I Cannot Get You Close Enough by Ellen Gilchrist Read Free Book Online

in love with the Cypriot. They were on their way to Istanbul. Yes, I’m sure they were. That was several years ago. Over a year ago.”
    â€œCan you find out any of their names? The ones she was with? Could you ask the man you were visiting?”
    â€œI’ll call tomorrow morning if you like. If I can find him. No one ever knows where David is. He goes all over. I’m spending the spring and summer here. Did Celestine tell you? As soon as we’re back from Japan. The rest of the film will be shot here. In New York City.”
    â€œThis is too much. This is too lucky.” I snuggled down into the sofa. “Oh God, Adrian. This is wonderful. If she was with communists that’s all we’d need for Charlotte. A communist would definitely do the trick.”
    Â 
    I called Daniel that night and told him the news. “I think we have a lead,” I told him. “If it pans out we might not even have to have a trial.”
    â€œWhat is it?”
    â€œShe’s been hanging out with communists. You know how nuts Big Ed is on that subject. If it’s true we can get him to call her off. I’ll have to get some proof though. He won’t take our word for this.”
    â€œCan I help? What can I do to help you?”
    â€œNothing. Just take care of Jessie. Is she there?”
    â€œShe’s right here. You want to talk to her?”
    â€œOf course I do. Put her on.” Jessie came to the phone and spoke to me. Her beautiful little voice like a violin, like a song, like a bell.
    â€œAunt Anna, when are you coming down here? When will you come see us? We have a new pony. She’s a palomino. Dad says you like them best. We might name her Anna. We might name her for you.”
    â€œI’ll come when I can. I just got home from Europe. I have to write my book now. I have so much work to do.”
    â€œYou could come down here and work. We’d be quiet and let you do it here.”
    â€œI’ll be there soon. As soon as I can get away.”
    When I hung up, I was sad again. I walked around the rooms of my apartment. What was I doing so far away from all the people I love? What was I doing so cold and lonely and alone?
    Adrian called just as I was feeling sorry for myself and said he had failed to find David Marchman but that he would keep trying. “When I come back to New York we must be friends,” he said. “We must have lunch once a week and go to movies. I spend afternoons seeing movies, do you do that too?”
    â€œNot yet,” I answered, “but I’m ready to learn.”
    During the next month I finished a draft of a book. It was the best writing experience of my life. Long mornings alone with the phone off the hook and New York City outside my windows going about its business, paying me no mind. I needed to write that winter, needed a world where dragons could be slain. It was going to be the worst book I had ever written, but the writing of it was an exotic thing. I knew all along the book would not be good but I was in a strange mood and went on writing.
    Adrian returned from Japan and took me out to dinner. He had found David Marchman and David was making inquiries about Sheila. What Adrian reported was not encouraging. Sheila had pretty much ruined herself with reputable people in and around the London theater world. David Marchman remembered the Turks but couldn’t recall their names. It turned out it had been Sheila he had invited up to Scotland and she had brought the others along. I reported all this to Daniel and probably drove him mad with worry. Meanwhile, Jessie turned eleven and was taking ballet lessons from our old ballet teacher in Charlotte. Miss Caroline Prince, who had taught Helen and me and all our friends and Sheila and maybe the Virgin Mary. If I heard Caroline’s name I immediately sat up straight and pulled in my stomach and tucked my chin.
    â€œHow is Jessie doing as a dancer?” I asked, when I