These Dreams of You

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In her usual manner, Sheba begins making her presence known to London as soon as she, Zan and Parker are in the car that’s been arranged to take them from the airport. “I WANT MAMA!” she screams, and the driver jumps in his seat, eyes filling the rearview mirror. “How long is Viv going to be gone?” asks Parker.

Zan says, “A few days,” and turns his gaze outside in a way meant to preclude further explanation. It’s been more than twenty-five years since Zan last was in London, and as has become true with so many things, it doesn’t seem so long ago at all, and even as it doesn’t seem so long ago, it seems another lifetime, before Sheba, before Parker, before Viv. At the time he just had finished what would become his first published novel and still was more than a year from selling it and nearly three years from publication. Turning in the backseat of the car and craning his neck to take in this and that, he realizes he’s seeing less what he’s looking at than whatever memory it marks in some mental almanac that’s already begun to crumble.