Chapter 57 Chapter fifty-six

Barry and I went along the wide country road to Lebain, which I knew well, and the hotel in Lebain I remember very well, and I was eager to see my father, maybe we will see him soon, thinking of this, I was so excited I couldn't breathe. A man opened the door behind the front desk, he was the manager of the small hotel, he turned to me in surprise, and said right away, here comes this young lady, she's growing so fast, all grown up, and her— -friend? "Cousin," Barry said. I asked if anyone knew where my father was, but no one did. We opened the door, and my father's room was spacious and inviting.Suddenly seeing my father's suitcase, my familiar clothes all over the room, his long-used shaving kit and nice shoes, I felt even worse.Just saw these things the other day in Professor James' room at Oxford.The familiarity made me tremble.

But there was an even bigger shock.My father was sexually neat.No matter which room or office he was in, the place was a model of neatness and detail. I've never seen my father's things in such a mess: the box was thrown on the bed, half of the things fell out, he had obviously rummaged in it and pulled out a thing or two, socks and sweatshirts on the floor, his light canvas The coat was also thrown on the bed, and it seemed that he too had changed in a hurry and piled the suits he took off next to the suitcase. It occurred to me that maybe it wasn't my father who did it, but that someone had searched his room in his absence.

I have another idea.His travel shoes were not in their usual place in the box, and the cedar holders in them had been tossed aside.It seemed that this was the most hurried moment of my father's life.