he hopped off and let her pass, boarding it again and following her at a distance. as soon as they were out of the business district, he began to edge closer.
a few blocks from the shelter she got off the belt and waited, turning around and smiling directly at him. in the interim her attitude toward him had changed, evidently—for the better, as far as he was concerned. he couldn't ignore her and didn't want to. he stepped off the belt.
"hello," she said. "i think you were following me."
"i was. do you mind?"
"i guess i don't." she walked along with him. "others followed me, but i discouraged them."
she was worth following, but it was not that which was strange. now she seemed composed and extraordinarily friendly, a complete reversal from last night. had she learned something during the day which changed her opinion of him? he hoped she had.
she stopped at the edge of the shelter area. "do you live here?"
learned something? she seemed to have forgotten.
he nodded.
"for the same reason?"
his throat tightened. he had told her all that last night. couldn't she remember?
"yes," he said.
"i thought so. that's why i didn't mind your following me."
here was the attraction factor that borgenese had spoken of; it was functioning again, for which he was grateful. but still, why? and why didn't she remember last night?
they walked on until she came to her dwelling. she paused at the door. "i have a feeling i should know who you are, but i just can't recall. isn't that terrible?"
it was—frightening. her identity was apparently incompletely established; it kept slipping backward to a time she hadn't met him. he couldn't build anything enduring on that; each meeting with her would begin as if nothing had happened before.
would the same be true of him?
he looked at her. the torn dress hadn't been repaired, as he'd thought at first; it had been replaced by the robots that came out of the wall at night. they'd done a good job fitting her, but with her body that was easy.
it was frightening and it wasn't. at least this time he didn't have a handicap. he opened his mouth to tell her his name, and then closed it. he wasn't going to make that mistake again. "i haven't decided on a name," he said.
"it was that way with me too." she gazed at him and he could feel his insides sloshing around. "well, man with no name, do you want to come in? we can have dinner together."
he entered. but dinner was late that night. he had known it would be.
