xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzzzzzzxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxsdxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzxxxxxxxxxnow whether to present the prologue of The Cage, the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Thank you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Txxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxhe time in these pages, not distant in calendar years, couldn’t be further removed from the days we live in. It is in fact from the ashes of Ground Zero that this story arises

city where a red spiral encircled the upper part of the Twin Towers.
He the beginning of another pyrotechnical show that would wind up by evening with the usual victory by the fire-fighters.
His first thought goes to Sioux. Which tower is the one where she worked? The two edifices, side by side, are absolutely identical. Sioux had mentioned the South, but now he’s not sure. They had deemed it an insignificant detail, one that now is no longer an insignificant detail. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxmuch of a problem. At the World Trade Centre there should be ways to contain a fire.
He “No, don’t worry. It’s the North.”
“What could have been?”
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx“No idea. Someone here mentioned a plane.”
“A plane?”
“A small plane that got off course. Apparently.”
“And it caused that much fire?” The fire was indeed flexing its muscles.
“We will probably be asked to evacuate the building. Standard precaution.”
“Want me to come?”
“No. There might be a lot of confusion. I’ll call you back and we can have lunch in the Village.” The idea of having lunch together had become a precious one. Ever since she’d gotten sick the adventure of discovering a new restaurant was often outdone by the pleasure of returning to an old one. A second later she calls back. “I forgot we’re having lunch with your brother.”
“Don’t worry about that. I want you out of there first.”
“Ravic….”
“Yes…. “
“I wanted to hear your voice.”

8,45
His brother Duna calls. It’s confirmed, they would all have lunch at the Lincoln Center. For Duna and his wife Tasha it would be their first time they’d meet Sioux. Mitzka Zubhia and Maria Nabokova would be there in order to meet Ravic! John Hamilton and George Pentecoste would come to meet Ravic’s brother! Everyone had a personal reason to meet for lunch. Raissa, Narouz, and Sara would follow as a fringes of a logical tail. What an imbroglio. How could he have said no to any one of them. And, of course, Isaac and Zazajaz, as they too hadn’t met Duna! All that despite Sioux’s illness. Could that still be called a family affair, it was more like a lobby convention. And now that fire. As he was about to call the restaurant to enlarge the reservation he gets yet another call. Camerella Vol was calling from Paris. He has difficulty making her out… She wanted to excuse herself for not being able to come to lunch.

8,46
He scribbles his wife’s name, one, two three times. Sioux. Sioux, Sioux…. He can’t think of anything else. The image of Sioux has suddenly become part of that weird fire. The whole thing is bizarre. He tries not to think about it.

8:49
The theory gaining more and more credibility is that a plane had crashed into the building.
“It’s the North tower..... “ announces the TV. The city is waiting for the market to open. No reason not to. The tower now looks like the incendiary end of a long match. Black smoke belches forth, it hangs in the form of ugly elongated tears down the side of the glossy facade.

8:50
The telephone lines are starting to heat up as the city is beginning to get informed. No one has any idea what could have caused the blast. All speculations focus on an accident, a typical fire in a high building. An accident, no one budges from the idea of an accident. The CNBC frames people in the South Tower pressed against the windows, mesmerized by fire as usual. No one feels any urgency for leaving the show. For those in the South tower, it is a show. The fire is in the other tower after all.

8:50
Up to now only a few recall having seen an airplane…. The few that do are on the telephone spreading the news. Many such call are coming straight from the burning North tower. Here, people are all on the telephones, but those in proximity to the tremendous jagged rent, are already saying their last farewells to their loved ones.
He begins to sense that this fire is unlike the others, a strong premonition that his life is again at the mercy of fate, caught up in the fate of a building as distant as the length of Manhattan. No, not again.
The telephone rings. This time is Isaac telling him that the City of Los Angeles has agreed to pay over five million in compensation for the accident to his hand.
“Hey, kid, how about that? What do you think?”
“I would rather have my hand back,” answers Ravic.
“You still have enough fingers to count the extra five million!” The roar of a laugh follows. And then: “Have you seen what’s happening downtown? Turn on the TV.” Isaac doesn’t know Sioux is working at the WTC. Ravic is about to hang up when the line goes dead. The land line? The news about the money for the accident to his hand was long overdue; his hand had been the curse of his life, and Sioux’s in a way. But then his hand had been more than that. Nothing had attracted Sioux as much, to the point he had almost become jealous of it. Jealous of his own hand…
The fire, far in the distance kept rehearsing from different perspectives making the cloud of smoke larger and darker. Whether the vision reached him from the window, or through the long lens on his balcony, or from the television screen. there was no way to miss it. He picks up the receiver, the line is back in service again.
RanaBoy gets up: lately he has proved able to recognize Sioux’s voice on the telephone. Ravic fondles the dog as it stamps the floor with its artificial limb, it was a kind of an arcane synchronism with his own impaired hand. They look at each other in chilled silence.

8:51
“Sioux. Sioux! Darling, I love you, I love you….Come home…,” the words crowding upon his lips. The need for saying ‘I love you, I love you’. He realizes he hadn’t told her enough of it.

