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They did not care one whit about the dead brother (his name was Fox, by the way, and the last name of my beautiful child is best left unmentioned)

In fact if this text ever sees the light of the real world, you're bound to change both her first name and that of Benjamin

However, that's not es, except that they are very much for her, as I mentioned to you before, and if I'm allowed to title them I think it will be Symphony for Sybelle

Not, please understand, that I love Benji no less It's only that I haven't the sa for hireat and adventurous life, no matter what should befall me or Sybelle, or even the ti Bedouin nature He is a true child of the tents and the blowing sands, though in his case, the house was a dismal cinder block hovel on the outskirts of Jerusalem where he induced tourists to pose for overpriced pictures with hi camel

He'd been flat out kidnapped by Fox under the felonious tere for which Fox paid Benji's father five thousand dollars A fabricated eain He'd been the genius of the tribe, without doubt, hadhome and had learnt in the New York streets to steal, sh he swore up and down he couldn't read, it turned out that he could, and began to do so obsessively just as soon as I started throwing books at him

In fact, he could read English, Hebrew and Arabic, having read all three in the newspapers of his homeland since before he could remember

He loved taking care of Sybelle He saw to it that she ate, drank ed her clothes when none of these routine tasks interested her He prided himself on the fact that he could by his wits obtain for her whatever she needed, no matter what happened to her

He was the frontnormal talk at the front desk, which included remarkably finespun lies about the whereabouts of the dead Fox, who had becoa a fabulous world traveler and arapher; he handled the piano tuner, as called as often as once a week because the piano stood by the , exposed to sun and cold, and also because Sybelle did indeed pound it with the fury that would indeed have ireat Beethoven He spoke on the phone to the bank, all of whose personnel thought he was his older brother, David, pronounced Dahveed, and then made the requisite calls at the teller'sfor cash as little Benjamin

I was convinced within nights of talking with hiive hiivenhis choice of universities, professions or a substance I didn't overplayof boarding schools for hiold-buttoned blue blazer-wearing American East Coast social conquistador

I love hih to tear lier on him

But between me and Sybelle there lies a sympathy which sometimes eludes mortals and immortals for the space of their entire lives I know Sybelle I know her I knew her when I first heard her play, and I know her now, and I wouldn't be here with you if she were not under the protection of Marius I will during the space of Sybelle's life never be parted fro she can ever ask of ive

I will endure unspeakable anguish when Sybelle inevitably dies But that has to be borne I have no choice now in the matter I am not the creature I hen I laid eyes on Veronica's Veil, when I stepped into the sun

I am someone else, and that someone else has fallen deeply and coo back on it

Of course I a happier than I have ever been in th fro these two as my co but utterly accidental

Sybelle is not insane She is nowhere near it, and I fancy that I understand her perfectly Sybelle is obsessed with one thing, and that is playing the piano From the first ti else And her "career," as so generously planned for her by her proud parents and by the burningly a to her