At first her twitches were relatively far apart. Soon the intervals between twitches shortened until she was convulsing as if she were an epileptic. The spasms became frequent and more violent. Her face was distorted, her mouth pulled downward into a grotesque sneer. Her eyes began to bulge. The veins in her neck were stretched to capacity. She extended her arms as far as they could go. Her fingers opened and closed continually. Her body language begged frantically for help, from someone…anyone.

Vera was on fire. Flames burned inside every part of her body. The intensity of the fire was increasing by the second. Her throat felt as though it were filled with broken glass. She couldn’t swallow. She knew she had very little time left on this earth. Once again she wondered why she was here, seated in this armchair, and why no one would help her. She forgot about the hundred million dollars she had desperately wanted to win. She forgot about someone rescuing her too. She could think of nothing but horror and death.

Vera Bundle willed herself to be mindful of something sweet, something happy during her final minutes on earth. She wanted her last mortal thoughts to be pleasant ones. She thought of John J. Sughrue’s face, as she and her new acquaintance bucked the stiff wintry winds and swirling snowflakes of the February blizzard of ’96 in New York City. She remembered how the two walked along icy Central Park South together, her arm in his for support. They trudged quite a few blocks east to the Sherry-Netherland Hotel, but it hardly seemed a walk at all. Vera could have walked arm in arm with John J. Sughrue forever. In any kind of weather. It was the happiest walk of Vera’s life.

Inside, the Sherry-Netherland’s lobby it was warm and comfy, just like the Essex House. Vera shook the snow off her coat and hat while John walked to the manager’s desk and spoke to the man sitting there. Eventually John returned to Vera and told her he had taken a room for her. It was just for the night, he said.

Vera Bundle was ever so thankful.

John led Vera to the drugstore off the lobby to buy her a toothbrush and some paste. He also purchased an extra-large T-shirt with I ? NEW YORK printed on the front. Vera was to use the T-shirt as a nightie. Then the two boarded the elevator to their rooms. Vera’s room was on the fourteenth floor. So was John’s. Vera was sure John had arranged it that way.

When the elevator arrived at their floor, they both stepped off. John helped Vera find her room and opened her door. He gave Vera the room key, told her his room number in case she needed anything, explained how his room was just down the hall, and pointed in its direction. John said good night, kissed her on her cheek, and walked away. Vera closed her hotel room door and turned to face the queen-size bed. She knew exactly what she was going to do.