I tapped for at least half an hour
“Was I tapping? Was I hitting the wall? I’m sorry, Gary. I didn’t know.”
“It’s all right.”
“Was I keeping you awake? I’m really sorry. I didn’t know I was doing it.”
“It’s all right, Anatole. Really. I just thought I’d mention it. In fact, if you want to keep tapping, if it helps you fall asleep or even if it just reduces tension, go right ahead. It doesn’t bother me all that much.”
“What was I tapping with?” he said.
“Your hand.”
“What part?”
“I think it was fingernails first, then knuckles.”
“That reverses the pattern,” he said. “I used to tap all the time when I was a child. But I always started out with knuckles. This reverses the pattern.”
Although it was too dark to see anything, I rolled over in order to be facing him while we spoke.
“Why did you tap as a child, Anatole?”
“Children do that sort of thing. Probe everywhere for magic. There was always the chance somebody might answer.”
“Did anybody ever answer?”
“There was a warehouse on the other side of the wall. Nobody ever answered. But one night, as I was just getting into bed, I heard a sound from the wall. I started tapping. I tapped for at least half an hour. I tried to improvise codes. I tried to convey urgency by using both hands to tap. There was no reply. It was probably a rat.”
“Did this have some kind of effect on you, do you think?”
“It had no effect at all. What kind of effect would it have? It had a ridiculous effect. I was tapping at rats. That’s the only effect.”
“But why were you tapping so urgently, do you think?”
“I wanted to be sure the sound knew I was there.
Processing your request, Please wait....
