It was so calming. So reassuring. So perfectly beautiful.

She walked through the long tables, the dark brown of the wood mixing with the green glass of the table lamps, and savored the artistic atmosphere of centuries of culture and human existence.

“As I walk along the stony shore of the pond in my shirtsleeves…”.

There were many like hers, in the library. She could distinctly see them, in their long, black coats, in their total black outfits.

“…Amazon basin in the north, once an island sea…”.

Shane walked quietly, glancing around, her hands in her pockets.

“The highest truth on the subject remains unsaid…”, an old man read to himself. Shane leaned forward, placing her left hand on his left shoulder, and her right hand on the table.

“…probably cannot be said…”, she read with him, “…For all that we say is the far-off remembering of the intuition… She begins to pull away from the awareness she had once…”.

“Commencing search”, Shane said, quietly, “Searching my soul”.

She sighed and got up, and started walking away.

“This is a delicious evening, when the whole body’s one sense…”, another reader thought.

Shane reached for the balustrade that overlooked the enormous hall and watched the people – men, women – in black. They were walking around, just like her.

“What if I screamed?”, she thought, “What if I just screamed right now?”.

Crossed voices in the background.

“When a woman decides to sleep with a man…”.

“You knew there would always be a spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the springs… it was as though a young person had died for no reason”.

Shane closed her eyes and surrendered to her own invisibility.

”…Must be strangely exciting
To watch the stoic squirm
Must be somewhat heartening
To watch shepherd need shepherd
But you you’re not allowed
You’re uninvited
An unfortunate slight…”

***

The next day

“…All right, they have rescheduled the operation for Monday”, Carmen said to a nurse. Despite Helena’s words, she just couldn’t stay away from the hospital.

“What happened yesterday?”, the nurse asked, scribbling something on her pad.

“They had a golf tournament…?”, Carmen shrugged nonchalantly, “…Who knows with these people?”.