by Maggy Diak
8.
When we came back from Maurice, I went into my room, picked up the folder with Otrin’s lectures, lay on the bed and resumed reading. There was nothing else I could do. Besides, according to many people I talked with, the clue to his disappearance was in those lectures, although nobody knew what exactly was so disturbing that he should be omitted from the public. Maybe put behind the bars. It was for me to find out.
There were two possibilities. Either he put down something that annoyed a government, or there was some information in his lectures worth kidnapping him because somebody wanted him to tell more. If a government kidnapped him, then his life was in danger. The secret police do not let people to freedom if they know a secret or information of great importance. In most cases, they kill them. However, I did not intend to disclose this thought to Kate.
What bothered me perpetually was why Isabelle had disappeared, too. Did she witness something she shouldn't? Or was she by chance with Peter when they got him and so they took her, too? That seemed possible for I was told that they had stuck together since his arrival to Paris. They were, in fact, inseparable. Many of the students were angry with Isabelle, they wanted to discuss words and theories with the Professor as well, however, she behaved as if he was her property. Some even gave a hint that the old man fell in love with her!
Kate knocked on my door and I invited her in. When she took a seat at the small table by the wall, I told her that she would have to help me with her husband's writing. She'd have to explain things I would not understand.
“If I can I will,” she said. “But you must know that I don't know much about his theories either.”
“Well, together we'll maybe decipher them.”
I started to read aloud:
