Now we are in the reception room, eating vanilla ice cream from delicate bowls of cut crystal. I imagine that if they ever wanted to have a garage sale here, what a spectacle of the decade! Aaron and Jesús are side by side on the couch, studying together the journal of Cosme. Besides me, everyone is present, including George and Jeff, the three ladies, Francois, us the guests, and of course our two gracious hosts. It is cloudy outside and the twilight already is advancing on the earth.
Jesús looks up and says, "We're ready." And now we are all silent and attentive, as though waiting for a symphony to begin.
"This will be the first entry in almost two months. June 9, 1966", says Aaron. I can almost imagine him smoking a pipe right now. He has taken on this evening, as often before, an avuncular aspect that I find enchanting and strangely comforting.
"The police have been here to visit again. They have been meticulously searching the grounds. They can't believe our story about the strange and instantaneous disappearance of everyone back in May. We are all under suspicion. They must also think we are all psychotic here, since all of us corroborate what happened. Or that we all murdered them together and have concealed the bodies. We all can scarcely believe ourselves what has happened. But these police visits are getting tiresome, and there is a possibility that we are all going to be held here under house arrest. Well, I don't think we are going anywhere. There is no place else for us to go. But we seem to be holding our own here as a household. Lydia and me, and Rhona and Theo. And we have so much work to do to keep this place livable, we really have very little time left over for mischief or even the luxury of boredom...."
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