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I walked up the steep cobblestone street toward the city again, headed toward the hotel I’d seen earlier

Checking into the Marshall House was easier than you ht-iron brace to the balcony, passed a row of eh an unlocked bathroo sure that the room was empty, I locked its door, shed my clothes, and ran a bath They even provided a fluffy robe On the counter I found a shtly screwed on that I couldn’t remove it -- until I usedwater

Into the tub I sank, and slowly let the light escape me, let myself becos and rown past my waist

I nearly fell asleep in the bath Exhausted, I toweled off, wrapped -sized bed The sheets smelled improbably of roses I dreamed of flowers, and birds, and crosswords

In the Aeneid, Virgil calls sleep "Death’s brother" To us, sleep is as close to death as we’re likely to co that

Sunlight woke h theover the balcony I sat up in bed, my mind fresh and alert for the first time in months I felt as if I’d been asleep since I left home In a second I realized how much I’d missed my orderly mind Perhaps my earlier education had some use after all, not sohtforward process First I consulted the telephone directory on the bureau; more than twenty Stephensons were listed, but no Sophie or even S

But she ht have married and taken another naht back on the little round: she’d been raised in the Savannah area, but I didn’t knohere she’d attended school I knew, or thought I knew, her for bees

I left the hotel room exactly as I’d found it, minus one small bottle of lavender bath oil The old wooden door creaked as it opened I tiptoed down the corridor and down a flight of stairs In the lobby I sat at the guests’ computer station Thanks to the hotel’s Internet access, it took me seconds to search for Savannah and honey and to find what I needed: the address and phone number of the Tybee Bee Coh the lobby as if indeed I were a paying guest

The doorman opened the front door for ," I said I slid on , in my London-tailored black trouser suit, very much the babe

Some days, it seems as if you’re one with the universe Do you feel that way, too? With every step you take, the ground rises tohair floated in the breeze behind ht

The Tybee Bee Company was situated on the outskirts of the city in a warehouse -- not a pretty place, and not easy to find Being invisible helped; I didn’t want to hitchhike, but at a gas station I slipped into the backseat of a car with a Tybee Island sticker on its rearA teenaged girl was the driver, and she headed out the Island Expressway When she neared the President Street exit, I began to whine, sounding as ine as I could She obediently pulled over, and I (andunder the car’s hood I uilty about my pranks at the time; I felt the end would justify the ht be Onlywith myself

I made myself visible for the last stretch, and I stopped twice to ask directions before I found the warehouse Inside, half a dozen young people orking One was attaching labels to tall bottles of golden honey Another packed s, and someone else used a spatula to cut squares of honeyco, but its air felt thick and sweet

They all looked up as I ca?"

A sleek woman in a suit interviewed s at the moment, but that she’d keep my application on file When I filled out the paperwork, I said I was eighteen, and I left the address section blank I explained that I was en route to visit a relative I asked if she’d known o

She said, "I’ve only been here a year You may want to talk to the owner He’s out on Oatland Island with the bees"

One of the packagers lived on the island and was headed home for lunch, so she drove e of a nature preserve, near an old wooden boat that rested on cement blocks She pointed them out, then turned to head back to her car

"I’m afraid of bees," she said, over her shoulder "Walk slowly, and they should leave you alone"

Thus warned, I moved across a laard the hives, which looked fro cabinets Awhat seeround next to hi pine-scented smoke I ca me out, then fleay A steady stream of bee traffic came and went from the hives The sky had clouded over, and the place was utterly still but for the sound of bees

The beekeeper turned to look at me He slid the drawer back into the cabinet, then motioned me back toward the boat When we’d reached it, he pulled off his hood and veil "That’s better," he said "The girls are a little wild today"

He had a shock of pure white hair and eyes the color of aqua-ean with an old encyclopedia at hoems: jade, aquamarine, cat’s-eye, emerald, moon-stone, peridot, ruby, tourmaline, and , unsubtle But the sapphire’s six-legged ivory star radiated against a Prussian blue background like fireworks or lightning in a night sky Years later, I saw a real star sapphire, and it proved even ehostly sea creature surfacing in deep water, thanks to an optical phenomenon called asterism I pored over the descriptions of the stones and their y, which included a "chart of blood relations," explaining how a great-grandparent ultimately connected to a first cousin once-re chart -- a series of small circles, connected by lines -- will always be associated for emstones

"You’re not fro

I introducedmy real name for the first time in months "I think my mother worked for you," I said "Sara Stephenson?"