The bed now seemed to have been rumpled and abandoned by someone who had been here in their absence. On it reposed, like a shadow come to life, a woman’s coat. He had gone to the apartment to fetch her belongings, but decided to stay. He went down, phoned his mother, and told her he would not be coming back that evening, that he would be at the apartment, here, where even these things were waiting for her to come back. The telephone at the entrance was working again. He realized that only when his mother said something strange, asking him where he was phoning from, as if not trusting him. Something had happened; her son had not come back to her. She wanted him home today. She was expecting him and now there would be no one for her to wait for. He would need her, and come back to her, when
