Francois is just getting up to leave.
"You don't have to go if you don't want to", says Carl.
"I just thought that you two might want to continue reading your friend's journal", he says, looking at me.
"Actually, I was hoping to share some of it with you", say I.
"Are you sure?" Francois is supported by his arms, but hasn't quite left the chair.
"Never hurts to get a second opinion", says Carl.
Francois lets himself land back in the chair again, but still sitting alert, as though the slightest provocation could get him to leave.
"Here is the next entry", say I. "He appears to have not written anything for over a month Here it's already August 15. "Anyway, it looks like a short entry. Shall I read it?"
"Fire away", says Carl.
"I didn´t think I'd run into him again. I was just walking through the mall at the new library downtown, and there he was, standing in front of the main entrance, as though he was lost and thoroughly enjoying it. I really didn't want him to see me, and I don't know if he saw me or not. I thought he had gone away, disappeared somewhere, but his kind never entirely goes way. Rather like smallpox, almost eradicated, but never quite entirely. But this time I was not about to run away scared. I actually approached him, tried to get his attention, standing just three feet away, and he just stood there as though I wasn't even present, like a department store mannequin but even more absent..."
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