a movie...and a Book Read Online Free PDF Page A

stars.
    “I know a story.”
    “So tell it,” said Lou.
    “But it’s scary.”
    “I’m ready.”
    “But I’m not sure if I am. Will you comfort me if I get scared?”
    “I might, and I might not,” said Lou.
    “What do you mean?” asked Liz.
    “Nothing. But we can hold hands if you get scared,” Lou said casually.
    “You’re pretty aloof sometimes. Why is that? Do you dislike me?”
    “I’m not aloof. I’m just not the guy that hugs everyone on first sight, that’s all.”
    “What kind of guy are you, then?”
    “I don’t know. I like people physically at the same distance that I have them mentally, I guess. I don’t see the point in being all close to someone physically while only making small talk.”
    “I’m sorry that I appear to be a small-talk person to you.”
    “It has nothing to do with you.”
    Liz started to smile, then started to say something, then thought better of it. Her smile faded for a moment while she seemed to concentrate on a thought.
    After a moment she said, “All right,” and her face lit up again. “Let me tell you a good-night story. Take it as an act of charity to your cold and lonesome heart.”
    A spell of silence followed.
    “What about the story?” Lou asked.
    Liz began as if Lou hadn’t said anything. “It’s the story of the guy with the cold heart,” she said, hiding her pride in the darkness.
    “Ha, ha. You’re so funny.”
    She dismissed his comment and continued: “It all started somewhere in a small village where the guy with the cold heart grew up. When he was a little boy, his parents used to go hiking with their friends. These friends had a daughter, and she was the only normal person in the world.
    “The only normal person in the world was very stubborn and she didn’t like hiking at all, but she was very fond of the older guy with the cold heart. So when he was there too, she walked over every imaginable mountain, partially to be near him and partially to impress him. But it was in vain—you couldn’t impress the guy with the cold heart so easily.
    “Over the years they grew apart. They saw each other in the village sometimes, but the guy with the cold heart wasn’t very friendly. After about ten years he didn’t even recognize her anymore . . . too cold was his heart,” she pointed out, trying to observe Lou. But she didn’t see his smile.
    She continued, “Then something happened—something very atypical for the guy with the cold heart. He met her again by accident and they started to speak. They talked about their childhood, and time passed very quickly. They realized that both were interested in sailing, and the unbelievable happened: the guy with the cold heart invited her for a day on his father’s boat. To this day no one knows why he invited her, but rumor has it that he did it because he secretly liked her, though he has denied that vehemently.” Once again she tried to read his expression, but it was too dark out.
    She thought for a moment, then was about to continue but stopped before the first word was out. She thought a little longer, then said, “They met a couple of times to sail. Then something mysterious happened.” All of a sudden her playful mood changed and some fear crept into her voice. “They were out at sea. It was a normal day, not dangerously stormy or anything . . . And the next thing they knew they were stranded with a torn rubber boat on a small island.”
    Lou didn’t say anything. He was thinking.
    “It’s pretty strange what happened, isn’t it?”
    “Yes.”
    “What could it have been? Do you think the sailboat started to burn and we somehow rescued ourselves in the small boat, only half conscious, and then fell in a coma from the smoke or something?”
    “Possibly.”
    “Or do you think there is some magical force out there that transports people to different places? Or are we dead and this is just an illusion?”
    “I don’t know,” said Lou.
    “It’s pretty scary.”
    “I don’t