Читать книгу Suzanne - Anais Barbeau-Lavalette - Страница 41

Edmond Robillard did his novitiate with the Dominican Fathers in Saint-Hyacinthe. He offers his services as a spiritual advisor to youth in need of moral guidance.

You go talk to him a few times. Initially out of pressure from your parents, then for pleasure.

The Dominican Fathers live and pray in a large grey building at the corner of your street. You walk by it on your way home from school. You are welcome; you can pass the time there.

You think Hyacinthe, his religious name, is funny. And his turtleneck suits him. You don’t tell him, but you can’t stop looking at it.

What you like about the turtleneck is imagining what’s behind it. His long, straight neck. A few fine, purple veins, delicate, almost graceful.

You know that it bothers Hyacinthe when you stare at his neck, but you like that too.

So you visit him when you walk by, when your heart is light.

He asks you questions. About your worries, your pleasures, always trying to get at what you believe.

He knows you are bright. Your grades at school prove it.

He feels like you are destined for great things, if you can get your wild streak, which he has already sensed in you, under control.

But Hyacinthe understands that holding you back would do you a disservice.

So he suggests that your parents sign you up for a big public speaking competition in Montreal.

He thinks you can do it.

The idea of taking the train, and then the more vivid one of seeing Hilda Strike’s city, makes you deeply happy.

Achilles and Claudia agree.

You have never loved them so much.