Sleeping in Flame Read Online Free PDF

looked like prayer, or mourning.
    Nicholas looked at me and gestured with his head for us to go. We got up at the same time and went for the door. I turned there and looked back into the room. Uschi looked up, smiled briefly, and then turned her attention back to her friend.
    3.
    The next morning I woke to an almost total loss of memory of what had happened the day before. It was only when I was pulling on my pants that everything came back in such a Page 13

    Technicolor rush that I could only stand there and look blankly at the wall across the room.
    I don't know why this lapse occurred, but I had a hunch. Seven hours before my mind, like the rest of my body, had also dropped all of its
    "clothes" on the floor before crawling wearily into bed. Overtired by all the things the day had demanded it take in, or consider, reject, memorize . . . my brain had simply had enough and wanted some empty hours to itself. And like a heavy drinker the morning after, it rose to the call of the day only because it had to.
    Orlando broke through my remembrances of things past. Standing in his magenta cat box in the bathroom, he loudly announced that it was time for breakfast, since he had already finished his morning ablutions, etcetera.
    I walked barefoot into the kitchen and opened him a can of something tasty. One good thing about Orlando; he wasn't a picky eater. Avocadoes or raw liver were his favorites, but he made a happy meal of almost anything I put in his bowl. He always ate very slowly, pausing sometimes between bites to think about what he was eating. If you said something to him while he was chewing, his mouth would stop moving and, blind though he was, he would look in your direction and wait for you to finish before he went on.
    While preparing my own coffee and toast, I ran yesterday through my mind: backward, forward, and lots of stop-action. It reminded me of an athlete reviewing previous game movies in order to spot both his opponents' and his own weaknesses and slip-ups.
    When the phone rang, I was thinking about something Maris had said to me on the plane trip home. "Today has been the kind of day that tires you out the rest of your life."
    The phone had rung four times before I picked it up.
    "Walker, have you called her yet?"
    "No. Should I?"
    "Of course! Don't you know how lonely and frightened she is?"
    "Nicholas, it's nine in the morning! I don't think she's lonely and frightened yet. Listen, we talked about this, but I'm going to ask again: Is it really all right with you if I ask her out?"
    "Absolutely. I know what you're thinking, but we really never went very far. Don't be paranoid before you begin."
    Before I called I brushed my teeth.
    "Hello, Maris? This is Walker Easterling."
    "Hi! I just got back five minutes ago. I went out and bought everything I need to camp out here indefinitely: a toothbrush, soap, and mascara. I even went to a toy store and bought a couple of LEGO sets."
    "LEGO? What do you do with that?"
    "Didn't Nicholas tell you? That's what I work with. I do LEGO
    constructions. I build cities with them. LEGO, balsa wood, sometimes papier-mâché. I'll show you sometime. I build my own cities for a living and people actually buy them."
    "Do you show in galleries?"
    "Oh yes. I had a big one in Bremen a while ago; sold almost everything.
    It made me so happy and lazy that I didn't do anything for two months. Then I realized I had run out of money and it was time to start working again.
    Unfortunately, that's when Luc started in on me."
    "Maris, do you have any free time today? Can I treat you to a coffee or lunch?"
    "I was going to ask you the same thing."
    "Really? Do you think we could do it now? I waited breakfast, hoping you'd say you were hungry."
    We met a half hour later on the Graben. One of Vienna's main walking streets, it is always a nice place to be, full of relaxed strollers, outdoor cafés, chic stores. I arrived early and, on impulse, Page 14

    walked into the Godiva candy store and