“Forever.”
Billy sighed. “I’ll wait, then—until eternity shrivels up.”
They sat for a long time, silent.
“Here comes somebody,” Billy said suddenly. “It’s one of the girls,” he added after a moment of listening. “I’ll leave you, I guess.”
He melted into the darkness.
A woman appeared, dragging herself along by means of the rail. It was Lulu, a strange Lulu, a Lulu pallid and silent, but a Lulu shining-eyed. She pulled herself over to Julia’s side. “Julia!” “Julia! Oh, Julia!”
Lulu’s voice was not voice. It was not speech. Liquid sound flowed from her lips, crystallizing at the touch of the air, to words. “Julia, I came to you first, after Honey. I wanted you to know.”
“Oh, Lulu,” Julia said, “not——.”
Her eyes reflected the stars in Lulu’s eyes. And there they stood, their two faces throwing gleam for gleam.
“Yes,” said Lulu. Suddenly she knelt sobbing on the floor, her face in Julia’s lap.