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at me.
    I stepped off the curb and followed, thinking, What am I doing here? And
    then, again, What the
hell
am Idoing here? A strange young man at midnight, in hot weather, in Paris, going
    where? To some strange gymnasium? What if I never come back? I mean, in the middle of a strange
    city, how come I had the nerve to follow where someone else was leading?
    I followed.
    In the middle of the next block I found him waiting for me.
    He nodded to a nearby building and repeated the word
gymnasium
. I watched as he started down some steps at the side of the building,
    and ran to follow. Down we went to a basement door that he unlocked and nodded me into the
    darkness.
    I saw that we were indeed in a small gym with all the equipment that such
    facilities have: workout machines and block horses and mats.
    Most peculiar, I thought, and stepped forward as he closed the door.
    From the ceiling above I heard distant music and voices speaking and the next
    thing I knew I felt my shirt being unbuttoned.
    I stood in the dark with perspiration running down my arms and off the tip of
    my nose. I could hear the sounds of his taking off his clothes in the dark as we stood there at
    midnight in Paris, not moving, not speaking.
    Again I thought, What the hell am I doing here?
    He took a step forward and almost touched me when suddenly there was the
    sound of a door openingsomewhere nearby, a burst of laughter,
    another door opening and shutting, and footsteps and people talking very loudly from above.
    I jumped at the noise and stood there, trembling.
    He must have felt my movement, for he put out his hands, placing one on my
    left shoulder, one on my right.
    Both of us seemed not to know what to do next, but we stood there, facing
    each other, after midnight, in Paris, like two actors onstage who had forgotten their
    lines.
    From above there was laughter and music and I thought I heard the popping of
    a cork.
    In the dim light I saw a single bead of perspiration slide down and fall off
    the tip of his nose.
    I felt the perspiration slip down my arms and drip off the ends of my
    fingers.
    We stood there for a long time, not moving, when at last he shrugged a French
    shrug and I shrugged, too, and then we both laughed quietly again.
    He bent forward, took my chin in one hand, and planted a quiet kiss in the
    middle of my brow. Then he stepped back and reached out and put my shirt around my
    shoulders.
    ‘Bonne chance,’
I thought I heard him murmur.
    And then we moved quietly to the door and he put his finger to his lips and
    said, ‘Shhhh,’ and we both went out into the street.
    We walked together back up to the narrow avenuethat led in one direction to Les Deux Magots, and in the other direction to the
    river, the Louvre, and my hotel.
    ‘My God,’ I said quietly. ‘We’ve been together a half hour and we don’t even
    know each other’s name.’
    He looked at me inquiringly and some inspiration caused me to lift my hand
    and jab at his chest with my finger.
    ‘You Jane, me Tarzan,’ I said.
    This caused him to explode with laughter and repeat what I had said: ‘Me
    Jane, you Tarzan.’
    And for the first time since we met, we both relaxed and laughed.
    Again he leaned forward and planted another quiet kiss in the middle of my
    brow, then turned and walked away.
    When he was three or four yards off, without turning he said, in halting
    English, ‘Sorry.’
    I replied, ‘Very sorry.’
    ‘Next time?’ he said.
    ‘Next,’ I replied.
    And then he was gone down the narrow street, no longer leading me.
    I turned back toward the river, walked on past the Louvre, and to my
    hotel.
    It was two o’clock in the morning, still very hot, and as I stood inside the
    door to the suite I heard the bedclothes rustle and my wife said, ‘I forgot to ask earlier, did
    you get the tickets?’
    ‘Oh yes,’ I said. ‘The Concorde, noon flight
    to New York, next Tuesday.’
    I heard my wife relax and then she sighed and said, ‘My God, I love