Warm Corners Cold Tower

Lina reclaimed the green blanket. She had stopped reading halfway down the second page, and Eva had signed the folder anyway, adding the page number so she would remember where to begin tomorrow. The folded table had room for Jules’s book, the phone, and one elbow. Eva put the folder away before it could be used as a plate.

The message was from Jules’s teacher. Another piece of work had been left unfinished in class. He had needed several reminders to begin, and the recorded recommendation was due the next morning. Could Eva make sure he completed it at home?

She read it again with the phone tilted away from Lina. Jules watched her from the table.

“You said you’d done the work in class.”

“I said I’d done some.”

“You said you only had the recording.”

“That’s the only thing we have to send.”

At the end of the sofa, Eva sat down on her blanket and had to pull it free before opening the attachment. A photograph showed the sheet from class. The first two boxes had writing in them. The third was empty.

“Why didn’t you finish?”

“I didn’t know what to put.”

“Did you ask?”

“She was helping someone.”

“You could have asked afterward.”

He opened his book and turned several pages together. “I was tired.”

For the two figures, Lina had begun making a bed in the lid of her box. She used a tissue for a sheet, smoothing it against the plastic with the side of her pencil. Eva waited until Jules stopped turning pages.

“You still have to do the work.”

“I know.”

“We can’t leave everything unfinished because it’s cold.”

“I didn’t say cold.”

Eva put the phone on the sofa. The teacher’s question was about an empty box. She could answer it once there was something in the box. Jules had the book in front of him and a page of notes, most of which he had crossed out so thoroughly that the paper had become rough.