19 and never woke him up. She would silently lay in bed, trying to
get rid of20the images of the dead people she knew or didn’t know well but
witnessed 21their deaths. There was one thing that bothered her a bit though. After they came back, among the flashbacks of the past two months, she started to see a person, who stood at a distance looking at her. He was present in almost all her dreams. The image wasn’t clear, just a male silhouette in, what seemed like, a long coat.
“Ok, let’s eat and be on our way22. What time are we meeting the man?”
“10 AM sharp, so we still have some time.”
She placed the pan with the eggs on a wooden cutting board that was already on the kitchen table, next to a watermelon they had bought at the farmer’s market the day before.
“Could you get the forks, please?” she asked Mark. “I’ll cut Mr. Watermelon here.”
“No plates?”
“Let’s just eat from the pan. It’s faster that way and no need to wash dishes.”
“Practical.”
She sliced the fruit in half. Took one half and sliced it again in two equally big parts. Then she took one of the quarters and cut it quickly into five triangles. Then she put each of the triangles on its side and cut the red flesh out, tossing the green rinds in the waste basket. The pulp triangles were also cut into cubes. She used her knife to scoop up the cubes and throw them into a large blue china bowl. The whole process took two minutes.
“Where did you learn how to do that?” Mark asked, watching the whole process in fascination23.
Lizzy smiled. “My mother learned that somewhere in Asia and always cut fruit that way. I guess I picked it up from her.”
“It’s fast,” Mark said and sat down at the table ready to eat.
***
The contact – a short bolding overweight man in his 50s – was waiting for them on the side of the road next to the gas station two kilometers away from the cottage. They walked to the meeting through the forest that Lizzy knew very well. She used to walk here with her mother when she was a little girl. It was a good day for a walk – sunny and warm. They saw him before he spotted them.
“Is that him?” Lizzy asked.
“I think so,” Mark said. “Fits the description.”
“Is there a code word or a sentence that we’re supposed to use to make sure he’s our guy?”
“He told me that we will know us when he sees us.”