Andrea continued. ‘Your brother. We knew him very slightly for a very short time. We are busy people and cannot entertain you but, if you need, I will give you advice of where eating is good in Lucca. Now we must both return to our work before my mother returns with our two children.’
‘Two’. Christian was resolute. ‘It’s the young one I want to meet. There might be an – er – connection.’
This was more than the baffled couple were able to take.
Andrea said ‘I’ll show you his photograph and then you must go.’ His voice was tense and angry. He picked a framed photograph of a child with clear cut features and crisp dark hair. He handed it to Christian. ‘That is Ezra. He has a typical and fine Jewish face. See his long flexible hands. We named him after his grandfather who he resembles closely.’
Patricia held her head in her hands and trembled. Horror shot through her and her eyes watered. She understood what this creature was driving at and knew him to be semi insane but, nonetheless, he brought shame and debilitation.
Andrea took back the photograph and almost shovelled Christian to the front door. The heavily coated fellow had no desire for more. Whether or not he would, left to himself, have recognised the child as being, most definitely, not a Mc Hip, he was unsure but he knew that there was no future in his quest.
Andrea and Patricia were left to steady themselves and return to yet a fuller understanding of each other.
44
Malise, imprisoned at the Olive Branch, was unaware of almost everything although he still took pleasure in guzzling food. A sense of dumb trouble showed in his eyes but, in more lucid moments, he continued to feed recklessly on illusions – sobbing and calling out Patricia’s name as he counted steps. He was, by a long way, the youngest patient in the care home – and medical advisors were mystified upon learning that dementia had set in at such an early age.
Christian had been asked, at the start, whether Malise had suffered external stress of any kind – had he had an extreme reaction to rejection for instance?
‘I vewwy much doubt it’ he had replied.
Malise’s nocturnal confessions whilst sharing a room with his brother had held no real importance for Christian. He had enjoyed the position of superiority that accompanied them but had little understanding of the true cause of Malise’s anguish, even if, later, he decided to put the disclosures to (what he considered to be) good use.
Different doctors had suggested different diagnoses. Nobody arrived at conclusions – other than to agree that the condition stemmed from nothing but extraordinarily and very unusual bad luck as the result of having been dealt some emotional shock.
Nina, one of the nurses, particularly enjoyed caring for Malise. His hands did not wander over her, as they had done in the case of Kathleen, for his limbs were cold and almost lifeless. Nina liked to gaze at him. ‘If only I could, I’d have his teeth fixed, then I’d frame him and hang him on the wall in a lovely gold frame,’ she’d tell her friend. ‘Fancy anyone as handsome as that losing their wits so young. If I’d been him I’d have glanced in the mirror once a day and cheered myself up.’
‘Handsome is as handsome does’ her friend answered – although she had no understanding whatsoever of what the saying told her.
Patricia and Malise Page 11
