Chapter 1 : Part 01

Breaking the thick silence that reigned in the house, the doorbell attacked the first notes of Ganka Jackson. The shrill, false sound of the electronic xylophone had crossed the threshold of her eardrums, but could not bring her back to life. Impossible to get up and even less to open the door. It took the mournful march to sound three times for a light to shine on the floor of her brain and for her to finally react. Reluctantly dragging herself out of the comfortable leather cushions of the sofa, she put on her slippers and dragged herself to the front door. By sticking her eye to the peephole she discovered a stocky and smiling man who was waving to her with his hand. He didn't look like a predator, a preacher, or any kind of unwelcome doorbell puller. Since she had nothing better to do, she dropped the oculus, pressed the cane, and opened the door. In the end, he was not so dwarfed as the image perceived through the telescope might lead one to believe. In fact, he was the same height as her, but maybe thirty kilos heavier. She noticed his neatly cut dark suit. Made-to-measure, she thought. The worn leather briefcase he held in his hand completed the character, giving him a doctoral air. The man did not move, letting the few tenths of a second necessary for the young woman to examine her, then he spoke as one does to wake up a patient under hypnosis."Hello ma'am!" And he nodded as if his neck was too weak to carry it. And before the young woman had time to say to him: " What about ? ", he added : "And above all, have no fear, I am harmless and I have nothing to sell you. So saying, to punctuate his sentence, he let out what she took for a laugh. More like a grunt of satisfaction. Roxanne, still mute, was captivated by the shaved head and the round face which gave the visitor a family resemblance to Buddha. Realizing that it might take too long before she decides to open her mouth, he spoke again. “Let me introduce myself. William Kantagan, researcher in astrophysics. With these words, he handed her a business card which she took, finally ceasing to stare at her visitor. Certainly she felt that she had to react, but she was evolving in a comatose state, with the dynamism of a zucchini. She yawned, and managed to articulate: "Sorry. I sleep very badly at the moment. And since I don't want to shoot myself... "I'm bad, then?"No, no, I'm just a little sluggish, but I'll be fine. It'll even do me good to talk to someone. Come in, please. You're not bothering me. I wasn't doing anything anyway Stepping aside to let him pass, she gestured with her arm to the living room. "I'm going to make some coffee, would you like a cup? "With pleasure… I love coffee, it's my drug. His mouth looked like a small fleshy heart. She didn't answer and disappeared into the kitchen thinking he was well-behaved, this gentleman. William had settled in the center of the large sofa, at the risk of being swallowed up by the cushions. His tired brown leather briefcase lying next to him seemed to be waiting for coffee, too. He was satisfied. This beautiful brunette with blue eyes looked like she wanted to collaborate. At least she had allowed him to get a foot in the door. As he tried to read the titles of the books that lined the shelves running along three of the room's walls, he felt as if his eyesight had diminished somewhat. He struggled to decipher certain titles of books, but he saw enough, however, to think that he had definitely made a good pick.To be continued....