Read Margot: A Novel for Free Online Page A

corre 23
spondence, I learned English, French, Latin, mathematics, 24
physics, literature, and English shorthand, which is some 25
thing that helped me get the job with Joshua. And so I try to 26
cram as much Polish into my brain as I can within the space 27
of a few hours. S28
But by Monday afternoon as I sit at my desk, nervously N29
01 awaiting the Polish woman’s arrival, the only Polish words I 02 can seem to remember are the two I have known for a very 03 long time. Jestes diablem. You are the devil. They rattle in my 04 brain, as if they are still being screamed there by an old and 05 helpless woman. They will be useless words in whatever busi 06 ness Joshua is conducting, I’m certain. But still, I cannot turn 07 them off.
08 Joshua is in his office, on the phone, and though I am sup 09 posed to be typing addresses on billing envelopes and prepar 10 ing his schedule for the rest of the week, I find myself, 11 instead, furtively watching the elevator and nodding my head 12 as Shelby wonders off and on if she should ask Ron about 13 the hussy. They had such a nice weekend together, feeding 14 the ducks in Fairmount Park and having a picnic. Maybe she 15 shouldn’t . . . ?
16 “I don’t know,” I murmur, wondering if Ron is anything 17 like me, and if it will even matter if she asks or not, if he will 18 dare tell her the truth. But maybe he will. If she asks enough, 19 maybe he will be forced to.
20 Lying can be a second skin, but when you are called out 21 on a lie, it becomes all too easy for that skin to start to peel 22 away. I have been called out before, in my life in America, but 23 never here. Not with Shelby or Joshua. Before, it was my 24 sponsor, Ilsa, as she looked over my shoulder when I filled out 25 my job application.
26 “You list Poland as your country of birth?” she asked. I 27 nodded. “I thought you were born in Germany?” 28S “I lived in Germany as a child,” I said, and that was not a 29N lie. I did live in Germany as a child. Ilsa frowned, but she
didn’t question me any further. Even if she had, I would not 01
have told her the truth, that I was born in Germany, but in my 02
American life, I want nothing to do with Germany. And even 03
though I lived there for many years, I did not dare write Hol 04
land, for it is the country everyone most closely associates 05
with my sister. I settled on Poland for my lie because it 06
seemed a believable explanation for my accent. And I was 07
there, once, a place west of Kraków. I did not know it at the 08
time, but that is where I was. I died there. Afterward, I was 09
born again. A new person. A Gentile. 10
Jestes diablem. 11
In my head now, these words, they drown out the sound 12
of Shelby’s voice. 13
14
15
Fifteen minutes past three, I watch her step off the elevator, 16
cautiously, reading the signs above her as if she’s not quite 17
sure she’s in the right place. True Americans, like Shelby and 18
Joshua, always walk with a particular sense of confidence. 19
This woman, I can tell, just from her walk, is not a born 20
American. She is like me. 21
I look at her carefully as she approaches my desk. I think 22
she is older than me, though it is hard to tell. Her black hair 23
is streaked with gray and pulled back into a tight bun at the 24
nape of her neck. She wears a black half-sleeved dress and 25
looks nothing in the slightest like the clients who usually step 26
off the elevator, most of whom are men, dressed in richly 27
layeredthree-piece
suits. S28
“Czesc,” I say to her. Hello. The Polish word, learned N29
01 yesterday at the library, finds me again as she approaches 02 my desk, and I smile in relief. My studies, they will not fail 03 me, even if they were hastily done.
04 She narrows her brown eyes at me. “Bryda Korzynski,” she 05 says. “I speak English.” I nod. “I have appointment,” she tells me. 06 “Have a seat.” I point to the chairs off to the side of my 07 desk.