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    I made my way to the shower not wanting to waste any time. I had not thought it would feel this good until I was in there, the hot water sluicing down decades of filth. It left me reborn. I dropped to my knees, and scrubbed the grease from my hair. The steamy heat of the water against my skin almost burned and left behind a renewed sensation of life and pain. Like an awakening of my senses and mind. With my eyes closed, I imagined the sins of my past washing down the drain with the murky water. A deep exhalation purged me further of weight from deeds long past.
    I left the shower feeling invigorated and regretted that I had not taken it earlier. The pair of jeans and black dress shirt I put on were comfortable. I enjoyed the crisp feel of the clean clothing against my skin. My entire body tingled with sensation. I hadn’t felt this alive in close to seventy years. I rubbed a towel through my brown hair to take out the excess water. My mirror reflection reassured me I would fit into the crowds a lot better today, which was preferable when trailing someone.
    I left the apartment the way we came in. I didn’t want to risk using the private elevator from the penthouse. I would take the metro again, but this time I would actually pay for it. It seemed the most efficient way to travel. I felt a small thrill at the thought of doing things the regular way and understood Garnier’s wish for a normal life.
    I took the metro to her exit and walked to her street. At the corner of her street, I leaned against a hard, cold metal pole and zoomed in to watch her house. I lit up a cigarette from the new pack I’d bought at the metro station and started fidgeting. I was watching again. It was the last thing I wanted to be doing. It was too early, and I just couldn’t stand still.
    I wandered a few blocks west, making sure not to stray too far. A large book and music store caught my attention. Media was a great way to be acquainted with details of this era that I may have missed. It was somewhere to look for answers.
    Maybe I wouldn’t even need to follow the girl. Most answers could be found in books—if one cared to search hard enough. I hesitated. The store would open in a few minutes, but I risked the chance of missing the girl. Even though the others didn’t seem overly concerned, I understood that our state was temporary and we needed to solve that problem while we could. I looked between the store and the house and decided to take the chance with the store. I couldn’t spend all morning just watching her house.
    The size of the store shocked me. It had a basement filled with movies, a main floor with books and music, and a second floor with more merchandise and musical instruments. A one-stop media shop. It would have been helpful, if I knew how to search for what I needed. I turned over several items, not sure exactly what to do with them and finally decided to go look at the books. I spent several hours reading anything that caught my interest. I read fast, unnaturally fast, which I couldn’t take complete advantage of while in a crowded store full of people who would notice. I read history books, books on culture, mysticism, religion, current events.
    Much of what I read fascinated me, filling in holes I had missed from my perspective of the city, but in the end, I found no new answers to our essence problem. No cleverly disguised bit of information or misunderstood phenomenon. Enough time had passed; I had to go find Odd-girl at her house again. But first, I took a quick detour to look at the musical instruments. Maybe once things were normal, I would buy a piano for the apartment. It had been a long time since I last played. My time would be my own. Why shouldn’t I take it up again?
    I walked into the room and stopped in my tracks. There was the girl. She was talking to one of the store’s employees. I was out of human hearing range, but that didn’t stop me. I focused on the conversations.
    “No, as in an