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"Do you ever feel like you’re running out of time?" I asked Dustin
He stared at the ice cubes in his drink "Always"
"So what do you do about it?"
"Nothing," he said "I just try to enjoy the time I do have That’s all we can do, really"
The rest of the flight was quick; it seemed like we had just boarded when three chiht attendant’s voice, announcing in both French and English that we had begun our descent Dustin leaned over me to look out theThe blue sky faded as we entered the clouds, and was replaced by the tiny lights of buildings, the irregular spirals of roads And then, through the ed
Montreal was a castle of a city, surrounded by water on all sides, and connected to the h customs, we rented a compact car and set out for St Clément, in the old part of town, Vieux-Port We drove down a street called rue Notre-Dame, which was lined with uneven sidewalks and town houses capped with mansard roofs
It was an overcast afternoon, the air warroup of bicyclists, all wearing little hats One of them turned to me as we passed, his hair pulled back into a ht as I pressedhair He winked as we turned down rue Saint Maurice There, we drove until we passed a narrow street with no sign Slowing to a stop, Dustin looked over his shoulder, and then reversed until ere even with the unnamed street, which was really more of an alleyway Dustin squinted at the stained brick buildings
"If my memory serves me correctly, this is it," he said finally, and turned The cobblestones were slanted, putting our tiny car on an incline
A pair of pigeons flew out of our way and flapped around the alley as we squeezed past the trash bins that lined the curb The street ended at a sign that read PETIT RUE SAINT CLÉMENT
It was only slightly larger than the alley, but much sunnier Dustin took a left, and a few hundred feet down, pulled up in front of a large stone building with an arched entranceway Etched over it in large letters was: LYCÉE SAINT CLÉMENT
A security guard sauntered toward us Setting down s, Dustin fished around in his pockets for a piece of paper Upon reading it, the guard uttered soestures To my surprise, Dustin seemed to understand "Merci, monsieur," he said, hat sounded like a perfect accent, and picked up s
"I didn’t know you could speak French," I said as we crossed a grassy courtyard surrounded by the school In thenext to it, holding books as the water spouted behind them
"Nor did I," said Dustin "The last tio"
We entered one of the buildings on the far side of the courtyard, which said FEMMES Unlike the Gottfried dormitories, this one was small and cozy A plush carpet blanketed the lobby, which was furnished with overstuffed sofas A bulletin board hung on one wall, cluttered with tacks and colorful fliers Potted plants streamed over the sills, and brass numbers and nameplates decorated each of the doors Upstairs we found a irls hauling trunks, suitcases, and piles of books into their rooms They barely paid attention to me as I squeezed past the with one other room, number 32, labeled with the name CLEMENTINE LAGUERRE Mine was nu the door open just as Dustin, hauling the luggage, caught up with me
The only word to describe it was lovely An arched hallway led to a series of little areas: a sink and mirror, a bedroom with a real potbellied stove, and small balcony that overlooked the courtyard There was even a beautiful old fireplace, which had been sealed years ago, according to Dustin, after a bad fire But theof all was that I had the whole room to myself
The only shared part was the bathroom, which connected my room and Clementine’s, and had a deep porcelain tub that could fit three ofthe right one around and around, but nothing happened Itit withfroot, sprayingout of the way
"I said, someone just slipped an envelope under the door Would you likewith the faucet
"‘Proymnasium at nine a off my shorts, I went to thehis watch "To throughuntil he found a towel