In the aftermath of blindness, an accretion of objects around you may have an almost sensual quality.
The knowledge that you are without your Designated Mate will settle upon you slowly and coldly.
Each new phase of aloneness reveals that you were previously less alone than you thought.
This more profound isolation may result, at first, in paralysis.
If it soothes you to lie back in the dirt, then lie back.
The moon shines everywhere.
The moon can seem as expressive as a face.
Human beings are fiercely, primordially resilient.
The mythical feats you loved to read about as a child are puny beside the accomplishments of human beings on earth.
31
The discovery of another person nearby when you thought you were alone may occasion fear.
Leaping from a supine into a standing posture will induce vertigo.
“I see you. Come out” must be uttered calmly, from the Readiness Position.
When you’ve expected a man, the appearance of a woman may bring relief, despite everything that you know, and are.
“Why are you here?,” uttered by your new host’s alpha beauty, is likely hostile.
Reply to abstract questions on the most literal level: “He left without me.”
“Bastard,” muttered bitterly, suggests acquaintance with the phenomenon of being left behind.
Sympathy from an unexpected source can prompt a swell of emotion.
Measure the liability of shedding tears before you let them fall.
The perfumed arms of a beauty may pour strength and hope directly into your skin.
32
A lavish clifftop villa may look even more miragelike on a second approach.
Sustaining an atmosphere of luxury in a remote place requires an enormous amount of money.
So does coordinated violence.
Your job is to follow money to its source.
A powerful man whose associate has fled the premises after a false alarm is unlikely to be cheerful.
The reappearance of the vanished associate’s stranded beauty will likely startle him.
Astonishment is satisfying to witness on any face.
“Where the fuck did he go?” can be deciphered even in a language you don’t recognize.
A shrug is universally understood.
An alpha beauty’s indifference to the consternation of her mate may mean that he’s easily moved to consternation.
It may also mean that he’s not her mate.
33
As a beauty, you will sometimes be expected to change hands.
Generally, you will pass from the hands of a less powerful to a more powerful man.
Your job is identical regardless of whose hands you are in.
Advancing further toward the source of money and control is progress.
If your vulnerability and helplessness have roused the interest of an enemy subject, accentuate them.
Dirty, bleeding knees may accentuate your vulnerability to the point of disgust.
They might get you a hot shower, though.
34
Homes of the violent rich have excellent first-aid cabinets.
If, after tending to your scrapes, you are shown to a bathing area with a waterfall, assume you won’t be alone for long.