even came up to see me a couple of weekends. Fortunately for me she stopped coming; otherwise, what with one thing and another, I am not sure I would ever have made it back to Italy.
It seems, dear Abelard, that women like that aren’t as rare as you might think.
I doubt that you have ever met a woman like that. Otherwise, conceited as you are, you would have told me all about it. But if you ever do, I would advise you to run the other way. If you are ever at the pitch of excitement and someone screams “Help me, Abelard, you’re killing me!” stop at once and let her die. Remember Lorenza! She takes flowers to the cemetery for two husbands, and her third husband was miraculously saved by running off with a flamenco dancer.
END OF THE INTERMEZZO BETWEEN CHAPTER THIRTEEN AND CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
The last three chapters are letteredX, Y, and Z. When funding ran out, the scholars investigating the story of Heloise and George had to abandon their research. Aside from the facts given in these chapters, which are the strict truth, what little else is known is fragmentary
.
George looked out of the airplane window and saw the coast of Maine to his right. It was the first sight of land after an endless sea of clouds. George could not remember a cloudless Atlantic crossing, and every time he had happened to be on one of these airlifts, he wondered if all that rain would pour out one day and drown Europe. Before he knew Heloise, he had often imagined himself as the skipper of an enormous ark loaded with all kinds of animals. And usually the last two human beings to embark were women, a blond and a brunette. He would give them an austere welcome-aboard that betrayed none of his cunning in wanting them both on ship. Once the flood started, the approaching end and his great charm would do the rest.
Now he smiled at the thought of the imaginary games he used to play for whole lazy days at a time. He had never confessed them to his spiritual father, though it did occur to him that he might be commiting a mortal sin. His religion showed the same severity toward thoughts, words, and actions. Essentially he agreed about actions, but he was less sure about words. And he never understood what thoughts had to do with it, so he saw no reason to be a stickler about them.
He noticed that Heloise was sleeping peacefully and decided not to wake her, though he would have liked her to see the coast. In another hour they would land in New York, the capital of the empire,
George had wonderful memories of the years he had lived there with his aunt from Alabama, It was clearer to him now that New York always made him feel as if he were in love. The city’s rough edges and something very human in its asymmetry always evoked strong, deep feelings in him. His aunt had a small apartment on Sixty-third Street, between Fifth and Madison. He had never strayed far into the park, and rarely did he go farther east than Second Avenue or farther south than Forty-fifth Street. He was so fond of the neighborhood that he didn’t need any place else, though he was fully aware of the many areas that made up the immensity he knew as Manhattan. Every time he went to New York, it was enough to breathe deep in the dry air. He was as happy strolling within the precincts of those four streets as he would have been walking along a friendly valley surrounded by high mountains.
Now he longed to share all this with Heloise. They would gaily run down the cracked pavements of Lexington Avenue hand in hand. The minute they let go, they would feel as anguished as if they were saying farewell at the edge of a desert, and they -would be overwhelmed by the sight of the towering skyscrapers along Sixth Avenue. He wondered if she would be as awestruck as he by the Gothic steel pillars of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. They would laugh a lot, cozy and warm in the protective embrace of the city of man.
Then Heloise stirred. She opened her eyes and smiled. “When do we
It seems, dear Abelard, that women like that aren’t as rare as you might think.
I doubt that you have ever met a woman like that. Otherwise, conceited as you are, you would have told me all about it. But if you ever do, I would advise you to run the other way. If you are ever at the pitch of excitement and someone screams “Help me, Abelard, you’re killing me!” stop at once and let her die. Remember Lorenza! She takes flowers to the cemetery for two husbands, and her third husband was miraculously saved by running off with a flamenco dancer.
END OF THE INTERMEZZO BETWEEN CHAPTER THIRTEEN AND CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
The last three chapters are letteredX, Y, and Z. When funding ran out, the scholars investigating the story of Heloise and George had to abandon their research. Aside from the facts given in these chapters, which are the strict truth, what little else is known is fragmentary
.
George looked out of the airplane window and saw the coast of Maine to his right. It was the first sight of land after an endless sea of clouds. George could not remember a cloudless Atlantic crossing, and every time he had happened to be on one of these airlifts, he wondered if all that rain would pour out one day and drown Europe. Before he knew Heloise, he had often imagined himself as the skipper of an enormous ark loaded with all kinds of animals. And usually the last two human beings to embark were women, a blond and a brunette. He would give them an austere welcome-aboard that betrayed none of his cunning in wanting them both on ship. Once the flood started, the approaching end and his great charm would do the rest.
Now he smiled at the thought of the imaginary games he used to play for whole lazy days at a time. He had never confessed them to his spiritual father, though it did occur to him that he might be commiting a mortal sin. His religion showed the same severity toward thoughts, words, and actions. Essentially he agreed about actions, but he was less sure about words. And he never understood what thoughts had to do with it, so he saw no reason to be a stickler about them.
He noticed that Heloise was sleeping peacefully and decided not to wake her, though he would have liked her to see the coast. In another hour they would land in New York, the capital of the empire,
George had wonderful memories of the years he had lived there with his aunt from Alabama, It was clearer to him now that New York always made him feel as if he were in love. The city’s rough edges and something very human in its asymmetry always evoked strong, deep feelings in him. His aunt had a small apartment on Sixty-third Street, between Fifth and Madison. He had never strayed far into the park, and rarely did he go farther east than Second Avenue or farther south than Forty-fifth Street. He was so fond of the neighborhood that he didn’t need any place else, though he was fully aware of the many areas that made up the immensity he knew as Manhattan. Every time he went to New York, it was enough to breathe deep in the dry air. He was as happy strolling within the precincts of those four streets as he would have been walking along a friendly valley surrounded by high mountains.
Now he longed to share all this with Heloise. They would gaily run down the cracked pavements of Lexington Avenue hand in hand. The minute they let go, they would feel as anguished as if they were saying farewell at the edge of a desert, and they -would be overwhelmed by the sight of the towering skyscrapers along Sixth Avenue. He wondered if she would be as awestruck as he by the Gothic steel pillars of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. They would laugh a lot, cozy and warm in the protective embrace of the city of man.
Then Heloise stirred. She opened her eyes and smiled. “When do we
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