BUT THIS DAY NEVER ENDS

BUT THIS DAY NEVER ENDS

It wasn’t noon yet , Carl wouldn’t call before two. More than two hours to spend waiting seemed to her too long to bear. For a moment, yes, just a bit of time as escaped from the time, she seemed to hear again what her friend Nathalie often said, to express her surprise, but also her disappointment for the time that is too fast. How many times she had heard Nathalie saying : “But how, is it already one o’clock? Ah, impossible, I was sure it wasn’t yet ten!” or: “ But how, is it already Friday? Oh, but it seemed to me that the week had just begun”

At these expressions of sorrow from Nathalie for the time that passes too fast____”time goes by so fast that I can’t keep up with it”Nathalie also said_____ she usually replied that time is unbearable when it never passes, as indeed the time of that day ( never passed) It seemed to beat the step, instead of going by, it seemed to be bogged down.

 That day, which had begun early for her , Sonia, as soon as got up, had taken care of helping Carl, very concerned to prepare everything he needed for the difficult task he had agreed to undertaken.

The child of the Robbins, their friends, a little girl of seven years, had been kidnapped for over a month. The parents of the kidnapped child, despite their belongings had been seized, according to a recently approved law, had decided to pay the ransom anyway, of course without making their decision known either to the magistrates or to the police who were investigating on the kidnapping, who had assured they would find ( would have found) the kidnapped child, they would free her. Well, they had assured it, but days, weeks had passed and the Robbins had not known anything about their child Lucy, not even if she was dead or alive.  Then, a few days ago, they had heard Lucy’s voice on the phone, just for a few moments, but they had been sure that it was their child. Lucy had said them that they had to pay the ransom  if they wanted to see her alive again.

Carl had been chosen by the Robbins as the one who would have handed the big sum of money to the kidnappers.

To pass the time Sonia had started to clean the bathroom, then the kitchen, then the living room…but time seemed to continue to go tremendously slowly, it seemed to be not able to flow.

Every time she had again looked at the clock Sonia had to marvel at how little time had passed while she yet had done so many things….she had cleaned the floor, dusted the furniture, put the dishes in the washing machine, watered the flowers….When the phone ( had) rang, while she was in the bathroom, with a leap in her heart, she thought, but just then and there (just for a moment) it could be Carl, to say immediately after herself no, it was not possible, it was too soon. In fact it wasn’t Carl,  it was Terry, a friend of theirs, who, coincidentally, told her precisely of Carl. But what was happening to him? Terry had met Carl at the traffic lights, less than  an hour ago, and he, who could not but see her___and she had also called him____seemed not to recognize her, not even to see her. “Oh, he’s been with his head somewhere else….you know, he’s very taken with his work these days….” Sonia had just had time to say, that Terry had already started saying:” You know, I had just  left after the stop at that intersection which is that of Dalmatia square, when I heard  not a few shots. It seems that there was a shooting right there, in Dalmatia square” Sony at those words, she felt bad. She realized ( thought) that Carl had to be seen by Terry when he was going to the Robbins, to have the ransom money….or maybe when he had already been to them ….and then he already had that money with him. “ What did you say? A shooting? Oh, my God! And Carl was there!” Sonia couldn’t help but scream.

“ Come on, I don’t think you must to worry. Also Carl must have gone away from Dalmatia square when the gunshots were heard “ Terry said. “ Oh, I wish I could believe it was so “ Sonia stammered. “ You know, to tell the truth , I was also almost surprised to see him ( Carl) over there….It seems to me that he takes another way to reach his company” Terry added.

“ Sure, but this morning he had to see….to go to…to a client before going to his office” she barely managed to say, with her voice trembling.

“ Well, if you’re worried, you can call him….if he doesn’t call you first” Terry said

“ Sure, I’ll do this, I’ll call him”  When she hung up the phone, Sonia was upset, to say the least. In the first mirror she passed in front of she saw the gun, which Carl had taken with him to go to the appointment he had with the kidnappers. That gun_____appeared in the mirror and she heard the gunshots. Terry had told her there had been a shooting in Dalmatia square , and she couldn’t help thinking that Carl, who had been passing by, had become involved in that shooting. Someone, whether they were Lucy’s kidnappers or others, could have assaulted him to rob the ransom money he had with him.

In the morning, when he had left the house, Carl didn’t know the place or the exact time of his appointment with the kidnappers. Those there, the kidnappers, had said that , after he had had the ransom money with him______that is, after having been ( gone) to the Robbins, who would give him the money____they kidnappers would take care of giving him the directions ( indications) so that he could reach the place where he would meet with them to give them the ransom money.

