Lehal Library

Chapter 8 GRAND CENTRAL STATION It was only a few days after The Encounter that I returned to New York for much needed relief from research. I only half expected a call from Mr. Axelrod. It was not long in coming. The phone rang early one evening, and a cheery female voice on the other end asked: "Mr, Swann?" I said, "Yes." "A friend of yours would like to talk with you." "OK.11 "He wants to talk to you on another telephone. Is it convenient for you to be in Grand Central Terminal at 7:30 tonight?" "I suppose so," I replied. "Very good, then. Go to the vicinity of the information box in the central concourse and wait there until you see someone you will recognize.™ My telephone then abruptly went dead! No good-bye or thank you, no sizzle, static, or dial tone - as if the telephone was out of order. I picked up the receiver again in a few moments: it was still dead. I took the subway to Grand Central, and joined the masses thronging around the information box in the grand and very large main hall. There is a large clock on top of this information box, and I saw I was five minutes early. Those five minutes passed, and so did ten minutes more. I said to hell with it, and went to get a take-out cup of coffee in one of the arcades just off of the main hall. I lit a cigar (these were the days before no-smoking in public places.) Then, standing about ten feet away, I suddenly saw someone I recognized, I think I had noticed him before, but the fact had not registered. He, of course, was one of the twins, but dressed in a fashion which made him look like one of the homeless vagrants that hang out in the great railway station. Seeing that I now recognized him, he put a finger to his lips, and I gathered I was not to show any signs of recognizing him. I don't know why my hands were shaking a little, but they were. I sipped my