– Did you know her? Adam asked.
This is my grandmother's grave. From now on, all my relatives lie in this cemetery. I am the last of the Walshes. Of course, except for a few hundred uncles, aunts, cousins and cousins, unknown to me, living between Ireland, Brooklyn and Chicago. Adam, excuse me for this recent antics, I really got carried away.
“Oh, nothing, dear; we were supposed to get married, but misfortune happened. You have buried your father and, quite naturally, are heartbroken.
They walked down the alley. Both "Lincolns" were already very close.
“You're right,” Adam said, looking up at the sky in his turn, “the weather is really great today, your father even managed to spoil us in his hour of death.
Julia stopped abruptly and yanked her hand out of Adam's.
- Do not look at me so! Adam pleaded. “You yourself said the same thing at least twenty times after you learned of his death.
- Yes, she did, but I have the right to it - I, not you! Get in that car with Stanley, and I'll take the other one.
- Julia! I am very sorry…
“You may not be sorry, I want to spend this evening alone and sort through the things of my father, who managed to shit on us until his death, as you put it.
“Oh my God, but these are not my words, but yours!” Adam called as he watched Julia get into the car.
- And the last thing, Adam: I want mallard ducks around me on our wedding day, dozens of ducks, do you hear? she added before slamming the door.
The Lincoln disappeared through the cemetery gates. Frustrated, Adam went to the second car and sat in the back, to the right of the personal secretary.
“No, fox terriers are better: they are small, but they bite very painfully,” Stanley concluded, settling himself in front, next to the driver, whom he signaled to drive off.
There are two ways to look at life: as if there could be no miracle in the world, or as if everything in the world is a miracle.
Albert Einstein
Dedicated to Pauline and Louis
1
“Well, how do you find me?”
“Turn around, let me look at you one more time from behind.
“Stanley, you’ve been staring at me from all sides for half an hour, I don’t have the strength to hang around on this podium anymore!”
“I would shorten it: hiding legs like yours is just blasphemy!”
— Stanley!
You wanted to hear my opinion, right? Come on, turn around to face me one more time! Yeah, that's what I thought: the cutout, front and back, is exactly the same; at least if you plant a stain, you take it and turn the dress over, and no one will notice anything!
— Stanley!!!
“And anyway, what kind of fiction is this - buying a wedding dress on sale, u-u-horror! Then why not through the Internet?! You wanted to know my opinion - you heard it.
“Sorry, I can’t afford anything better with my computer graphics salary.
- Artists, you are my princess, not graphics, but artists! God, how I hate this machine jargon of the twenty-first century!
“What should I do, Stanley, I work both on the computer and with felt-tip pens!
— My best friend draws and then brings her cute little animals to life, so remember: with or without a computer, you are an artist, not a computer graphics; and in general, what kind of business - do you definitely need to argue on every occasion?
— So we shorten it or leave it as it is?
- Five centimeters, no less! And then, it is necessary to remove in the shoulders and narrow in the waist.
- In general, everything is clear to me: you hated this dress.
“I don't say that!
You don't talk, but you think.
- I beg you, let me take part of the expenses for myself, and let's look at Anna Meyer! Well, listen to me for once in your life!
- Why? To buy a dress for ten thousand dollars? Yes, you're just crazy! You'd think you've got that kind of money, and it's all just a wedding, Stanley.
- Your wedding.
“I know,” Julia sighed.
- And your father, with his wealth, could well ...
“The last time I caught a glimpse of my father was when I was standing at a traffic light and he passed me on Fifth Avenue…and that was six months ago. So let's close this topic!
And Julia, shrugging her shoulders, descended from the dais. Stanley took her hand and hugged her.
“My dear, any dress in the world would suit you, I just want it to be perfect. Why not offer your future husband to give it to you?
“Because Adam's parents are already paying for the wedding ceremony, and I would feel much better if his family stopped talking about him marrying Cinderella.
Stanley danced across the trading floor. The shop assistants and saleswomen, who were chatting enthusiastically at the counter next to the cash register, did not pay any attention to him. He removed a tight white satin dress from the rack by the display case and returned to it.
- Well, try on this, just don’t try to object!
"Stanley, this is a size thirty-six, I'll never fit into it!"
- Do what you're told!
Julia rolled her eyes and dutifully made her way to the dressing room where Stanley had directed her.
“Stanley, this is a size thirty-six!” she repeated, hiding in the booth.
A few minutes later the curtain was pulled open, with a jerk, as decisively as it had just been drawn.
(ratings: 2
, the average: 3,00
out of 5) Title: Those words that we did not say to each other
About "Those Words We Didn't Say to Each Other" by Mark Levy
French writer Marc Levy gives readers another warm and infinitely touching story, "Those words that we did not say to each other," which tells about the relationship between father and daughter.
The main character of the novel, Julia, is getting married. Together with her best friend, she chooses a wedding dress when a messenger from her father brings bad news. Father will not be at the ceremony. However, this is expected - Julia has not been in contact with him for quite a long time. But this time, the father has a good reason - he died.
The banality of the plot Mark Levy enriches with further events. The heroine is forced to cancel the wedding and bury her parent. In the room, she discovers a box sent by her father, and inside - an unexpected surprise that changed her life. Julia will have to reconsider her relationship with her father.
"Those words ..." are written by the author in a traditional manner with a fair amount of irony. Difficult moments are described easily, the book is read quickly and leaves a pleasant aftertaste. The talent of the writer to convey the feelings of the characters through words is indescribable. The novel is poignant and poignant.
Mark Levy in his work often raises banal themes and turns them into small masterpieces. Human feelings and thoughts become the main characters, revealing the depth of the idea revealed by the author.
All people once experience the loss of loved ones, regret unsaid words and unmanifested feelings. In the book "Those words ..." the heroes have a chance to live life again, to see what was hidden, and to understand how precious the minutes were forever lost. Six magical days will tell Julia about her father more than many years.
On our site about books, you can download the site for free without registration or read online the book “Those words that we did not say to each other” by Mark Levy in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and a real pleasure to read. You can buy the full version from our partner. Also, here you will find the latest news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For novice writers, there is a separate section with useful tips and tricks, interesting articles, thanks to which you can try your hand at writing.
Quotes from the book "Those words that we did not say to each other" by Mark Levy
Time passed so quickly, but it went so slowly.
But where is the line between childhood dreams and reality?