Brooklyn Page 0,75
Saturday, when he took her to a diner and a movie. Even when the winter began to descend on Brooklyn, she liked her room and her routine, and as the spring came she began to study on the nights when she came home from her lectures and on Sundays as well so she could be sure to get through her exams.
She found work on the shop floor boring and tiring, and often, especially in the early days of the week when they were not busy, the time went slowly. But Miss Fortini was always watching and noticed if anyone took a break they were not due or were late or seemed not ready to serve the next customer. Eilis was careful how she stood, and she watched out in case a customer needed her. She learned that time passed more slowly if she heeded the clock or if she thought about it at all, so she learned to be patient, and then, once she finished work and walked out of the store each day, she managed to put it out of her mind completely and enjoy the freedom.
One afternoon when she saw Father Flood coming into the store she thought nothing of it. Although she had not seen him there since the day when he was called by the Bartoccis, she knew that he was a friend of Mr. Bartocci and might have business with him. She noticed him speaking to Miss Fortini first and saw him glancing over at her and making as though he was going to come over towards her, but instead after some discussion with Miss Fortini they both went in the direction of the office. She served a customer and then, seeing that someone had unfolded a number of blouses, she went over and put them neatly back in their place. When she turned, Miss Fortini was coming towards her and there was something in the expression on her face that made Eilis want to retreat from her, move away quickly pretending that she had not seen her.
“I wonder if you could come to the office for a moment,” Miss Fortini said.
Eilis asked herself if she had done something, if someone had accused her of something.
“What is it about?” she asked.
“I can’t tell you,” Miss Fortini said. “It’s just best if you follow me.”
In the way Miss Fortini turned and walked briskly ahead Eilis felt even more that she had done something wrong that had only now been discovered. When they moved from the shop floor and she was following Miss Fortini down a corridor, she stopped.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “but you will have to tell me what this is about.”
“I can’t tell you,” Miss Fortini said.
“Can you give me some idea?”
“It’s something in your family.”
“Something or someone?”
“Someone.”
Immediately, Eilis thought that her mother might have had a heart attack or fallen down the stairs or that one of her brothers had had an accident in Birmingham.
“Which of them?” she asked.
Miss Fortini did not reply but walked on ahead of her again until she came to a door at the end of a corridor, which she opened. She stood back and let Eilis enter. It was a small room and Father Flood was alone sitting on a chair. He stood up hesitantly and indicated to Miss Fortini that she should leave them.
“Eilis,” he said. “Eilis.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“It’s Rose.”
“What happened to her?”
“Your mother found her dead this morning.”
Eilis said nothing.
“She must have died in her sleep,” Father Flood said.
“Died in her sleep?” Eilis asked, going over in her mind when she had last heard from Rose or from her mother and if there was any hint of anything wrong.
“Yes,” he said. “It was sudden. She was out playing golf yesterday and in the best of form. She died in her sleep, Eilis.”
“And my mother found her?”
“Yes.”
“Do the others know?”
“Yes, and they’re heading home on the mail-boat. She’s being waked tonight.”
Eilis now wondered if there was any way she could go out into the street, find a way to stop this from having happened, or stop him from having told her. In the silence she almost asked Father Flood to go and not come into the store again like this, but she realized instantly how foolish that was. He was here. She had heard what he said. She could not push back time.
“I’ve arranged for your mother to come up to the Manse in Enniscorthy tonight and we’ll call her from the presbytery here.”
“Was it one of