Page 2 of Three Times You

“Step? Where are you? Don’t leave me here alone! I’m afraid…”I took her hands, and she jerked in surprise.

“It’s only me.”

She recognized me and relaxed, smiling again. “The crazy thing is that, when I’m with you, I’d let you do anything.”

“That sounds good!”

“Idiot!” She flailed out blindly but finally made contact with my shoulder and let loose with a good hard punch.

“Ouch! You pack a mean set of knuckles!”

“Serves you right! All I meant is that it’s crazy to think I’m here. We broke a window to get in, and I didn’t say a thing. Obviously, I trust you.”

“Isn’t that a wonderful thing? To put yourself into someone else’s hands, ignore your doubts? I think it’s the finest thing on earth.”

“What about you? Do you trust me?”

For a moment, I said nothing, gazing at her face, half-hidden behind that bandanna. Then I watched as she drew herself erect, perhaps disappointed at my silence. Strong, independent, alone.

So I made up my mind to open my heart to her. “Yes, it’s the same for me. I’ve given myself to you, body and soul.

“And it’s a beautiful thing.”

***

“So, may I ask? What are you thinking about? Come back to earth. Cheer up. After all, you just bought the house you wanted, didn’t you?”

“You’re right. I was just falling back in time. I was thinking about the things you say when you’re swept away by emotion. It’s crazy, but I feel as if I’ve been here before, lived this moment at some previous time. Absurd, I know.”

“Oh, sure, a déjà vu! The same thing happens to me.”

He locks arms with me and leads me to the window.

“Just look at how beautiful the sea is from up here.”

I breathe a tentative “yes,” even as a wave of sickly sweet scent washes over me from his weirdly puffy, teased-out hair. Is this what I’ll look like someday? Will I have that uncertain, hesitant gait? Will my hand tremble as I gesture, like his does now, as he prepares to impart who knows what mysterious information?

“So, let me tell you. You’ve already purchased the villa, but you might as well know. You see these steps that lead down to the water?”

“Yes.”

“Well, a long time ago, intruders came up that way. They can arrive by boat, so you’ll need to be careful if you come and live here,” he says, with the cunning of someone who’s knowingly kept his lips zipped until it’s too late.

“Who came up the steps?”

“I think a couple of young people, or maybe a whole gang. They broke a window, walked all around the house, broke whatever they felt like, and even defiled my bed. Bloodstains on my sheets. Either an animal sacrifice or the girl was a virgin!”

He snickers as he says it, choking as he laughs too hard.

“I found wet bathrobes, so they had their fun. They even stole a bottle of champagne I left in the fridge. But worst of all, they stole my jewelry, fine silver, and other precious possessions worth fifty thousand euros…Luckily, I was insured!” He glares at me, proud of this string of astonishing facts.

“Well, Signor Marinelli, you might have spared me that information. It might have been better.”

“Why? Are you afraid now?”

“No, but now I know you’re a liar. They didn’t come up the steps, they brought their own champagne, they stole absolutely nothing, and the only thing they broke was that window right there…”I point. “By the door.”

“How dare you? Who do you think you are?”

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