So now you’re going to stop talking to random strangers? asked Elf.
I guess so, I said. That’s why you’re so lucky to have your piano.
Elf laughed. Don’t stop talking to strangers. You love talking to strangers. You’re just like dad. Remember when we’d be in restaurants or whatever and he’d be looking at people and wondering hey, what’s their story and then he’d go over and start talking?
Well, yeah, I said, but now that you mention it I was always a little bit embarrassed by it. I remember pulling dad away from strangers sometimes saying no, dad, it’s okay, you don’t have to talk to them. Nora and Will are probably mortified by me now.
Not probably, said Elf. They’re teenagers. What else? Tell me more about Toronto.
Well, I said, the other day when I was walking down a back lane near my place I saw this old couple trying to reach something that was near the top of their garage door. I got closer and saw that they were trying to erase some graffiti but I didn’t know what it was. And then I saw that the man was standing on a really low stool, it was only six or seven inches off the ground, and the woman was standing behind him, like spotting him, holding on to his hips so he wouldn’t fall. I just wanted to cry. They were so old. And so concerned for each other, and just wanting to have a nice, clean garage. They were helping each other like that and the stool was only half a foot off the ground but it would have been a disaster if he’d fallen.
That’s beautiful, said Elf. Her eyes were closed. I hope their garage stays clean forever.
It won’t, I said. It’ll be covered in graffiti again soon.
Hmmm, said Elf.
But what’s so moving about this couple is that they keep trying to get rid of it. I guess they’ve been doing it all their lives, hoping against all odds that for once it’ll stay clean.
Yoli, said Elf, have you embedded some type of parable within this story? Something you hope I’ll take away?
You mean something about not giving up? I said.
That’s what I mean, said Elf.
Nope, I said. In fact, now that I think about it, the lesson one could take away from this particular anecdote is to stop risking your life in order to have a pristine garage.
Elf sighed heavily and held her hands out like a father welcoming a prodigal son, like we don’t have to talk about this and the past is the past. My cellphone rang and it was Elf’s agent, Claudio. She’d been with him since she was seventeen and studying in Oslo. He appeared at a concert of hers in Rome and afterwards, when she was out back behind the concert hall smoking and crying and trembling as she often did following performances, he walked up to her and held out his hand and told her it was an honour to finally meet her. He had heard so much about her. He told her he would like to “represent” her and Elf said you mean you will pretend to be me? Claudio patiently explained the arrangement and asked Elf if perhaps he should be in contact with her parents. He asked her if she was all right, if he could call a cab for her, if she needed to eat. She was wearing her military jacket over her black concert dress and had kicked off her shoes and was sitting on the ground, crushing her cigarette into the asphalt, recovering, listening to this calm, debonair Italian man tell her she had an amazing future. I loved hearing Elf tell the story. And you decided right then to let him be your agent? I asked. No, she said, he insisted on flying to Manitoba first to meet mom and dad to ask their permission. Total class. I think he was the first real Italian ever to set foot in our town. Afterwards he said that some woman down the block, probably Mrs. Goosen, had gone over to mom and dad’s just to stare at him. She told him she had never been out of the town. She gazed at him and told him that she just couldn’t believe that she was standing in the same room as an Eye-talian! One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Elf didn’t know anything about Claudio’s personal life except that he visited his sick dad in Malfi once a month and loved to swim long distances. He swims across straits and narrows and channels. Often his face is swollen from jellyfish bites. He’s bailed Elf out in a million different ways.
I went out into the hallway. He apologized for phoning me but said that neither Elf nor Nic were answering their phones or e-mails and he had to go over the details of the tour with Elf and there was still a contract to be signed.
Do you know where she is? he asked.
Not exactly, I said. Hey, aren’t you in Europe?
Yes, Paris. Listen, Yolandi, is it because she is doing her four-day meditation or is she on a kayaking trip with Nic?
I think, yeah, maybe …
The meditation thing?
Yeah.
Yolandi, please tell me everything is all right. I know Elf is unsteady as performance approaches. Is she well? Is she keeping it together? You know you can talk to me.
Um, maybe, I said. I’m not entirely sure.
You’re not sure? he said. Well, does Nic know how she is? Yolandi, this tour is months in the making. She has to be ready in less than three weeks.
Probably Nic knows, yeah, I said. A nurse came up to me and told me that cellphones were not allowed on the ward. I motioned to her that I’d be off the phone in a second, sorry, sorry.
Are you in Toronto? said Claudio. Elf said you’d moved.
Well, yeah, I did, I said. It was for Nora, so she could dance.
Ah, beautiful! Are you liking it?
It’s okay.
And Will? Where did you tell me he was studying?
New York.
Incredible! said Claudio. Please give them my regards.
Will do, I said. Thank you. I think I have to go though, I’m so sorry.
Not at all. Elf’s scheduled for Toronto on the eighth I think, said Claudio. She’ll probably have time for dinner.
Oh, that would be really great! I said. Yeah, I’ll see her then. The nurse glared at me from her desk and I turned my back to her. Hey listen, Claudio, I’ll find out where Elf is and get her to call you. My mom will know. Probably.
Yes, please do, Yolandi. I really must talk to her. I apologize for seeking reassurances from you.
No, no … don’t apologize.
You know what’s happened in the past, he said. I am sensitive to Elfrieda’s nervosa …
Yeah, we appreciate that, thanks.
Do not thank me, he said. Oh and don’t forget that there’s the rehearsal two days before the opening …
The nurse was beating a path over to me now. Got it, I said. Where are you again?
Paris, said Claudio.
Paris, I said. For a second I stood dreaming of love.
I hung up and went back into Elf’s room.
Booty call? she said.
Ha, yeah … I said. Hey, so are you missing your piano at all?
Elf looked out the window. Nic is dealing with that. I’ve already told you I can’t—
You have almost three weeks. Maybe …
Yolandi, why are you …
I’m not doing anything, Elfrieda.
The cellphone-hating nurse came into Elf’s room and said okay, two things: One, no phones on the ward. I’ve told you before. And two: No outside food. I noticed you brought her a sandwich. We want Elfrieda to eat with the other patients in the dining room.
Elf and I stared at her.
Elfrieda, said the nurse, can I get you to promise me that you’ll come to the dining room for dinner this evening?
Uh, well, said Elf, I mean I can … I’ll try. I’m not sure about you getting me to promise, though. She laughed.