Your uncle?

Yes.

What did you do?

I climbed out and went to the door and called down to my grandmother.

What did he do?

He jumped up and ran out the door. In his shorts. Skinny.

How old were you?

Thirteen.

Did you tell your grandmother?

No. She had enough problems. When I came down the next morning I told him that I still hadnt decided whether or not to tell Bobby. That sobered him up.

Did you tell Bobby?

God no. Bobby would have killed him.

Your brother was very protective of you.

Yes. Very.

He never climbed into bed with you.

My brother? No. It was the other way around.

That’s not true.

I never climbed into bed with my brother.

Why did he take up racing cars?

Because he was good at it. And he suddenly had the money to do it with. My grandmother hated it. But still she kept all the clippings. Physicists tend to have hobbies that are hazardous to their health. A lot of them are mountain climbers. Sometimes with predictable results. He went to England and bought a Formula Two Lotus from the factory.

I take it that’s the car that he crashed in Italy.

Why dont we move on.

All right. Sorry. Romania.

Yes.

Did you really want to go and live there?

Yes. I did.

What about your brother?

Well. That was the plan.

You thought that your brother would go and live in Romania with you?

I hoped that he would. Yes.

What did he say?

He said that it was not exactly what he had in mind.

What else.

It’s complicated.

What was your relationship with your brother?

What do you think?

I dont know.

I dont either. Are you asking me if we did it?

Did you?

No.

What else?

On this subject?

Yes.

Love is quite possibly a mental disorder itself.

Is that a serious comment?

Yes.

Do you believe that?

Probably. Maybe not. Sometimes. The literature is not encouraging. Nor experience.

Are you telling me that you were in love with your brother?

Well, as a good shrink you probably believe that incest is the way to a girl’s heart.

But it wasnt incest.

No. Just longing.

You dont want to talk about this.

Affairs of the heart are entitled to some confidentiality.

All right.

I knew that I wasnt supposed to be in Wartburg Tennessee and I thought it possible that Bobby had found where it was that I was supposed to be. Where we were supposed to be.

You were serious.

Yes. I’d even found a grammar and started in on the language.

Did you know what part of the country your family was from?

No. I wanted to live in the mountains. Not too far from a town of reasonable size. Maybe even Bucharest. I needed a library. I wanted to live near a river and have a canoe.

A canoe.

It’s pathetic, isnt it?

I dont know what it is. For how long did you entertain this fantasy?