Neither Carl nor the Robbins knew how the kidnappers would give Carl the necessary information so he could meet with them. They assumed that the kidnappers would also use the phone, but that Carl would not have learned the place of their meeting over the phone. 

Waiting for that hour, two o’clock, when Carl had assured her he would call___he had in fact calculated that by that time he would already meet with the kidnappers and hand them the ransom_____it was a real agony for Sonia. Oh, how interminable were the last three, two minutes before it was two.  Finally the hands of the clock marked the two, she was all tense, ready to hear the ringing of the phone. But there was no ringing of the phone. Carl didn’t call.

Terrified, she continued to stare at the clock’s minute hand: ( which marked) two and one minute, two and two minutes, two and three minutes….And the phone didn’t ring. When the two had passed by twenty minutes, Sonia, who was sinking deeper and deeper into anguish, decided that she would call Carl, even if this meant in contravening with the agreements established. Carl had in fact forbidden her to call him before he had called.

Just when she was going to pick up the receiver, the phone rang. But it wasn’t Carl who called, it was his lawyer Bernie, who informed her that Carl had been arrested and that he was now at the police station, where he, Bernie, had reached him to assist him during the interrogation.

“ Ah, they arrested him to prevent the ransom from being paid, didn’t they?” Sonia asked, trembling, her heart in her throat. “ Unfortunately they arrested him because they believe him involved in the kidnapping of the Robbins daughter” The lawyer informed her, with an impassive, icy tone. Sonia would have liked to cry out her disbelief, her pain too, since she had felt the words of the lawyer Bernie stuck in her heart…But how, how was it possible that they thought Carl was involved in Lucy’s kidnapping( abduction)? But she couldn’t scream, she couldn’t even say a word. Terrified, stunned, she listened to the lawyer who said her he would soon let her know if she could see Carl or, at least, to talk with him on the phone. Because she wanted to talk to him, she wanted to see him, didn’t she? The lawyer Bernie asked . Certainly that she would have liked to see Carl, or, at least, to be able to talk with him, she managed to say.  After that worst than shocking phone call Sonia would have liked to bang her head against the wall, out of despair. She couldn’t, just couldn’t even think that Carl had something to do with the kidnapping of Lucy, the Robbins daughter. They, she and Carl, were friends with the Robbins since a life, they knew Lucy since she was born, they loved her. Not to mention that Carl was a very good man, a respectable person, with an important job. He had founded a company from scratch, that had become a leader in the household appliances sector. How could a man like him have anything to do with criminals like the kidnappers? Sonia urgently needed to see Carl, to talk to him. She was sure he would have assured her that he had nothing to do with Lucy’s kidnapping.

She was anxiously waiting for the lawyer Bernie to call to tell her she could see Carl. ( and) again  the time of waiting never passed. When she heard the doorbell ring she hoped it was Carl, who had been released. But sure, they must have realized they were wrong to accuse him of being in

league with Lucy’s kidnappers. But when she opened the door she found herself instead faced with two policemen , who said her that she had to go with them to the police station. Oh, then she would see Carl, Sonia had rejoiced. But the policemen told her that she had to follow them to the police station because she had to be questioned. Carl, her husband, had admitted he was an accomplice of the kidnappers of the Robbins’ daughter. It was thought that she, as Carl’s wife, might be involved in the kidnapping , or, at least , that she was aware of her husband’s involvement. Oh, but she couldn’t believe it was true that Carl had confessed of being involved in the kidnapping of the little Lucy, it couldn’t be true….and even if he had admitted of being involved, of being guilty, he must have done so because forced. Sure, he could be forced, perhaps even tortured to get him to admit that he was guilty, while he was not guilty at all.

Sonia had kept on asking to see Carl even during the interrogation she had been subjected to. But she hadn’t allowed to see him. During the grueling interrogation they had also told her that they thought the kidnapped little girl had been killed. Carl’s position was very serious. Sonia had feared that she too would be arrested, that she too had be forced to admit that she was guilty, even if  it was not true….But what was going on? She felt like she was in a nightmare. Carl, her husband, was he an accomplice to the kidnappers of their friends’ daughter? If it had been true, how could she not have noticed anything?

Although overwhelmed by the situation and exhausted for the interrogation to which she was subject_______she was also asked questions she really never expected, such as how long she had known Carl, how long they had been married, and even if he, Carl talked to her about his job_____however proven, however much she couldn’t take it anymore, she, from time to time was able to say herself that, oh, soon everything would be clarified. Carl would be exonerated and released….but sure, it had been just a misunderstanding  , or a series of misunderstandings.

And time never passed. It seems to her that day would never end. It also seemed to her that day contained all the time of a life.