Chapter 6

“Well, are you glad we’re back in your longed-for City of B?” Annette asked her husband when they arrived. They returned while the city lay beneath the dome of a starless night. But the City of B is its own source of light; it has no need of stars.

Yuri delayed his answer, glancing back at the flat-footed old immigrant dragging the suitcase that held the Tragedian. He had the feeling that everything good which had begun to emerge in Providence would end here.

“I am ... I suppose. Home is home. No hotel can replace it.”

For the old immigrant, the following week passed as dismally as the final days in Providence. Annette refused even to see him. When he greeted her outside, she merely nodded. And he had to work again. True, the television had returned: an outlet for the old devil, a little window onto infernal pleasures. Television showed all seven deadly sins: envy, greed, lust, gluttony, pride, sloth, and wrath. Exactly what he needed. But not enough. Annette had broken her promise to wean him from her gradually. She had torn herself away from the old man through living flesh.