I'm Still Here (Je Suis Là) Read Online Free Page A

then?”
    â€œElsa. You’ve said it at least three times.”
    â€œHer surname.”
    â€œBilier. And she’s thirty today.”
    â€œRebecca’s just given you that information.”
    â€œIs this an interrogation or something?”
    â€œYes, you could say that.” Steve, the over-protector. “What does she study?”
    Two seconds pass before my stranger answers.
    â€œShe doesn’t study. She works.”
    â€œIn what?”
    Two seconds again.
    â€œThe mountains.”
    I’m impressed. He’s bluffing, but he does it well. Maybe we do know each other after all.
    â€œAnd what does she do, exactly, in the mountains?”
    I lose all hope that my stranger will guess this one. I’ve got an unusual job.
    Ten long seconds pass. Alex and Rebecca are lighting the candles and I can hear them murmuring to each other. The stranger takes a few steps across the room and then stops. He must have turned back to Steve.
    â€œOK,” he begins. “You’re right. I don’t know Elsa. Everything I’ve just said, I guessed from what’s written in her notes at the bottom of the bed. I’m just a visitor who came into the wrong room. It was quiet, I sat down for a minute. I wasn’t bothering anyone. Now I’ll leave.”
    Oddly, Steve says nothing. It’s Rebecca who speaks first.
    â€œDon’t you want to stay for the candles?”
    My stranger must be surprised. Rebecca is like that, adorable and sometimes a bit naïve. But luckily her Prince Charming is always by her side.
    â€œStay for a bit,” says Alex.
    â€œI don’t want to get in your way,” replies the stranger.
    â€œYou said it yourself, you haven’t bothered anyone. That’ll make us four at the party, Elsa would love it.”
    He must be hesitating. “OK.”
    The stranger comes over again and moves the chair. I have the impression that he tries to help Alex with something in a bag, while Rebecca picks up the clipboard at the bottom of my bed.
    â€œIt doesn’t look as though there’s been much progress,” she says to the others. “There’s nothing new on here at all. Oh, yes. Someone has changed her age. Impressive that they pay attention to things like that.”
    â€œUh… no, that was… I did that,” says the stranger. “I looked at the papers to find out what she was called and I saw that it was her birthday today. I’m sorry if that was the wrong thing to do. I probably shouldn’t have.”
    â€œYou’re joking, right? That’s so nice of you!”
    â€œReally?”
    â€œI think it’s lovely that someone who doesn’t even know Elsa would take the trouble to correct her age in her notes. OK, shall we get the present out now? I think Steve should open it, even though he knows exactly what’s inside!”
    Steve must have reached out for it and then turned to me. Rebecca puts the cake on the little table to one side. I imagine the smell of fruit, the light from the flames, and the sad smiles of my friends.
    â€œWell… Happy birthday, my sweet,” says Rebecca before blowing out my thirty candles.
    â€œHappy Birthday, Elsa,” says Alex.
    â€œHappy Birthday, you,” says Steve.
    From farther away, the murmur of my stranger reaches my ears. “Happy birthday.” He says it so quietly. I don’t know if that’s because he’s embarrassed, or sad, or something else. But in any case, it’s touching. Very touching.
    â€œHere’s your present,” says Steve, bringing me back to reality. “It’s a ring. You always said that you’d never marry anyone, and that no one should bother giving you a ring because you’d be annoyed, so we’ve got you one. Perhaps you’ll come back quicker if you’re desperate to kick our asses.” I suppose Steve has put it on one of my fingers. I don’t know which hand, let