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At night, in bed, we held each other, we cuddled, we kissed, but ent no further Delayed gratification had never felt so good I cher­ished every ht have to de­lay theof the fifth day, the reporters were rousted by the Pico Mundo Police Departrounds that they were a pub­lic nuisance They seeo, anyway Maybe they had de­cided that Stor, as we readied for bed, Stor so beautiful that ht put the events at the mall behind me

She came to me without her blouse, naed froht hand, turned it paler

My mark is a crescent, half an inch wide, an inch and a half froainst the pink flush of my hand

Her mark is identical to ht breast If I cup her breast in the n

As we stood s at each other, I told her that I have always known hers is a tattoo This doesn’t trouble me The fact that she wanted so much to prove that we share a destiny only deepens my love for her

On the bed, under the card fro machine, we held each other chastely, but for my hand upon her breast

For me, time always seems suspended in Stormy’s apartment

In these rooet eists are lifted from me

Here I cannot be harmed

Here I know my destiny and am content with it

Here Stormy lives, and where she lives, I flourish

We slept

The followingbreakfast, someone knocked on the door When we didn’t answer, Terri Stah called loudly from the hall "It’s me, Oddie Open up It’s time to open up now"

I couldn’t say no to Terri, my mentor, my lifeline When I opened the door, I found that she hadn’t come alone The chief and Karla Porter were in the hall And Little Ozzie All the people who know ether

"We’ve been calling you," Terri said

"I figured it was reporters," I said "They won’t leave me and Stormy alone"

They came into the apartment, and Little Ozzie closed the door be­hind theet you sodog face, those sad eyes He said, "It’s got to stop now, son"

Karla brought a gift of some kind Bronze An urn She said, "Sweetheart, the coroner released her poor body These are her ashes"

SIXTY-SIX

FOR A WHILE I HADGONE MAD MADNESS RUNS IN MY fa from reality

A part of me hadknown from the moment Storering dead The truth hurt too much to accept In my condition that Wednesday afternoon, her death would have been one wound too o of this life

The dead don’t talk I don’t knohy So I spoke for Stor the past week I said for her what I knew she wanted to say I can almost read her mind We are immeasurably closer than best friends, closer thanmere lovers Stormy Llewellyn and I are each other’s destiny

In spite of his bandaged wounds, the chief held rief in his fatherly ar-roo the furniture in his direction

The chief pulled a chair close to us Karla sat on the arm of the sofa,

at my side Terri settled on the floor in front of me, one hand onI have never seen on any hu than the one hich she fa­voredo, dear boy"

I nodded, for I could not speak