how we trembly wept before her gathered heartbeat. how we roiled about back and forth in the parlor. shaking hands with everyone we met. i saw you there. shivering. asked you what your name was. cecilia. you whispered. well, it’s good to meet you. here, come with me. and we stood up and walked through the doorway. into the west wind. where the seraphim stood with their flaming swords lowered at their sides. do you know these people? she asked. i didn’t, i explained. it’s just the way walls work. lowering and raising themselves up. straight out of the stone. godfearing people like us need not ask for any more. she agreed. we continued down the trail. twilight overtook us. wedding days came and went. we splashed across the danube. she bent down to investigate the flowers which grew out of the rocks there. signs and symbols fell down from the shaking leaf trees. they arranged themselves into small ideograms in the sand. we interpreted them to understand our destiny. they said we should keep walking. they said we should turn up the transistor radios in our hearts. we did and a voice called out. yellow sunflakes spun their way down to us. leaving little silver trails in the torchlight. it was a week ago today. the way we split the money we’d found. dug out of a suitcase in the back of a hotel closet. her hands were covered in cobwebs. it had been that long since she’d touched me. i knew how it would end. i knew we’d block out everything except the radio waves radiating out of us. in concentric circles. smiling perfectly and listlessly. here, under this rock? she said. i think so. let’s give it a try. cecilia bent down, turned the rock over. put her ear to the earth. worms and centipedes and potato bugs crawled inside her and found their way to her brain.