Page 25 of Sunrise By the Sea

Marisa took a deep breath and found her courage.

‘Actually, I was asking . . . do you need to play music so much all the time . . . all day and at night?’

Marisa burbled the last words and mumbled them almost under her breath, half-hoping he wouldn’t understand her, but he did.

‘I play music at night?’ he said wonderingly, almost as if this came as news to him.

‘Uh, and the walls are very thin?’

He frowned even more, but didn’t say anything for a long time. It looked like he was going over the problem in his head.

Finally he looked at her in confusion.

‘You don’t like music?’

Marisa bit her tongue so she didn’t mention that what she was hearing at night wasn’t music.

‘But it’s all the time,’ she offered finally.

‘But it is mine job. My job,’ he corrected himself.

‘In the daytime,’ she said.

‘You not have job?’

‘I do. I do it here.’

‘But I do mine there.’

They seemed to be at something of an impasse.

‘And at night . . . it’s just horrible.’

Something contorted slightly in his face then and she realised suddenly she’d hurt him deeply.

‘I mean, it’s just so loud. And I can hear everything.’

‘But I cannot hear you at all! I do not know you are here.’

‘Because I am a quiet person.’

‘Well, the world has quiet people and noisy people maybe.’ ‘Maybe it does.’

He peered past her into the pristine little house.

‘You have same house. Just you?’

‘Um . . .’

Marisa was tempted to lie just in case.

‘You have whole house. For you. Overlooking sea. Is beautiful, no?’

‘Yes.’

‘Beautiful house just for you. In beautiful place. Filled with good thinks. With good people. Safe. Is happy place, no?’

Marisa didn’t feel in the least happy but she shrugged.

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