cremation process.”
“Ellie was very tall,” Roy said. “Long bones.”
Yak stood up and said, “Sorry about the bad news.” As he walked
away Sprout called after him.
“We still on for dinner tonight?” she said.
He nodded and disappeared around the mirrored corner.
Roy frowned. “I thought you weren’t going to spread yourself
thin.”
“I’m not,” she replied.
Of course she wasn’t sleeping with Yak. But then he caught her
gaze and realized what she meant. “Oh,” he said. There was nothing
more he could say. He could not speak. Dumb, he thought. Dumb is
right.
“What, Yak?” he finally managed.
Sprout betrayed nothing.
“Christ. You realize he hasn’t been with a woman for decades.
He’s a monk by choice, you know. Maybe you shouldn’t go trying to
change him.”
“And maybe you shouldn’t go keeping him the way he is,” she
replied. “You’re his friend. Do you want to see him live the rest of his
life like a ghost?”
“Is he the supreme challenge for you?” Roy complained, “What is
this? The Love Olympics?”
“No,” she replied, “Nothing Olympic. Just love.” She pulled away
from him, smoothed her white linen dress and walked back over to
her desk. She no longer seemed tired, driven by something beyond
her. Roy, on the other hand, could not move. The muse who led him
struggling up the mountain had finished her job and was abandoning
him in that high place all alone.
For their date, Sprout packed a picnic and took Yak up to a secret
location she used to hide out often when she was younger. “I was
mixed up in all sorts of trouble,” she said. “But I guess there’s a kind
of paradise in trouble. Made me feel important. It gave me something
to belong to.” He had hoped for someplace more public, but she
insisted, “Come on, it’ll be fun.” He started to say something evasive
but she warned, “If you say ‘Fun, what a enormous word,’ I’ll kill
you.” He only shrugged. It was good to see her happy. It felt good to
be with her.
They parked at the end of an alley in Hollywood, directly in front
ABYSSINIA
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