He disconnected abruptly, and I found myself dialing Dan.
"Yes?" he said, cautiously.
"Doctor Pete is coming over, Dan. I don't know if he can help me -- I
don't know if anyone can. I just wanted you to know."
He surprised me, then, and made me remember why he was still my friend,
even after everything. "Do you want me to come over?"
"That would be very nice," I said, quietly. "I'm at the hotel."
"Give me ten minutes," he said, and rang off.
#
He found me on my patio, looking out at the Castle and the peaks of
Space Mountain. To my left spread the sparkling waters of the Seven Seas
Lagoon, to my right, the Property stretched away for mile after
manicured mile. The sun was warm on my skin, faint strains of happy
laughter drifted with the wind, and the flowers were in bloom. In
Toronto, it would be freezing rain, gray buildings, noisome rapid
transit (a monorail hissed by), and hard-faced anonymity. I missed it.
Dan pulled up a chair next to mine and sat without a word. We both
stared out at the view for a long while.
"It's something else, isn't it?" I said, finally.
"I suppose so," he said. "I want to say something before the doc comes
by, Julius."
"Go ahead."
"Lil and I are through. It should never have happened in the first
place, and I'm not proud of myself. If you two were breaking up, that's
none of my business, but I had no right to hurry it along."
"All right," I said. I was too drained for emotion.
"I've taken a room here, moved my things."
"How's Lil taking it?"
"Oh, she thinks I'm a total bastard. I suppose she's right."
"I suppose she's partly right," I corrected him.