“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I think we need to.”
“I don’t care.”
The wife and her husband stepped out of the cab. It was a wonderful day but neither one of them noticed. They stood in front of the bistro for a minute as if they had forgotten how to walk.
When they were seated the man ordered Absinthe. His wife told the waiter to bring them two beers instead.
“There is still a chance, you know,” the woman said.
“No there’s not.”
The beers came, and the man finished it with one gulp. He motioned for another.
“The doctor said he knows someone in America that has a cure.”
“What makes you think that there would be a cure in America, but not one here?”
He was starting to get aggravated.
“It makes no sense,” he said.
“That doesn’t matter. We must go. If it is your only chance to live, why not give it a shot?”
The waiter came with two beers. The man looked out towards the city of Paris. You could see the Eiffel Tower perfectly. He had always thought it was ugly, but it seemed particularly ugly today. The whole city looked ugly today. Death will do that to you, he thought. Although he had never met death he felt as if they were good friends. When he came back to reality he took a sip of his beer.
He motioned towards his glass and said, “This is all I have to live for.”
“And me.”
“Yes, and you. I guess it’s a good thing we never had kids,” he joked.
“Don’t say that. It is not over. One day we will have kids. I promise you.”
He tried to divert his attention from the tower but he couldn’t. He imagined bringing his son there. Not because he liked it, but because it is something you do with your son. He thought about what it would be like to raise a child and grow old and be happy. It seemed like a long lost dream. Also, even if he was cured there could always be a relapse, right? He tried not to think about it so he didn’t depress himself further. He also didn’t want to depress his wife so he said, “A son would be nice.”
She smiled. They made small talk for the first time since they met each other at a club in downtown Paris. When the topic of work came up the man said, “I don’t know if I should go in on Monday.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to tell anybody.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I think I might quit. I can’t stand it there anyway. Plus, what do I have to lose?”
“What would we do for money?”
“We have enough money saved. We could even sell our house. Then we could go somewhere like Africa. We could travel and see the world.”
They were both getting very excited.
The woman said, “When should we leave?”
“Right away. I know someone who can sell the house for us.”
“Wait.”
“What is it?”
“We have to go to America first.”
“Why?”
“Because no one in Africa will be able to help you.”
“We don’t have enough money to go to America and Africa in one lifetime.”
“Well then we will have to postpone our trip. We can go to America, come back here, and you can work until we have enough. It’s that simple.”
“No! I’d rather die seeing the world with my wife, than go on living in a prison called Paris!”
The wife and the husband paid, and left the bistro. When they got home the clock read fifteen passed two. They said goodnight, and tried to sleep on what happened at dinner.