a little wine over the rim of his glass. When? she asked.
Tomorrow you will go in, and they'll do it the following morning. So
soon? 'I thought it best to have it over with. 'Yes. You are right.
She sipped her wine, withdrawn, fearful, despite her brave show. They
are going to cut my head open? 'Yes, he said, and she shuddered against
him. There is no risk, he said.
No. I'm sure there isn't, she agreed quickly.
He woke in the night with the instant knowledge that he was alone, that
she was not curled warm and sleeping beside him.
Quickly he slipped from the bed and crossed to the bathroom. It was
empty and he padded to the sitting room of the suite and switched on the
lights.
She heard the click of the switch and turned her head away, but not
before he had seen the tears glowing on her cheeks like soft grey
pearls. He went to her quickly.
Darling, he said.
I couldn't sleep, she said.
That's all right. He knelt before the couch on which she sat, but he
did not touch her.
I had a dream, she said. There was a pool of clear water and you were
swimming in it, looking up at me and calling to me. I saw your dear
face clearly, beautiful and laughing- David realized with a jolt in his
guts that she had seen him in her dream as he had been, she had seen the
beautiful dream-David, not the monstrous ravaged thing he was now. Then
suddenly you began to sink, down, down, through the water, your face
fading and receding, Her voice caught and broke, and she was silent for
a moment. It was a terrible dream, I cried out and tried to follow you,
but I could not move and then you were gone down into the depths. The
water turned dark and I woke with only the blackness in my head. Nothing
but swirling mists of blackness. 'it was only a dream, he said.
David, she whispered. Tomorrow, if anything happens tomorrow Nothing
will happen, he almost snarled the denial, but she put out a hand to his
face, finding his lips and touching them lightly to silence them.
Whatever happens, she said, remember how it was when we were happy.
Remember that I loved you.
The hospital of Gioote Schuur sits on the lower slopes of Devil's Peak,
a tall conical peak divided from the massif of Table Mountain by a deep
saddle. Its summit is of grey rock and below it lie the dark pine
forests and open grassy slopes of the great estate that Cecil John
Rhodes left to the nation. Herds of deer and indigenous antelope feed
quietly in the open places and the southeast wind feathers the crest
with a flying pennant of cloud.
The hospital is a massive complex of brilliant white buildings,
substantial and solid-looking blocks, all roofed in burnt red tiles.
Ruby Friedman had used all his pull to secure a private ward for Debra,
and the sister in charge of the floor was expecting her. They took her
from David and led her away, leaving him feeling bereft and lonely, but
when he returned to visit her that evening she was sitting up in the bed
in the soft cashmere bedjacket that David had given her and surrounded
