The Memorist

Chapter 22

Saturday, April 26^th-5:35 p.m.

After Meer had checked in and unpacked she’d lain down and tried to relax but she kept remembering Ruth on the floor and how cold the woman’s skin had been. At home whenever she was restless, she walked. So Meer went downstairs, got a map from the concierge, and took off.

The giant Ferris wheel gleamed in the setting sun and the cables that tethered the gondolas looked like fragile gold threads instead of strong steel capable of withstanding thousands of pounds of pressure: the distant landmark was as good a destination as any other.

Vienna, like many other European cities she’d visited, was a medley of architectural styles, occasionally dissonant, often harmonious. A baroque bell-domed Italian-style church peacefully coexisted between two simple Biedermeier town houses next to a fanciful gilt-and-bronze Secessionist apartment building. But now she reached an area identified on the map as Leopoldstadt, which had a more cohesive feel, with narrow cobbled streets and houses, theaters and stores crowded on top of each other. Most of the signage was in German but occasionally she’d see Hebraic letters on a storefront. Even though, like her mother, she wasn’t religious, Judaism was her heritage and the familiar symbols were reassuring.

Suddenly, Meer heard shouting-a woman’s voice and then a man’s-and turned, searching out the noise, but twilight had descended on the street and she couldn’t see anyone in the shadows. Scanning the three- and four-story buildings that leaned into each other, she searched for the open window where the noise might be coming from. One of the buildings drew her attention precisely because it didn’t have any windows. Nondescript except for two columns on either side of the door, it was set back slightly and shrouded in even more obscurity than the others. The shouting resumed and Meer became certain this was its source. As she stood there listening, she felt a chill that came from inside her, not from the night. Shivering overtook her as the air started to shimmer and her surroundings became translucent. Her shoulders tensed and her jaw muscles tightened as a metallic taste filled her mouth. Her spine began to throb. The dreads were back, and with them the music and more memories.