I guess I was able to get out of the Library. But I am not
sure where the chimp got to. I find myself now instead walking up a path with a
beautiful Chinese woman in a flowing blue gown. When I realize we are holding
hands albeit awkwardly, I smile at her.
“Are you——?”
“Yes, I am, Frank.”
“Yes, you are what?” I ponder, lost. “You’ve answered before
I could ask it.”
She laughs, “Yes, I am Anna Feng.”
Ah, so that is why this feels so familiar. I fooled around
with Anna a bit back in college. We both had exes to make jealous. Of course, I
was much grander then. No one would be jealous of this intimate sojourn today.
My crown, my pompadour, may stick up here in the mountain drafts, but even it
thins and fades. She is as statuesque, brilliant. And young. As she always was.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything.” She squeezes my hand
tighter. “You are mostly glad to be close to a beautiful girl. Enjoy the
silence.”
We emerge from the wood to a sunlit mountain face over a
vast green valley, lush with flowers. The sea is beyond. The path drops from
here winding down the slopes to who knows where. Anna notices my concern.
“Here, look. The road takes some twists and turns and detours and delays but we will get where we are going eventually.”
“Eventually? Damn, that sounds a long time.” I remember
Andrea, sick at home. “So this won’t be just a little foray?”
“I wouldn’t rush it. There is much to see. Our first stop is
just ahead.”
“I need to get home. My wife—”
“We can start back if you want, or perhaps I can suggest a
short cut?” she presses something into my hand.
“No! No!” I reconsider the dangerous beauty of it all
against the dreariness of Andrea’s bedside, shut out against even the rose
arbor. “I don’t want it to end any sooner than it needs to!”
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