Free The Time in Between by David Bergen

drink. Her eyes closed and then opened and she saw him sitting at the desk, huddling under a pool of light. He was reading. She wanted to call for him but her tongue was thick and only a soft noise slipped out and then she slept.
    WHEN SHE WOKE IT WAS AFTERNOON. SHADOWS ON THE FAR WALL, the sound of horns and motorcycles in the street below, the maid talking in the stairwell. She found Jon on the rooftop, tanning in his boxers. His legs and arms were thin, his chest narrow. He saw her and said, “Hi.”
    “I hate sleeping late,” she said.
    “Some boy’s been asking for you. He was down in the lobby this morning all dressed up and holding a birdcage. We talked for a bit. He told me he saw you last night and that you’ve talked before. His English is quite amazing, though sometimes he mixes things up. How old is he?”
    “Too young for everybody, including you.” Ada pinned her hair up. Said she was going to find an American woman who knew their father. “Will you come?” she asked.
    He said if she really wanted him.
    “Come. Please.”
    They found Yen squatting outside the hotel entrance. He pushed his hand at Jon’s and said, “Pleased to meet you.” The three of them walked down Bach Dang Street and then left to the Han Market and on down close to the Cham Museum, where Yen pointed out the school that he was supposed to be attending. “I will be in the eighth level,” he said. He was still holding the birdcage. It swung at his side. He corrected himself. “I would be. Is that better?” He looked up at Ada.
    “Yes, it’s better.”
    Yen held up his small wrist and adjusted a watch that looked very expensive and new. He called out the time and then grinned and said, “A gift from a woman named Irene, who is German.”
    Ada shook her head.
    “You do not believe me. Fine.”
    “It’s none of my business,” Ada said.
    “What is the truth is this: Irene is my lover.”
    “What are you talking about?” Ada looked at Yen and then Jon, who seemed amused.
    “Irene is staying at the Empire Hotel. I go to her and she loves me and then she pays me. See?” He held up his wrist again and showed them.
    Ada said that this was something she did not need to know. Then she shook her head and said that Yen should be careful. He did not understand the worth of the watch.
    Yen said that Ada didn’t have to worry. He wouldn’t steal from her. Ever. She was different. He said that she was much more beautiful than Irene. His gaze moved from her face to her chest and then back to her face. He hopped slightly and slipped the watch from his wrist into his pocket. Ada put her hand through Jon’s arm and drew him close. They turned down a narrow street, and Yen halted before a white stucco house of three stories. “Here,” he said, and knocked on the door.
    From above them, on the balcony of the house, someone laughed. A child’s blond head peeked over the railing and called out, “Hello. Who are you?” A woman with dark hair appeared beside him.
    Ada said her own name and the name of her brother. She said that they wanted to speak to Elaine Gouds.
    The woman disappeared. When she returned she leaned out over the railing so that Ada could see her shoulders and chest. She said, “Hold on, Ai Ty is coming.”
    Ada and Jon were let into the house by an older woman, who when she saw Yen, spoke to him with a hard tone.
    Yen told Ada that he would wait across the street. “Not to worry,” he said. “I will be safe.”
    Ada did not argue. The older woman sullenly led them up two flights of stairs and into a musty-smelling room that held a TV and a small daybed. The floor was scattered with children’s toys.
    The woman who had called down to them was still standing out on the balcony. She turned and met them as they stepped outside. “I am Elaine Gouds,” she said. She did not shake their hands. She did not ask them to sit. She was angular, with a hard face, and her eyes lifted as she watched them, and this gave the