Sparks of Bright Matter by Leeanne O’Donnell

Author:Leeanne O’Donnell [O’Donnell, Leeanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781804185834
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Shapsel Nicodemus Stein stands behind his shop counter. It is a quiet afternoon, too hot for trade.

The usually calm surface of his mind is disturbed. His thoughts are full of his wife, of their marriage. He feels unsettled down to his toes. He knows it is partly to do with Sukie and her book – their invasion of his home – but mostly it is to do with Katia herself.

Shapsel Nicodemus considers himself to be a good husband – they have been married for three years, and they live together in a kindly way, somewhat distant and polite, exchanging little courtesies, small kindnesses that come easily to them both.

She chose him, and though she brought little other than some solid furniture by way of a dowry, he knows she could have made a better match. He does not doubt her value – which is partly to do with her unusual beauty, partly to do with her undoubted efficiency in running their home (she helps, too, with the business, has a good eye, a keen brain) and partly, though he is cloudier on this, to do with a rare tenderness inside her. But in truth, he cannot quite work it out. He often studies her beautiful face when her mind is elsewhere. He sits very quietly, lest any movement might alert her, and runs his careful eye over her complexion, noting the soft purple smudges beneath her eyes, the slight hollows in her cheeks, the light down of hair on her upper lip.

Once a month, at her request, he places his long-fingered brown hands on her marble belly. She trusts these hands – they seem to represent all that is best in her husband: his delicacy, his care, his ability to assess worth. So, while he does not know really what he is doing when he gently presses her soft flesh, they are both sure that he would detect any sign of life within. A single shake of his large, solemn head inevitably follows. Three years now, and nothing, not even the hint of a swelling.

What it comes to is this: even when they are together, he feels alone. And while this is frequently completely acceptable to him – gives him the peace and space he enjoys – today, it is not a comfortable feeling. Today, he feels he is missing something, something very important.

Shapsel Nicodemus locks the shop and goes upstairs to eat.

At first, he is not sure what has changed – he knows only that when he steps into his living room, nothing seems the same.

He pauses and sniffs the air – no, it is not a smell. He glances about the room . . . there is a chair missing; the chair that sits to the left of the fireplace is gone. It has stood there reliably for the three years that they have inhabited these two floors. Katia sits upon it in the evenings. That is what has changed. Quickly, he realises that the pewter candlestick that stands in the middle of the mantle is also missing.

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