So I’m not worried, not one bit.
I have no problem getting my mother’s keys and backing the car out of the garage. I pull around the circular driveway and make my way down the winding road to the street. It’s real dark, and somehow I get lost and end up driving in circles. Finally, I decide I better go home, if I can find home. Of course, Paige and Annalise don’t know where I am. They’ll be scared a serial killer got me. Then, just when I think I know where I am, this dumb light starts flashing. Reserve fuel! it says and I notice the gas gauge is down to the bottom line. It’s a no brainer. I’m out of gas. I turn onto Peachtree Street next to Bones Restaurant and head to the nearest gas station. There’s a Chevron just ahead. I don’t make it.
I wasn’t able to find one familiar landmark in the entire two hours I was driving around, but the one cop tooling down Peachtree and Piedmont has no trouble finding me.
You won’t believe what I told him.
TWENTY-FIVE
The Golden Window
Boy, am I glad to be back in the Golden Window. Miss Lily and I are having breakfast. She’s having a fine old time while I tell her what happened to me in the Silver Lining. She thinks it’s funny.
“When it was happening, I tell myself, it’s not real, you know? I mean, it would only have happened had I never died, right?”
She nods excitedly.
“But when it’s happening, it’s sooooo real, I can’t convince myself it isn’t.”
“What fun—take me with you!” she says like she’s five years old.
“I don’t think so. And believe me, it wasn’t fun.”
“Tell me what you told that nice young officer,” she says, nibbling on a croissant laced with butter.
“Oh bother,” I say. “I told him the truth.”
This part does make me laugh.
“I mean what else can I tell him? I don’t have a license. It’s one o’clock in the morning and I’ve got my mother’s Rover. Pretty obvious.
“And what did he say?” she asks.
He said I was obviously smoking something pretty powerful or was crazy. I convinced him I’d never smoked even a cigarette in my entire life, but I’d recently lost my father and was having some very bad dreams and maybe I was sleep walking, and he took me home.”
“And your mother, Lorelei. What did your mother say?” Miss Lily asks, and hands me a tall, frosty glass, filled with orange juice
“She said she planned to take me to the doctor the first thing in the morning.”
“And then?”
“She took two aspirin and took away the car keys.”
Pete shows up without warning and says to come with him.
“I want to take you ladies on a guided tour of my favorite spot,” he says
I lean over to Miss Lily. “Mum’s the word.” She nods her head, purses her lips together and gives a conspiratorial grin.
“What’s up?” Pete says, trying to sound hip.
“Just girl talk,” I say. “Where are we headed?”
“It’s a surprise. Follow me.”
We proceed, single file up a secluded staircase that drifts in and out of pink and blue puffy clouds. Pete opens a large white door with solid gold hinges. Inside are the most amazing sights and sounds you can imagine. Thousands and thousands of happy little bright-eyed babies fill a room so expansive it has no borders.
“Oh,” I squeal, and lean down to pick up a baby girl crawling at my feet. She’s got a thick head of dark curls and Bambi eyes.
Miss Lilly gently lifts a newborn from a cradle made of feathers, selects a rocking chair from an assortment nearby, and proceeds to sing the gurgling infant a lullaby.
We spend hours in this nursery holding, rocking, and playing with the babies. You could spend eternity here and never get to all of them.
“Is this where babies are picked from, when mothers give birth on earth?” I ask. I’m holding a dark-haired newborn boy, who’s wrinkly cute.
Pete’s face is very solumn.
“I’m afraid not, Lorelei,” he says.
“But?—” I’m confused. “What are all these
I have no problem getting my mother’s keys and backing the car out of the garage. I pull around the circular driveway and make my way down the winding road to the street. It’s real dark, and somehow I get lost and end up driving in circles. Finally, I decide I better go home, if I can find home. Of course, Paige and Annalise don’t know where I am. They’ll be scared a serial killer got me. Then, just when I think I know where I am, this dumb light starts flashing. Reserve fuel! it says and I notice the gas gauge is down to the bottom line. It’s a no brainer. I’m out of gas. I turn onto Peachtree Street next to Bones Restaurant and head to the nearest gas station. There’s a Chevron just ahead. I don’t make it.
I wasn’t able to find one familiar landmark in the entire two hours I was driving around, but the one cop tooling down Peachtree and Piedmont has no trouble finding me.
You won’t believe what I told him.
TWENTY-FIVE
The Golden Window
Boy, am I glad to be back in the Golden Window. Miss Lily and I are having breakfast. She’s having a fine old time while I tell her what happened to me in the Silver Lining. She thinks it’s funny.
“When it was happening, I tell myself, it’s not real, you know? I mean, it would only have happened had I never died, right?”
She nods excitedly.
“But when it’s happening, it’s sooooo real, I can’t convince myself it isn’t.”
“What fun—take me with you!” she says like she’s five years old.
“I don’t think so. And believe me, it wasn’t fun.”
“Tell me what you told that nice young officer,” she says, nibbling on a croissant laced with butter.
“Oh bother,” I say. “I told him the truth.”
This part does make me laugh.
“I mean what else can I tell him? I don’t have a license. It’s one o’clock in the morning and I’ve got my mother’s Rover. Pretty obvious.
“And what did he say?” she asks.
He said I was obviously smoking something pretty powerful or was crazy. I convinced him I’d never smoked even a cigarette in my entire life, but I’d recently lost my father and was having some very bad dreams and maybe I was sleep walking, and he took me home.”
“And your mother, Lorelei. What did your mother say?” Miss Lily asks, and hands me a tall, frosty glass, filled with orange juice
“She said she planned to take me to the doctor the first thing in the morning.”
“And then?”
“She took two aspirin and took away the car keys.”
Pete shows up without warning and says to come with him.
“I want to take you ladies on a guided tour of my favorite spot,” he says
I lean over to Miss Lily. “Mum’s the word.” She nods her head, purses her lips together and gives a conspiratorial grin.
“What’s up?” Pete says, trying to sound hip.
“Just girl talk,” I say. “Where are we headed?”
“It’s a surprise. Follow me.”
We proceed, single file up a secluded staircase that drifts in and out of pink and blue puffy clouds. Pete opens a large white door with solid gold hinges. Inside are the most amazing sights and sounds you can imagine. Thousands and thousands of happy little bright-eyed babies fill a room so expansive it has no borders.
“Oh,” I squeal, and lean down to pick up a baby girl crawling at my feet. She’s got a thick head of dark curls and Bambi eyes.
Miss Lilly gently lifts a newborn from a cradle made of feathers, selects a rocking chair from an assortment nearby, and proceeds to sing the gurgling infant a lullaby.
We spend hours in this nursery holding, rocking, and playing with the babies. You could spend eternity here and never get to all of them.
“Is this where babies are picked from, when mothers give birth on earth?” I ask. I’m holding a dark-haired newborn boy, who’s wrinkly cute.
Pete’s face is very solumn.
“I’m afraid not, Lorelei,” he says.
“But?—” I’m confused. “What are all these
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