Spin by Peter Zheutlin

Author:Peter Zheutlin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 2021-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

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The Sydney, like most mail steamers of the day, carried passengers, but it lacked the amenities of La Touraine. Far from a luxury liner, the Sydney was a more modest affair, a working boat that belched black smoke from its stacks day and night. It accommodated some two hundred passengers, ninety in first class, forty-four in second class, and seventy-five, me among them, well belowdecks in steerage.

Right after Marseille had disappeared from view, I went to my tiny cabin to take a nap and prepare myself mentally for the long voyage ahead, when there was a gentle knock on my door. I told you earlier that after receiving in Paris the letter from Susie explaining that she was soon to be wed, I saw her but a handful of times after my journey and before moving to New York. But I saw her one other time, as well, for when I opened the cabin door I could scarcely believe the sight before me. It was Susie, and I was unable to mutter so much as a word for the shock was complete. I could no more have imagined opening the door to find President Cleveland in his pajamas. Susie embraced me, but I felt my body go rigid, for I was too stunned to make sense of what was happening.

I recognized her, of course, but to the woman whose character I had come to inhabit she was a complete stranger. The sight of her had the effect of wrenching me without warning from one world, the one I was now living in, into another that was as far away and flat as photographs from a distant past. Susie took a step back and placed her hands on my upper arms.

“Are you not pleased to see me, my dear Annie?” she asked, her eyes pleading. She didn’t seem hurt, just curious. I believe she understood the profound sense of dislocation her sudden appearance had caused. Without a word I backed up slowly and plopped down on the bed, unsure that what I was seeing was real. I don’t know how much time passed before I spoke at last; I suppose it was the time it took for Annie Kopchovsky to swim up from the depths and reclaim her place inside me.

“But how… how… I mean, why…” I could hardly arrange words into a coherent sentence or question. “I am so confused,” I said, shaking my head as my feelings started to organize themselves. It was a rare moment when I did not feel completely in control, and here I was, flummoxed as never before.

“How did you find me here? I mean, I am happy to see you, of course, but I don’t understand. I received your letter in Paris, the one about your engagement. I cannot believe it is you, here, now, in the flesh.”

Susie came and sat beside me. She knew I was relying on her to help me make sense of her sudden reappearance in my life,

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