Read The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (9) for Free Online

said that we needed to know about it because she
     didn’t want people saying anything to him. He was called Julian, which was bad luck
     too, because that’s not a name that many people have where I come from.”
    “I’m sure you were kind to him,” Isabel said. “It must be a pretty difficult condition.”
    Eddie hesitated. “Some people tried to be kind,” he said. “Not everybody, though.
     There was this boy called Derek who was a real thug. People hated him. He used to
     call out ‘Look out, rotten fish!’ whenever Julian came near.”
    “Children are like that,” Isabel said. “We were tremendously cruel. All of us.” She
     took a sip of her coffee. “What happened to Julian?”
    Eddie stared at her. It seemed that he had not been prepared for the question or had
     not understood it.
    “I mean, what did he go on to do after he left school? Do you ever see him these days?”
    Eddie frowned, and looked away. Isabel waited.
    “He topped himself,” he said quietly.
    Isabel sat quite still. Perhaps she had misunderstood. “You mean he—”
    Eddie interrupted her. “Yes. He put himself in the bath and then he got one of those
     electric fires and dropped it in. That was it.”
    Isabel said nothing.
    “I felt bad.”
    “I’m sure you’d done your best. You said he liked you. That must have been because
     you’d been good to him.”
    “Not good enough,” muttered Eddie.
    She decided not to argue with him. “I’m really sorry to hear that story,” she said.
    “He had an older brother,” said Eddie. “He’s a DJ in a club on Lothian Road, I still
     see him now and then. He’s got long greasy hair. It’s quite disgusting, actually.
     He’s called Daniel. He doesn’t really know who I am, but we still say hello to one
     another in the street. He has a girlfriend who rides a big Harley-Davidson.”
    Isabel listened to these almost random facts. They were the ordinary details of life,
     all of them quite unexceptional: the disgusting greasy hair, the club on Lothian Road—except
     perhaps for the Harley-Davidson-riding girlfriend—and yet it was these same mundane
     facts that were the background for the poignant story of Julian.
    For a few moments they were both silent. Then Eddie shrugged. “These things happen,”
     he said.
    Isabel inclined her head.
    “And we shouldn’t think about them too much, should we?” Eddie went on.
    No, agreed Isabel, we should not; and Eddie, she thought, had had enough difficulty
     in his life without dwelling on additional tragedies. She made an effort to brighten
     up. “I’ve been reading about an Italian politician,” she said, pointing to the newspaper.
    Eddie glanced at the photograph accompanying the interview. “Oh, him. He’s the one
     who liked parties.”
    “He was very outgoing,” Isabel agreed.
    Eddie looked more closely at the picture. “Has he had cosmetic surgery?” he asked
     inconsequentially. “By the way, I’ve got some photographs I want to show you some
     time. I took them in Alaska—on the trip. You wouldn’t believe it. The mountains. They
     make ours look tiny.”
    Our tiny mountains
, thought Isabel. We are a small country with tiny mountains.
    “I’d love to see them, Eddie. Maybe you could bring them round some time. Jamie would
     like to see them too. Have supper with us.”
    Eddie liked Jamie, she knew, because Jamie had always been kind to him. Eddie was
     used to being looked through—a shy young man behind the counter. Jamie smiled at him.
    “All right. I’ll bring them round. And …”
    He looked at Isabel hesitantly.
    “Yes?”
    “Could I bring somebody with me?”
    Isabel nodded. “Of course you can. Who is it?”
    Eddie blushed. “There’s a girl I’ve met.”
    Isabel waited for him to continue.
    “She’s called Diane. I’ve been seeing her for six weeks now.” He moved his right hand
     to rest it on the table. She saw that his nails were dirty. Cat had spoken to him
     about washing his