“But it’s not all peaches and cream for Ondine,” I pointed out. When the world you’re living in is bogus.” “Is that possible? Happy is happy, isn’t it? How can you be too happy?” “I got my own copy and read it in one sitting. “The book you were reading in the library that day.”
You were a dark, shadowy figure, but I knew it was you-and then it wasn’t you, it was Ondine, and then you again, and Ondine, back and forth….” “-and I was watching you under the water. Eventually I took a deep breath…“I dreamed about you one night.” I think I was making a statement, but I have no idea what it was. Still staring at him, I reached down and pulled off my sandals and tossed them aside. In spite of what he had just said, we both seemed to understand that this was not the time to talk. So I sat down, cross-legged, on the warm, papery surface of the roof, about five feet from him. The closer I came to him, the clearer it became that the angles were all wrong. When I thought I was under control, I did the hardest thing of all: I took a step forward.
Until then I hadn’t realized what a fragile state I was in. It was all I could do not to burst out bawling. I’ve never felt so brittle, so defenseless. I don’t know how long I stood there, trying to compose myself. Who do you think you are, some chief nun or something?” “Well, what do you want? You just want to watch me sleep?”