Susan Sommers, the mother of the missing child Jerry, tells Julia how she came to be a kept woman.
“It started... well, I don't know how, either... I was desperate, with no money and no job, and with the prospect of being kicked out of my home for defaulting! Julius -- I mean, Mr. Bonnard -- he was courting me discreetly, a bit from another era. I felt terribly alone, so it came naturally to me to lean on this kind man with a somewhat paternal manner. He helped me a lot, both emotionally and economically. On the other hand, he also felt lonely. His wife is older, and they have no children. Yes, he was very attached to me…”
”Enough to fall in love?”
”I… think so. “
”And you felt the same?”
”There’s no doubt, I love him, and I am grateful to him. I would never want to hurt him, but…”
“…But?”
“My heart belongs to Lou.”
“Of course, he knows nothing.”
“And he mustn't know! He's extremely jealous. I don't know how he would react.”
“You're good at keeping secrets. How did you let it slip to the journalists that you had received Jerry's shoe?”
“You figured out right away that it was me, didn't you? They caught me by surprise and... well, evidently I'm not so clever after all.”
“Have you heard from your parents?”
“No. We don't have a relationship, I told you.”
“I thought that at a time like this...”
“It's been so many years since I've counted on them.”
“But if you called them, do you think they would offer their help again?”
“I don't know... They didn't even know Jerry. I come back here every day. I feel like I can see him running in the grass.”
Soldi gives attention to the backgrounds, even small details like the garbage receptacles throughout the park. Notice how the camera circles behind the women over the course of the first four panels, as if we are a stationary observer whom the two women pass, before the close-ups in the last two panels. The angle of the rain changes accordingly.
