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anyway. I was convinced that with his arms and legs he had also turned over a unique something that had made him important and worth listening to.
    “I don’t mean to be insulting,” I said.
    “Yes, you do. You hate the fact that I’m an abomination who seems to get some satisfaction out of existing.”

Chapter 4
    I might have done well to take Falloway’s advice and leave the country. I suppose he must have been confused by his moments of weakness during which he tried to hand me my life. There I was unaware that anyone or anything was trying to take it away from me.
    I knew no one named Grena but I received a note in the mail saying she would meet me at the Surf Restaurant for lunch. Since my time was my own and I didn’t have to consult with anyone, and since curiosity niggled at the back of my mind, I walked up to Square Boulevard at the proper hour.
    It looked as if no one was in the restaurant except the hostess. The large room had many pillars holding up the roof but they also served as hideaways for diners. The waitress who approached me said that, yes, a young lady was at number seven table waiting for me, so off we went to a nearby pillar of green glass. Pressing a button on the floor, she handed me a menu, paused while I sat down in the chair that appeared and then sent me on a silent journey inside the stalk. I neither saw nor heard anyone until I suddenly entered a small nook where Grena sat at a table.
    We were both surprised, she because I was a total stranger and I because she was the girl I had seen sunning herself on the mountain. Her eyes were wide and alert, hazel and warm, and I thought she might get up and leave in a hurry.
    “You sent me a note,” I said.
    “You sent me one.”
    “How strange. I think we ought to order. What do you think?”
    After hesitating, she said, “All right.”
    “It’s a mystery. Someone wanted us to meet. How about broiled fish, salad and cake?” I relayed the order by speaking into a small microphone and soon our food was brought to us. Grena sat hunched against the wall as if something weighed heavily in her thoughts. It wasn’t any impression I was making on her. She had been feeling that way all along.
    I introduced myself and spoke of my father. She told me her name. “Why would someone want us to meet?” she said.
    “I don’t know.”
    She ate without much enthusiasm. There was a quietness about her that reached out to me. She scarcely moved at all in her seat but stayed by the wall, touching it now and then as if to reassure herself that support was still there. She wasn’t as delicate as I had thought but was sturdy and strong looking, healthy and glowing like an athlete. I wanted to talk about the mountain but something warned me away from the subject. One thing I didn’t want to do was scare her away.
    She said she lived in section fourteen.
    “That’s uncanny,” I said.
    “How so?” Her gaze was direct and steady.
    “I was just passing through there yesterday.”
    “What do you do? Who are you?”
    “There does seem to be a reason why someone would throw us together like this, but I can’t think what it is. I’m not doing anything significant right now except for some scientific puttering. Nothing much. Light rays, antennae, stuff like that.” I talked some more about my father and Mrs. Pelf and gradually she relaxed, even smiled occasionally. She was pretty and frightened and I wondered why someone wanted me to think she was being handed over to me.
    “What kind of work do you do?” I said.
    “I’m a student home on vacation. Suttler’s University.”
    “I received my degree from Farnard.”
    “Are you sure we haven’t met before?”
    “Do you think so?”
    Slowly she shook her head. “I would have remembered.”
    “Would you like to walk with me?”
    “Why should we walk?”
    “Why not?” I paid at the front for the meal and took her to the zoo where the animals entertained us. We walked through a park, sat on a hill,