<<< Jan 31, 2003 >>>

"Michael!" I heard the call when I was halfway down the stairs. I looked up. Had I forgotten something? She leaned over the balcony, nervous. Opened her mouth, shut it again. "Um, yeah?" I asked. Why had she followed me? "I don't know how to say this," she began, then didn't. She was making me nervous. Silence. "You're making me nervous," I said, chuckling, edgy. Stairgoers -- going up, going down -- pretended not to notice. Deep breath, then she let it out: "This is the second most difficult thing I've ever done..." ***** I couldn't -- didn't want to -- accept. Yet didn't have the heart to refuse. At least I avoided asking the begged question, the one still on my mind: What was the *most* difficult thing?

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