through. When next you meet, you'll find a world where the loving is easy."
***
He did as he was told. The next evening when Miranda stepped off the bus at the 36th street stop on Pacific, he was waiting with a twinkle in his eyes. Empowered by the Swan's Sorrow, he marveled at the way the burgundy dress moved against her supple body. She stared at him nervously with her emerald eyes. When her feet hit the sidewalk he grasped her hand and pulled her to Sunken City where the lights of the ships reflected off the lumbering tide.
He'd prepared a picnic basket of bread and cheeses and clear, cold bottled water. While they ate and spoke of things both past and present, Tudose whispered love songs upon the wind.
"You said God broke your heart as well?" he asked later on.
She turned away from him as she answered. "It was more than that. I was wed to him, you see? Like a wife, I entrusted all of my love and desires to him. But like my father, he ignored my pain." She stared towards the far horizon where the ocean met the sky. "God is too busy for the likes of me. He ignored me when that young monk stole into my room and took from me what had belonged only to Him."
"But isn't that the monk's fault?"
"How? God is the creator. God is all-knowing. God allowed it to happen and did nothing to stop it."
"Maybe he had a reason for not intervening?"
"Not good enough."
"What?"
"That excuse is not good enough. I've heard it before. When I spoke to the Priest, he said the same thing. When I was counseled by Mother Superior, she talked about the mysteriousness of God's will. When my child was born and adopted by a rich American couple, I pretended not to hear the barren blonde woman say the same thing. This is meant to be, she said to my child."
Miranda whirled. "This is meant to be?” Emerald drops fell from her wide eyes. "I will not be married to anyone who ignores me. I went to God for safety and he refused to give it to me. I have since divorced Him in my own way."
Cary hesitated, then placed his hands on her trembling shoulders. Gently, he lowered his head so their foreheads touched. He ran through the list of movies in his mind that seemed applicable: Penny Serenade, Every Girl Should Be Married, None But the Lonely Heart. Even within these black and white testaments to his namesake, he couldn't find the wisdom to comfort her. So instead he held her. He'd learned that doing nothing sometimes was enough. They remained that way until her sobs subsided.
Later they kissed.
The next night she had to work late restocking shelves for a big blue light special. Before he turned in, he spent a few moments at Momma Desta's telling her about the events of the previous evening. She nodded and grinned wistfully as he shyly mentioned the kiss.
After drinking a few glasses of Swan's Sorrow he returned to his studio apartment in the Vista Palms Hotel. He watched two movies from his 126 Cary Grant movie collection on his battered television and VCR.
The first one was one of his favorites, Gunga Din. Based on the poem by Rudyard Kipling, it was the tale of three friends and a water-bearer to the British Army in India who try to stop the resurgence of a cult that worships murder. Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks Junior played the two friends of Cary Grant. Sam Jaffe played Gunga Din and Joan Fontaine played the love interest. Like always, it was a great romp of fighting and swearing and heroism.
The second movie was one he'd never really cared for called Operation Petticoat. Empowered by the Swan's Sorrow, the movie was far different than he remembered. Tony Curtis and Dick Sargent played comedic seconds to Cary Grant's straight-laced submarine commander. Filmed in color, this was the first time he'd seen it as it had meant to be seen. And as the pink painted submarine traversed the South Pacific, he'd found himself laughing until tears tore from his eyes.
He was standing in the bathroom brushing his teeth and still chuckling about the movie when he went blind.
It only lasted twenty minutes, but for those twenty minutes he was utterly blind. Not merely colorblind, but completely blind and it terrified him like nothing had ever terrified him before.
Sure, his vision had dimmed before. He'd even