Chapter 150: The Loss Of Innocence, Part 16, Twenty-Six Years Ago, Where is She?

KLEMPNER

In the guest room, the single I slept in is as I left it, the blankets rumpled, the sheet thrown back from when she invited me to sleep with her.

Let-down gnaws at me.

Did I offend her that much?

With a gift?

Glumly, I head back out where the taxi driver stands leaning against his vehicle blowing smoke rings into the evening air.

He humps my case into the back again. "Where to, Boss?"

I give him Mitch's old address; that dingy apartment which, apparently, she prefers to all that I offered her...

Gave her...

The taxi pulls away, the garish harbour lights irritating me with their dazzle.

What do I say to her?

Hi... you just flushed my gift down the drain...

As we pull up again, I look up, reflexively seeking her window. Again, it's in darkness. I check my watch.

Headed out...?

Working again?

The cabbie twists in his seat. "Want me to wait again?"

"Please, yes."