SUBPLOT (I)
When they left she refused to wave from the window of the train. "I began to see smoke rising above the staircase," she explained, afraid of discovering the relationship between her hand & the fire.
(But what was it she carried onto the train? It might have been a corsage, but it was much too light, it seemed to weigh almost nothing. So perhaps it was a bouquet of paper flowers . . .)

SUBPLOT (II)
Now—should she return? The roses will be iced over & her hair has come undone. Adieu, adieu (he laughs). His responsibility was to warn her, but the envelope had long since been torn.

SUBPLOT (III)
An object loses significance when the "narrative trajectory" turns away from, becomes the sound of an instrument playing almost inaudible music—muted between marble statues, face after face staring into the