not that cold hmm and he steps inside and closes the glass door gently and walks thinking of Daniel poor child through the studio past the wooden man but just as he reaches for the studio door a savage raging pain explodes in his chest so suddenly and cruelly that it knocks him to his knees and only by shooting his arms out blindly and landing on his hands does he avoid smashing his face on the floor.
O May he thinks faintly from far far away.
He can’t breathe uh uh uh uh uh uh gasping uh uh uh uh but desperately raggedly he gains a half a breath uh uh uh and gulping uh uh a whole one uh uh then another uh and greedily aah he fills aaah his lungs as deeply as he can aaaah he would eat all the air in the room if he could aaaaah he would suck it dry the blessed air aaaaah and somehow the friendly air aaaaah forces the fire in his chest down aaahh and the rage retreats snarling aaah and he kneels there by the wooden man aaaah breathing aaah his shoulders shaking aah his knees throbbing ah his sweat dripping freely to the floor ah his mind whispering May o May o May.
4.
In the last few minutes before dawn when the world is a muted pearl moist and poised Sara’s hands warm and eager draw Michael into her and they kiss gently and he slides into her gently and they make love gently her eyes closed and his open and then they lay cupped facing east so Sara can watch the curtain rise on the world. His arm a blanket on her arm gently.
Tell me more about your man Puccini, she says into her pillow.
Really?
Yes really.
Hmm. Well, his sister Iginia …
Shh. Whisper.
His sister Iginia, he whispers, entered a convent when she was nine years old and lived the rest of her life cloistered at the foot of a mountain, but they were very close and they loved each other dearly and when Giacomo was rich and famous he would come to visit her and hand her his wallet and she would take whatever she thought the convent needed. That story always stayed in my mind. He hands over the wallet without a second thought. He was a lout sometimes but never with his sisters.
That’s sweet.
And Iginia told him stories too one of which he turned into a piece of music, about a beautiful nun who dies young.
What was her name?
Angelica. Isn’t that lovely?
II
Shhh.
If we have another girl we can name her Angelica.
Or Albina, for Puccini’s mother.
You remembered! I thought you were asleep.
Shh. What would you name a boy?
Giacomo?
No.
No?
No.
James?
Shh.
Giacomo is James in Italian.
Okay.
James?
James or Albina.
Deal.
Deal.
Do we need to be so sure about names right this very minute?
Yes.
5.
Maple Head looks at the clock again and decides enough is enough. She takes one loaf of bread and puts it on the windowsill with a note for Cedar and takes the other loaf and a bottle of wine and floats down to the Department of Public Works. The night is velvet and still. An owl wheedles in the woods. She floats over the path. The owl floats silently overhead. She worries. The owl lands in a big cedar. She decides not to worry. The owl hunkers and fluffs. She floats over the path. The owl is still. The wine bottle bumps against the bread against her back as she floats over the path.
She slips in the front door of the shaggy dark building.
Billy?
She floats through the cavernous dark central workspace of the building where the truck and tools are where she keeps wine glasses and candles for when Billy is working late.
Cedar?
She slips into the warren of little offices in the rear of the building.
Nora?
Sees the wooden man half made and half darker than the dark.
Billy?
Sees her husband on the floor sitting smiling in the dark.
Billy!
O May o May.
What happened?
I had … an adventure.
She is on her knees cupping his face in her hands.
Your heart?
Yeh.
Bad?
Yuh.
Still? Now?
No, no. It’s gone now. I couldn’t catch my breath there for a long while though.
She runs her hands through his hair and feels the sweat his fear
O May he thinks faintly from far far away.
He can’t breathe uh uh uh uh uh uh gasping uh uh uh uh but desperately raggedly he gains a half a breath uh uh uh and gulping uh uh a whole one uh uh then another uh and greedily aah he fills aaah his lungs as deeply as he can aaaah he would eat all the air in the room if he could aaaaah he would suck it dry the blessed air aaaaah and somehow the friendly air aaaaah forces the fire in his chest down aaahh and the rage retreats snarling aaah and he kneels there by the wooden man aaaah breathing aaah his shoulders shaking aah his knees throbbing ah his sweat dripping freely to the floor ah his mind whispering May o May o May.
4.
In the last few minutes before dawn when the world is a muted pearl moist and poised Sara’s hands warm and eager draw Michael into her and they kiss gently and he slides into her gently and they make love gently her eyes closed and his open and then they lay cupped facing east so Sara can watch the curtain rise on the world. His arm a blanket on her arm gently.
Tell me more about your man Puccini, she says into her pillow.
Really?
Yes really.
Hmm. Well, his sister Iginia …
Shh. Whisper.
His sister Iginia, he whispers, entered a convent when she was nine years old and lived the rest of her life cloistered at the foot of a mountain, but they were very close and they loved each other dearly and when Giacomo was rich and famous he would come to visit her and hand her his wallet and she would take whatever she thought the convent needed. That story always stayed in my mind. He hands over the wallet without a second thought. He was a lout sometimes but never with his sisters.
That’s sweet.
And Iginia told him stories too one of which he turned into a piece of music, about a beautiful nun who dies young.
What was her name?
Angelica. Isn’t that lovely?
II
Shhh.
If we have another girl we can name her Angelica.
Or Albina, for Puccini’s mother.
You remembered! I thought you were asleep.
Shh. What would you name a boy?
Giacomo?
No.
No?
No.
James?
Shh.
Giacomo is James in Italian.
Okay.
James?
James or Albina.
Deal.
Deal.
Do we need to be so sure about names right this very minute?
Yes.
5.
Maple Head looks at the clock again and decides enough is enough. She takes one loaf of bread and puts it on the windowsill with a note for Cedar and takes the other loaf and a bottle of wine and floats down to the Department of Public Works. The night is velvet and still. An owl wheedles in the woods. She floats over the path. The owl floats silently overhead. She worries. The owl lands in a big cedar. She decides not to worry. The owl hunkers and fluffs. She floats over the path. The owl is still. The wine bottle bumps against the bread against her back as she floats over the path.
She slips in the front door of the shaggy dark building.
Billy?
She floats through the cavernous dark central workspace of the building where the truck and tools are where she keeps wine glasses and candles for when Billy is working late.
Cedar?
She slips into the warren of little offices in the rear of the building.
Nora?
Sees the wooden man half made and half darker than the dark.
Billy?
Sees her husband on the floor sitting smiling in the dark.
Billy!
O May o May.
What happened?
I had … an adventure.
She is on her knees cupping his face in her hands.
Your heart?
Yeh.
Bad?
Yuh.
Still? Now?
No, no. It’s gone now. I couldn’t catch my breath there for a long while though.
She runs her hands through his hair and feels the sweat his fear
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