If Today Be Sweet Kindle Edition

A Sicilian fisherman plucks an American suicide tourist from the sea. One is a fugitive for murder, the other simply a tormented soul. They might be of use to one another - unless they kill each other first. EXCERPT: Even in a place with so many eyes, so many locks, lapses are inevitable. Eventually an escape, however temporary, will reveal itself.So it is that they sit this night on the hospital roof, legs dangling over the dizzying drop. Shreds of cirrus cloud besmirch the ink overhead so the usual grand show of stars is hidden away, but they don’t mind. It is enough to be up here in the crisp open air, free of the walls. The little squirrel died on the first night in spite of his best efforts. For the first time in many years he had wept with real and profound grief, great heart-wounding sobs and rivers of tears that defied all possibility given the numbing medication in his body. Micheline did not blame him for the failure. She simply said, ‘Lucky baby, her suffering is over’. Weeks passed before they were able to achieve this rooftop rendezvous. He had fully expected to endure another futile, miserable, lonely vigil so when she at last appeared he felt he must be dreaming the same recurring dream, until he felt the warmth of her body beside him. She shields the flare of his match in cupped hands and draws lightly on the cigarette. He lights his from the end of hers, alternating his gaze from her eyes to her pursed lips and back again in the crimson glow. ‘Thank you,’ he says. ‘For what?’ ‘This. I didn’t earn it.’ ‘You tried, Jack. At least she didn’t die alone. Nobody wants to die alone.’ ‘Sometimes, I wish-’ ‘I know.’ ‘You want-’ ‘We can. Together.’ She flicks the end of her cigarette over the edge and they watch as its ember streaks a bright cherry arc into the darkness. She touches his hand. He opens it and their fingers entwine. They sit in silence for a long while. ‘Jack?’ ‘Yes?’ ‘What are we waiting for?’ He doesn’t answer. ‘You can wait for something to happen. Or you can make something happen. But if you choose to wait, you must be prepared to wait a lifetime.’ She tugs on his hand, inching herself closer to the edge. ‘Micheline-’ ‘I love you.’ ‘Micheline-’ She leans forward, presses her heels against the brickwork. For a moment their hands are still joined. The sudden wrench will remain with him forever. Read more