CLAIR DE LUNE'S
Part 7's

“Tomorrow,” Mr Kirk the actor said with his loud voice.

“Oh,” Nervous and old Mrs Costello said, rushing at the door and opening it slightly, and Minette stuck out her mustachioed nose while the mistress was looking for a little money in her wallet. “Can you please buy some lady fish? Remember, only when the fish is fresh! Thank you, Nak.”

But from the other doors, there is no answer.

Clair-de-Lune has not been in another building in his lifetime, so he does not consider his residence strange. But visitors who first came must be surprised to see the strangeness of the building.

Each floor is different from the other floors. Some have unexpected embroidery or spaces; some even have corridors leading to areas Clair-de-Lune has never visited, corridors leading to open air and re-entry, some parts of the building are empty!

There were steps that appeared suddenly with a door on it, and large, deep windows, some of which faced the street below or the theater building across from it, some of them face directly against the brick wall. On the fourth floor was an ancient piano, which no one had ever played. On the second floor was a large and complicated rattan chair.

Clair-de-Lune had no idea, there was one floor in the building that he had never seen, even though he lived in the basement of the roof and thought of course he had been on every floor to be able to climb up to there. But about that floor, we'll talk about it.

When Clair-de-Lune finally arrived in the sun or rain, wind or snow, it always felt as if he had just come out of prison. Sometimes he felt as if the building he lived in was everywhere—on it, beneath it, and wherever he looked. Going out to the market alone made him feel wild and free; he walked from store to store, buying milk, bread, or fish to the shopkeepers who were used to seeing his silence, who understood his sign language; then when his task was done, he used to walk a little further along the way, the sooner it got, the groceries in his basket were crashing at his feet, looking carefully at every corner, always hoping to see…

But no matter how far he walked—and he didn't have time to walk all the way, because his grandmother was waiting for him—so far away

looking at him he never saw anything but buildings, one higher than the other.

Clair-de-Lune was eager to see something behind all those buildings, he always hoped the scenery would change by the day, and that today, somehow he would catch a glimpse of the mountain, he said, or the sea (which he knew, was not far from it) or the sky was larger and not framed by the rough corners of the roof of the building.

Sometimes he feels like he's going to explode if he doesn't see something free. But every day, when he arrived at the church fence at the end of the road, he stopped, sighed, and turned around, then walked slowly towards the direction he came.

When he arrived at the door of his building, he lowered his head and went back in. He climbed every rung of the twelve rows of stairs and stopped on this or that floor to deliver his order.

“Oh, thank you, Darling!” so said Mrs Costello. “Minette sure likes a piece of lady fish with her tea. And I have a fish cream soup recipe lady.”

Then he walked to his house under the roof, practiced the piano, dined and slept.

But that afternoon, when Clair-de-Lune finished shopping and was walking briskly toward the church imagining the events that happened that day, she heard a stifled laugh. Intentional laughter, because you want to be heard. He quickly looked across the street—and saw something that made him so hot-cold embarrassed.

Milly Twinkenham—bright red-haired and brown-eyed peanut— girls and her friends Fenella Flynn and Prudence Eeling are walking hand in hand, just opposite her, mimicking her speed, her movements and her steps.

Clair-de-Lune immediately stopped stepping—his sense of shame and confusion made him freeze on the spot. He looked at them for a moment, enough to decide that he would turn around and return home. But Milly called out to him, saying,

“Yes? What was? Anything you need?”

Fenella and Prudence laughed.

Clair-de-Lune shook her head in panic, and immediately turned towards the direction of home. Still heard they were laughing behind her, and she felt suspicious just in case there was something on her dress, her hat, or her shopping basket, which was ridiculous. He tried to duck down to make his body not so visible, but he was sure, they must have seen how strange it was to walk. Because his feet were shaking.

When he finally got inside his door, he leaned tiredly against the handle of the first staircase. Tears flowed from his eyes. He could no longer walk to church.

But shortly thereafter, he suddenly remembered

Bonaventure, and his promise to visit and take him to the monastery.

While he began to climb the steps towards his residence in the basement of the roof, something appeared within him that was so powerful that it shocked himself.

Not shame, not fear.

Because, behind it all, Clair-de-Lune has

determination as strong as steel.

# # #

That night Clair-de-Lune had a beautiful dream. He stands on

the ground floor of the building, and when looking up he saw the roof of the building was completely hollow—and the ceiling above it was a night sky full of stars.

The next morning, when it was dawn, he

awakened by a small singing voice:

Get on the sailboat, my dear

Hugged yourself tightly and warmly

And the Boat Rat will take you sailing

The Sea of Sleep

Crossing the Sea of Sleep, my dear!

And the waves will take you while I

Your rat mother swings your cradle—

Fast as the albatross flies

When you get to the Morning Beach

I was waiting for you there

And Siang Island

The Sleeping Ocean

So bright!

Slowly, Clair-de-Lune opened her eyes. He felt a small, moist, mustachioed nose tickling his neck just below his ears. This sensation felt strange as well as familiar.

Who do I know, he thought sleepy, who has a nose like that?

Slowly, he looked. Bonaventure was in front of his face.

Seriate…