Read The Ghost in Love for Free Online Page B

anything like it. Maybe they’re spies.”
    â€œDo you want me to ask them?” Ben started to get up.
    German reached over and yanked him back down into his seat. “If they are spies, they’ll shoot you. Forget it.” She picked up another heavy slice of pizza and slid the tip into her mouth. Watching her, Ben thought, How could I be happier? How could there be a moment in my life when I am happier than right now? He reached out and touched her elbow. German immediately sensed what he wasthinking, dropped the food back into the box, and took his hand in both of hers. “When we’re finished here, let’s go home and go back to bed for three days. What do you say?”
    Ben nodded. “But what about Pilot? He’ll need to be walked?”
    â€œWe’ll switch him to autopilot and let him walk himself.”
    Ling and the angel heard this and paused to stare at each other. The cook came and took their order, which was for a large pizza the way Ben had suggested and beer.
    After the cook left, Ling said, “Will you tell me the truth if I ask a question?”
    The angel nodded.
    â€œDo you promise?”
    The angel nodded again.
    â€œDo you honestly not know what is going to happen to him now?”
    The angel raised his right hand as if swearing to tell the truth in court. “We honestly do not.”
    â€œThen why don’t you just arrange another death for him?”
    â€œBecause we can’t. I was telling you the truth before: his fate is out of our hands. Plus, we’re fascinated to see what
will
happen to him now. His situation is unprecedented. Look at this.” The angel reached into his pocket and pulled out what to the normal human eye looked like a bus ticket. To Ling and the angel, however, it was a history of Benjamin Gould’s entire life, second for second, right up till that moment in the pizza place. About a tenth of the way up from the bottom was a thick red line denoting the day and time Ben was supposed to have died. Below it, like an atomic clock recording every fraction of a second that passed, additional notations were registering as Gould lived and thought and dreamed.
    The angel slid the ticket to the middle of the table and pointed tothe red line. “
That’s
where things get interesting. The moment the virus infected our computers and our man over there was sent spinning out on his own. Fantastic. This is very exciting stuff for us. As I said, unprecedented.”
    â€œSo he’s a guinea pig?”
    â€œNo, an explorer! A pioneer. Because there’s absolutely nothing we can do now to affect his destiny. We can only watch. That’s why we want you to be around him all the time, Ling. To keep us in the loop about what’s happening and what he’s thinking.”
    Their food arrived. They remained silent while it was placed on the table. When the ghost made to speak again, the angel put up a finger to indicate Not yet—let’s eat first.
    The ghost rested its chin on its hand and looked across the room at Ben and his girlfriend.
    â€œThis pizza really is superb. You have to try some,” the angel said while pushing an errant dangle of mozzarella cheese into his mouth.
    â€œPerfect,” Ling agreed.
    The door to the restaurant opened and a bum shuffled in. About thirty-five, he wore a tattered open trench coat, filthy eight-year-old cargo pants, and a sweater the vibrant orange of fresh fruit. Around his neck hung a hand-lettered sign that said
I am hungry and my heart is broke. Can you help me?
    This man looked like he had been living alone on the dark side of the moon. His nauseating smell alone was enough to send people fleeing.
    Upon seeing him, the cook behind the counter yelled, “Hey, you, get the hell out of here or I’m calling the cops!”
    The bum ignored the threat and shuffled over to German and Ben’s table. His eyes looked like dirty coins. His skin was the colorof