Linka agreed quickly. Leon furrowed his brows, listening to me inattentively. He has been strange lately and has begun to disappear from the house less, but he leaves his room only when necessary and when I call him to the table. What's in his head is impossible to understand. And Leon is very reluctant to make contact. We hardly talk, but I sometimes catch his eye when he nevertheless emerges into the light from his room.

He seems to be studying me or solving the most difficult task. I almost never see him smile. And if Leon had not smiled at me on the day when she and the children...