primitive monsters hide inside us, elusive as the Sasquatch
Cindy
They say you can't catch up on sleep. I don't know if that's true, but after my conversations with Nat and the Canadian ambassador I went home and slept for twelve hours.
I can't deal with secrets and corruption.
I awoke bright and early and feeling refreshed. I was still appalled by the state of the world, but better able to tolerate it.
An hour before my morning lecture I was back at Hart House sipping coffee and trying to ignore the gaggle of female gawkers who no doubt were laying bets on Cindy's absence.
She had been gone most of the week and I was missing her too, for reasons other than entered the minds of the gossiping coffee klatch, aka my graduate students.
"Did you miss me, Prof?"
My heart raced at the familiar, flirtatious tone as I gazed up at her lovely face. Her hair was down and she was wearing a pastel blouse and blue jeans and there was a pleading quality in her eyes that melted me.
I didn't think―just got to my feet, wrapped her in a bear hug and buried my face in her hair.
"I hoped absence made the heart grow fonder― guess it did, huh?"
My eyes were moist. I couldn't answer―didn't have to―she knew.
"Where's my croissant and jam? I'm starving."
So romantic...I love this girl.
"I'm getting it now―give me a moment," I smile.
"I'm not going anywhere," she whispers. I had to turn away and bite my lip to hold back the tears.
I didn't realize until then how worried I had been.
When I returned the gawkers were gone. I figured a lot more bets were lost than won.
I set down her tray opposite my place, but she came round and slid in beside me and lay her head on my shoulder.
"I thought you were starving," I teased.
"I was, until now."
She clung to me and I leaned over and inhaled the fresh scent of her hair, feeling more content than I had in a long time.
Eventually, I got her to eat and refreshed our coffees with two steaming hot mugs.
"I guess now you know all about The Black Sun?"
I nodded. "Abe told me enough to warn me if I had loose lips he'd have to kill me."
She laughed. "He said that, huh? Well, Abe wouldn't touch you cause he'd know he'd have to go through me. And I'm planning to keep you, so don't lose any sleep."
I suppose the heart sees what's invisible to the eye, because I had no idea what she saw in me―I only knew I no longer thought in terms of one but two.
"What's going to happen with the Aryan Brotherhood?" I asked.
"They've all been rounded up and arrested―there were only a dozen left. The old-style Nazis all died off but the ones we caught committed enough crimes to go away for a long time. Hans Bauer was livid―I don't think he liked being conned, especially by a woman."
"Well, at least like Faust, he had his vision of Helen of Troy before being totally corrupted and carried off to hell."
"Is that how you see me?" she asked, her eyes huge and dark. "Do I corrupt you?"
I laughed. "I go by what Bob Marley says, If something can corrupt you, you're corrupted already."
"I can live with that," she smiled.
So could I, I thought ... So could I.