The truck driver pulls over and runs to the car. Clara Redlake is suspended upside down, held by her seat belt, and her car is telling her in a pleasant and nonjudgmental way: Your oil pressure is low. Ping. Your oil pressure is low. Ping . . .

78

And the plane drops down.

77

Dan hears shots ring out and he holds on to Beth and waits for a voice to say “I’m all right.”

Beth hears Edward ruin someone else’s life and she holds Dan tight. She reaches back and finds some music. Another station. Tommy Tempo’s Nite Moods Orchestra. Plenty of soft woodwind and saxophone. Tommy of old. Tommy on form.

She keeps a tight hold on Dan. She strokes his hair.

Through his tears Dan tells Beth he loves her.

76

And Graham Johansson pulls on the controls and fights the plane and rides the currents and thinks of his wife and takes a deep breath and he hangs in the air and it’s up or down and he thinks of down and he thinks of crashing down and he thinks of hitting the ground and he thinks of a ball of flames bouncing down the runway and being chased by fire engines and he thinks of firemen gripping their axes tightly and ground staff gripping their binoculars tightly and news teams gripping their cameras tightly and onlookers gripping each other tightly . . .

75

And Lily Frankburg knocks on the window of her father’s house.

74

And Graham Johansson thinks of up, he thinks of a gentle breeze, and he brings the plane up. And Graham Johansson levels. And the copilot pats him on the shoulder. And Graham keeps flying.

73

And Michael Davies drives out to the place under the approach path for New York flights. He parks his car then tramps across an open field to where he believes the undercarriage of my plane will open. And he stands and he looks up at the stars and he breathes the air and stands in the dew and he waits and he holds his arms out, he holds his arms out wide, ready to catch me if I fall out.

72

And there is a breath. And static on the radio.

71

And I have been sick and the sick has frozen.

70

And when the signal clears it will bring news of other stories, and KKRC won’t be the story anymore.

69

And I may be dead. But I’m still counting . . .

68

. . .

67

. . .

66

. . . And if I am dead then its been a gentle death. And I deserved worse . . .

65

. . . and the journey’s been repeated though repetition is impossible . . .

64

. . . and there’s you.