A Letter from Paradise, Part 5

    5. New York, New York (and Points East).

    The plane ride was so smoky I half expected the oxygen masks to drop or
the captain to announce an emergency landing. Laurie and I were as much to
blame as anyone.

    Niles had booked us a suite at the Plaza Hotel, complete with a working
fireplace, and we spent a delightful evening in the Oyster Bar restaurant and
a king-sized bed (which seemed rather cramped to me).

    The next morning we grabbed a cab down to 33rd, and sure enough, it was
there. Identical building. same sign, same wrought-iron fence with gate, sane
short flight of steps down to the half-sunken first floor shop. And yes, they
were open.

    I felt a sense of excitement and glee as I twisted the knob and entered.
Laurie paused a brief second before following. I noticed the familiar smoky
air, the maze-like shelves seemingly holding the exact same items, the class
case, the curtained doorway. I pointed at the bell on the counter.

    "Would you like to do the honors?" I asked.

    Laurie didn't hesitate. She slapped the bell.

    An indistinct hand swept the red velvet curtain aside. From the opaquely
smoke-filled room beyond, a silhouette appeared, gradually darkening as the
figure advanced. At first, it looked distinctly male, as tall as I was, in
pants and with sort hair.

    But as the figure advanced it shortened. Hair sprang forth in waves, and
the pants belled out into full skirts. When she reached the counter, I saw it
was Natalia, the 60-year-old woman whom, I supposed, ran the shop. I had hoped
for her daughter or granddaughter, but with Laurie here, perhaps it was just a
well.

    Laurie turned to me and said, "Sexist!" What, now mind reading? Natalia
saved us from a scene.

    "Mr. Grant, Miss Banning, welcome to my wagon." Again her accent reminded
me of old vampire and werewolf flicks. "It has been long for you, Miss
Banning."

    "Yes," said Laurie meekly. Natalia could do that to a person.

    Things became more relaxed after the inevitable lighting up all around,
and we contributed to the stratified layers of smoke hanging in the shop air.
I asked Natalia why she had moved to New York.

    "Because this is where we are needed just now." And that, I found, would
have to suffice.

    I asked where Giorgio was , remembering the threesome Laurie had met.

    "This is a family business, Mr. Grant. It is also, however, a sole
proprietorship." I'll let you guys try to figure that one out.

    Eventually the subject came around to our summons.

    "There is need for ones who are brave. Ones who have earned their places.
And ones who would risk much to preserve what they have earned." This was
delivered in Natalia's official intonation. I didn't much like the sound of
it, if Laurie was to be involved. Or me either, for that matter. When it came
right down to it, heroism and daring-do were not part of my self image.

    Laurie spoke first. "What kind of risk?" Her voice was steadier than mine
would have been just then.

    "It is the ones who oppose all human pleasure. Those who prefer pain. You
have met them before, even if you did not see them. They have a target." Only
Natalia could make these sorts of speeches and not sound hokey as hell. Beside
me, Laurie was exhaling an immense triple-pump, as though trying to make
Natalia vanish in the haze.

    "What target?" I asked.

    "Not a what, a who. And I do not know. But I can send you to this person."

    "So we can save...him or her from the bad guys?" I was starting to get my
bearings again, and I was intrigued. Lots of old action movies were playing
inside my head. Ah-nuld Grant, at your service.

    "Succinctly put," said Natalia.

    "And we both must go?" I asked.

    "It must be two, a man and woman who have shared love. I do not know why."

    Laurie now seemed the one in a haze, as she nervously puffed on her
cigarette. She looked at me, her eyes glistening. "Grant?" she spoke, and a
plea was in her eyes. Whether it was to say "yes" or "no," I couldn't tell.

    Laurie, as usual, decided it for us. With an almost involuntary slowness,
she opened her purse and withdrew her battered, empty, bullet-marked Zippo and
laid it on the counter. I took an identical lighter from my pocket and laid it
beside hers.

    Natalia did want to give us the chance to change our minds. "Very good,"
she said, took the lighters, and vanished into the back room.

    Laurie and I stared into each other's eyes. We didn't speak; there seemed
nothing to say that wouldn't be trite or false. Neither of us, I think, knew
what was in the mind of the other at that moment.

    A moment was all it was, for Natalia, still herself, had returned with the
lighters. She handed one to each of us.

    "Listen, children." We did. We didn't have a choice, now. "You must act as
one for the leave-taking." She walked around the counter and placed a
cigarette in each of our mouths, and positioned us about a foot apart. She
placed my left hand in Laurie's. I clasped it with what I hoped was a
reassuring pressure.

    "Now," she said, speaking to me. :You must move as she, and she as you.
When the flame is struck, the journey begins. When the flame touches the
cigarette, it ends. If one ignites before the other, you may be separated."

    That sounded permanent. Could we do this? Could I? If I blew it, I could
lose her. I began to sweat. Suddenly this sounded like a very bad idea. But, I
could not release her hand.

    Slowly, I opened my lighter with my right hand, trying to set a speed for
Laurie to follow. She matched me move-for-move, as if we had practiced.

    "You do not need the full ritual to return," Natalia was saying. "If one
needs to return before the other, there is no risk." Somehow, I was not
reassured. "Do not use the instruments again before you are ready to return.

    "God go with you."

    We thumbed the lighters as one.

    Click/click.

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