The key…

I dream about that fucking key.

It hangs on its nail. When she’s here and the light’s on full, the tarnished brass a dull yellow: winking golden-green when it’s just me and the lighting’s reduced. The camera light blinks reflections from it:

On… Off… On… Off…

Occasionally I find myself staring at it, counting the blinks… 27… 28… 29…

It’s not as if there’s anything better to do. When a blinking light is the highlight of the entertainment…

933… 934… 935…

Christ!

Am I so reduced that I can reach 1,000 without even realising I was getting there?

Think of something else…

What?

Something good…

A good memory…

Mitch…

When I first knew you…

She dances for me… Kicking off her heels, in her bare feet, she dances.

She wears a dress in teal-green silk, which rustles and whispers as she moves. And her long hair is a cloud of red around her as she sways and shimmies to the music, her green eyes shining.

She reaches for me, her long pale arms outstretched, and laughing for sheer joy. Taking her in my arms, one hand at her shoulder, the other nested at the base of her spine, we dance smoothly and slowly to the quiet, easy music.

So close to me, she smells of that perfume she wears. It rises from within the silk like a drug, and like a drugged man, I stoop to lift her and to carry her to the bed...

It all went wrong… so quickly… so soon after that…

All my fault…

You ran from me for years…

And then…

Miracle…

gave yourself to

on my chest

I’ve never wanted anything

Oh, God…

I had it…

gotten there. After a fucking lifetime,

The people I hurt.

The lives I ruined…

Mitch…

Jenny…

have guessed justice would come from such a

*****

Richard

I join

cradled in his hands, steaming in the chill morning air, matching the one in

sit, looking down the sweep of the mountain. “Amazing

at it. Especially this time of the day, when

the rising sun slants silver fingers through curling fronds of mist. As we

to call it ‘The Breath of

“It is indeed.”

back over

and Elizabeth are sitting with Mitch; trying to stay cheerful; trying to bring her

“… and not succeeding?”

looking at her, but the moment she thinks she’s alone, she just sits, staring into

teeth. “Yeah… That’s how I see it too.” He shakes his head. “She’s so unhappy. Who would have ever believed Lawrence Klempner

think even he

huffs and nods. “True.” He sucks at his mug, swallows and lets out air. “What we need

to stop Mitch wondering if she’s

“That’s it exactly.”

“Any suggestions?”

his head. “Not a clue. I mean, two new babies in the house and another on the way… If that’s

“You’ve got me there.”

comes the rumble of a car engine, then the squeak of

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