Page 16, “The Persuasion”
The booth door slammed shut, I stuffed coins in the slot, dragged the circles around the dial, clutching the rumpled paper where I’d scribbled the number from Bird.
The phone rang seven times
before a man answered, sounding a little winded, irritated, as if he’d just
come in and rushed to the phone.
“Ah, oui, ‘allo?”
I reached for the hook but found myself speaking. “Hello, my name is Mariana Muller. Is this Tonin by any chance?” Why was I talking like my Oxford classmates, with a pretentious lilt?
“Yeah, this is Tonin,” he came right back, talking over my “chance” with a bristle. “How did you get my number?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” I watched my index finger playing with the hook.
“You didn’t upset me. I just want to know how you got my number.”
“I’m sorry. Bryce Douglass, Red Bird, gave me your name. We were roommates at The Meeting School. I’m at Barnard now.”
“Oh, Red Bird, of course. Right.” He cleared his throat. “Right. She said I might hear from a Barnard chick named Mary Jane. Sorry, sorry. Remind me what she wanted me to do for you.”
“It’s Mariana and she said you might be able to introduce me to the student leaders here in Paris. I’m writing some articles for Liberation News Service.”
“Oh, sorry. Right, right. The LNS chick. Your timing is good. There’s a meeting tomorrow afternoon. Mary. Ann.”
“It’s Mariana and I am a woman.” My hand was now on my hip.
He paused. “Right on. Mariana. Red Bird’s best friend. I dig who you are now. I just wanna ask you a couple questions.”
