Metro Winds Read Online Free PDF

strangeness of the fact that she had not been beautiful until this morning. Fortunately a waiter chose that moment to lay a starched napkin in her lap, preventing any response.
    â€˜This terrible heat,’ she said, when he had departed with their orders.
    But her friend ignored the warning tone. Or perhaps he did not notice it, for he was still studying the girl. ‘It is interesting to think that with lips a little less full and eyes a tiny bit closer together, you would not be beautiful at all,’ he said. ‘Such a thin line between ugliness and beauty.’
    â€˜Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,’ the aunt said firmly. But her friend gave a laugh.
    â€˜Yes, and inner beauty is more important than outer fairness. I know all of that and of course it’s true, but my dear, the child is exquisite, and her life will be shaped by that because, regardless of what people say, humans revere beauty. Something in us is thrilled by it. Aren’t you thrilled by her?’
    The aunt glanced involuntarily at the girl and thought that she was more frightened by her impossible radiance, which surely had grown since the morning.
    â€˜We who are not and never have been beautiful must be a little envious as well,’ the friend went on. ‘Few are pure enough to simply worship at the altar of beauty. For the rest of us, there is some cruelty in our makeup that makes us want to shred and smash it even as we adore it. Which is why it is dangerous to be too beautiful.’
    The aunt made a business of buttering a roll for herself and offered one to the girl, but her friend would not be diverted. ‘You were very pretty and your sister was what one would call handsome,’ he said pensively. ‘But this girl surpasses all of those lesser forms. Is your father very beautiful?’ he asked her directly.
    The girl thought a little and then said composedly, ‘He is very clever and when he is thinking about his work, he is sometimes beautiful.’
    He laughed aloud in delight. ‘What a sophisticate! My dear, you must be so pleased.’
    This to the aunt who did not know what she was supposed to be pleased about. A certain vexation began to show in the wrinkles rimming her eyes. ‘How is your salad, dear?’ she asked the girl determinedly.

    Over dessert, the friend clutched at his chest and made a strangled noise. The aunt knew he had a heart condition and cried out for the waiter to summon the friend’s driver. She did not call an ambulance, knowing that he thought them vulgar, and in any case they were notoriously slow. Waiting, she massaged her friend’s wrists and temples and was sorry to have been angry with him. After all, it was true that the girl had by now become almost unbearably exquisite. She noticed that two storm clouds shaped like long-fingered hands were reaching out towards one another, closing the blue sky in a black grip. She had never seen such a thing and, fearing it was an ill omen for her friend, she thrust some notes into the girl’s hand and bade her catch a taxi home.
    â€˜I may be some time,’ she said, climbing into the black car after the friend. Only as the car pulled away and she glanced back, did the aunt see that the dark hands were clasping directly behind the girl, as if the sky itself would pray for her, or crush her. It was too late to stop the car, and she would have been a fool to do so, for of course it was an absurd fancy.
    She turned with relief to wipe the brow of her ailing friend.

    The girl watched the car until it was out of sight, then she looked around for a taxi. There was none to be seen and the waiter had gone back into the restaurant. She decided to walk until she saw one, since there was no need for haste. No one was expecting her. She walked three blocks, then five. Thirsty, she stopped to have an orange pressé in an outdoor café. Nearby were two young men talking and smoking; one was half lying on his