Sleeping in Flame

Sitting down on the floor, she untied her shoes and took them off. "Come sit here with me."

As soon as I did, she started unbuttoning her pants. But before she could go further, I pressed her gently back onto the floor. The carpet was dark brown. It lit up her pale skin like a lamp. She smiled at me, put her arms up, and wiggled her fingers.

"Come hug me."

2.

Several hours later, Nicholas Sylvian called.

"Walker, where's Maris?"

"Right here, Nicholas. What's the matter?"

"Good. Her asshole boyfriend Luc just called me. Said he knew she was in Vie

"Christ! What'd you tell him?"

"I told him to fuck a bird. I don't know anything about where she is. Do you?"

"What'd he say to that?" Maris slid closer to me in bed. I turned the receiver so she could hear, too.

"That's the problem. He said he was coming to town tonight to find her. Called me a shithead, and said if I didn't tell him where she was, he was going to get me!" He laughed. I heard him light a cigarette and blow out smoke.

"Where will he look?"

"I don't know. In the phonebook? Who cares. I just wanted to tell you what was happening. How is our beautiful friend?"

Maris took the phone from me. "Nicholas, don't be so cool about this! Luc's crazy, and stupid enough to really try something bad. Maybe he'll do something to your family."

"Maris, remember that movie, Babyskin, I made with Weber Gregston as his assistant? When it was over, he gave me a Colt Python pistol as a present. A crazy but very sweet Geschenk. If the little Frenchman comes, I'll shake it at him and tell him to go away."

She hit her head, exasperated. "You idiot! And what if he goes to your house when you're not there? Have you thought about that?"

"Yes, I have. Just enjoy yourself and stay close to Walker now. Let me talk to him again, please."

"I'm here, Nicholas. But she's got a good point, if he is as nuts as she says."

"Did I ever introduce you to Goldstar? The meanest man I ever met. European boxing champion years ago, but now he works as a stunt man. Looks like Gorbachev. He's at my house now and he'll stay there a couple of days. If Rambo comes, he'll have to shake hands with Goldie before he gets in. Everything is taken care of, believe me.

"You want to go to di

"Maris, if you're still there, stop listening."

Shaking her head, she rolled to the other side of the bed and started petting Orlando, who was perched on a pillow.

"Is she okay, Walker?"

"She's fine. We had a great day together."

"That's good. Let's finish it with a good meal."

Ristorante Frascati was one of the few gifts I'd ever been able to give Nicholas that he didn't frown about. The decor was a mixture of bad paintings of Venetian scenes and uncomfortable chairs. But the food was the best Italian in town, so it had become one of his regular hangouts.

Maris and I arrived a few minutes early and were chatting tiredly when he breezed in. Nicholas Sylvian was a celebrity in Vie

"I've already ordered a hundred scampi and two bottles of Orvieto for me. Maris, you look much happier today. Did you meet his cat? Only Walker would buy a fucking blind cat!"

He looked around the room to see if he knew anyone. The artist Hrdlicka was sitting in a corner with a group of people. When he saw Nicholas, he made a fu

Nicholas waved back. "I just bought a bronze figure from Hrdlicka that cost as much as a house. It'll take five men to put it in my living room. Then I'll never be able to get it out of there again. The greatest piece you ever saw, so I had to have it. End of discussion. Where's the wine?"

"Did you hear anything more from Luc?"

"Nothing. He's just playing macho. What did you two do today?"

Maris told him about everything except her confrontation with the woman, and our time in my apartment. He watched closely and seemed to enjoy her company thoroughly. Her earlier fatigue disappeared and was replaced by a happy vibrancy and animated gestures.

Again it struck me that they had an important history together that I wasn't any part of. Fall hard in love, and immediately you want to know everything about them. Whom did they love most before and why, what things delight them, where do you fit into their soul . . . Nicholas was probably the best friend I had. He'd helped me survive some of the worst days I'd known when stumbling through my divorce and after. But in the restaurant that night he was a worry: a strong, fascinating man, who knew much more about this woman than I did. If we'd been alone, I'd have asked him questions about her I was hesitant to ask Maris directly. In bed, earlier, she'd told me many intimate things that showed she was willing to enter into a lovers' trust with me. But which of those intimate details did Nicholas know, too? Both said separately they'd never had an affair. Yet despite those assertions, certain looks crossed the table between them that were as thick and voluptuous as whipped cream. Paranoia often rides into town right behind love and makes a beeline for all the same soft spots. Nicholas had "given" me Maris, and I felt enormous gratitude, but that was a long yesterday ago. Today I had to be the only one she wanted to steal horses with.

"Have you decided what you're going to do yet?"

"I think I'd better stay here awhile and think the whole thing over. You know?"

"I spoke with Uschi. She said you could stay with her as long as you like."

"That's kind of her. But I want to find an apartment as soon as I can. Do you know of any place?"

He shrugged. "Not right now, but I'll ask around. There's always something. What about all your things in Munich? Are you going to get them?"

"Yes, but not soon. I know Luc will watch my house for a while if he's still there. So I'll wait a few weeks and go back in the middle of the night or something with a truck. Maybe I'll ask your friend Goldstar to go with me."

She got up to go to the bathroom, touching Nicholas on the shoulder as she passed. When she was gone, he pointed his fork at me and squinted.

"All right, tell me everything."

"She's the best."

"Did she calm down? Is she all right?"

"I think so. Hearing Luc might come made her nervous, but generally, she's okay."

"You've got to take care of her, Walker. Promise me you'll do it."

"That's easy. I haven't felt so good with a woman in a long time. It's really been a happy day."

"I noticed! When I came in, you two looked like little birds in a Walt Disney movie. You know, where they put their heads together and thousands of red hearts come rushing out?

"Did she tell you about the cities she builds? They're amazing. Like nothing you've ever seen. Someone in Hollywood saw her show in Hamburg and asked her to design a whole space city for one of those Star Wars movies."

"Really? Which one? She didn't say anything about it."

"Because she didn't do it! They offered her enough money to live on for a year, but she said those films are dumb."

"What's dumb?" Neither of us had seen her return.

"I was telling Walker why you didn't do that Star Wars movie."

"Why? Because they make science and space look terrific. I hate that kind of propaganda! The whole idea they're projecting is, let science do whatever it wants and soon we'll be whizzing happily around in our very own rockets. Everybody'll get to wear a pink aluminum foil suit. Isn't that wonderful? I don't think kids should get excited about aluminum foil suits, or laser ca