8:52
The telephone! Like a dark demon it rang directly from the firing line, a herald of life and death.
“It’s important, Ravic,” she asks if she could fax an article.
“Sioux listen, don’t send it. I don’t feel like working.”
“I promised I’d have it done by this evening, Ravic. It’s only two pages. Just shorten it a little.”
“Did the new secretary arrive?” he asks as if he were interested.
“No, not yet. I wonder if they let her in at this point. ”
“What do they say about the fire?”
“Don’t worry about the fire. “
“Haven’t they issued an order to leave the place?”
“Ravic, the fire is in the other tower. Let me just send you this fax and then I’ll go.” He finds himself doodling one phrase, more in his mind than in words: “Ravic, we must love in spite of, or else we love because of...” He keeps reading the sentence over and over again. Sioux, Sioux, Sioux… In spite of wat??? He has almost filled an entire page with her name. Words adrift on an empty page.

8:52
The dog is nervous. “Rana, what’s wrong?” The dog pays no attention. It’s her dog, always a step behind her, its artificial foot made a metallic sound. Strange creature, he seemed able to sense whexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzstays a moment too long, but then goes away, disappears, vanishes. Can that fire be seen as an intruder? What else! Sioux’s fate was at the mercy of her pneumocystis, that fire cannot do her any harm.

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnning from as far away as La Santa Sierra, as Mexico, as the operating theatre of a time when he was in command of life and death. He has become a man terrified of echoes.

8:54
know in which of the two towers Sioux worked.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxthe tunnel? Ravic…”

8:55e. A goddamned plane. But no one knows what kind of plane it has been, or to which airline it belonged, if it belonged to any. Someone mentions a private jet.y are punctual to their work. The camera cannot distinguish them, it dispatches them towards their different destinations, Northing about the fire.

8:56xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

8:56
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ng out of their vehicles. There has been no time to halt the traffic and now cars, people and fire engines are trapped, unable to go forward or backward, grid-locking one another. The area is turning into a war zone with the difference that the battlefield is up in the sky. Lafayette, Center, Baxter, Mott, Wall, Mulberry, Bowery, Worth, Leonard, Franklin, Warren, Murray, Lincoln and Holland, streets turning into trenches. The whole of New York has been called to arms. You hear its sneer, the sneer of a giant.. Correspondents from all major televisions have
8:56
He never would have thought he’d hang up the telephone on his brother Duna. The latter just called to comment on the fire. He has never met Sioux and has no idea she is in the midst of it. Ravic and his brother have themselves only met xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
8:56
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx objects impinge upon him, life assails him from all quarters: the date on that silver case is that of July, merely two months back… The robin with a broken claw splinted with the aid of two matches. His first operation with his left hand! “Ravic, you did everything with your left hand!” Sioux was enchanted, the moment when his left hand had officially entered in the conundrum of his existence, it happened through the services of a robin!. Up to that moment it had only been an ornament.

8:56
The telephone. Gutierrez from Los Angeles... Ravic was supposed to give him an answer about his offer as Chief Surgeon at La Santa Sierra. He and Sioux had discussed a great deal about that possibility but none felt like leaving New York. Los Angeles simply belonged to a time that wasn’t theirs anymore. But now Gutierrez only wanted to know if Ravic, being in New York, knew something more about the fire.
“Max, I know nothing more than you do.”
“Don’t they have anything better to do in New York than set the city on fire?” Gutierrez laughed. He too doesn’t know of Sioux. He had never met her altogether.

8:57
He decides to call a cab. Sioux would be able to reach him on his mobile phone. He is about to go when the phone rings.
“We’ve been ordered to vacate the building. I’m back in my office because there’re too many people waiting for the elevators. A friend is holding my place in the line. It looks terrible. Have you seen those people jumping from the windows? An asshole who got off course…. These private jets. They shouldn’t be allowed to fly over New York.”
“Where’ll we meet? I have a cab waiting downstairs.” As if that would mean anything when every minute was pulling them apart towards two distinct destinies. Before long Ravic’s was to take him to a remote island in the Mediterranean, and Sioux’s was right there at Ground Zero. But Ground Zero didn’t yet exist, the only thing that existed for over thirty thousand people was a ground floor, a very distant, unattainable ground floor.

8:59
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halting all reason. Ravic finds himself breathing almost as if the eye of a needle, he together with that guy on the cliff through edge of a last desperate fling… The camera is now on a Mexican lady covering her eyes: “Oh, my God....,” she blurts. He turns television off. But then he’d have to turn it on again. How can he leave it off when that guy was up there? And there he was, as if he wanted his attention, as if he wanted to convey something… a secret about some unknown region from where he would never return… Ravic passes his hand over his eyes and, suddenly… where is that guy? WHERE IS THAT GUY? Effaced. He leaves in a rage.

9:00
On the landing, he realizes he has forgotten his cellular. He gropes for it like a moribund looking for his wallet. When back inside the flat, he glances out the window.

9:00
He’s sure he’s becomxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx too is now ablaze. It was xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx thinks he’s been moving from one state of somnambulism to another. But something brings him back to his senses: television! television! the usual answer….

9:00
SUDDENLY---everything is always ‘suddenly’ in the obscure jargon of tragedy— the screen is filled with the image of a large grey shark leaping out of an unknown ocean we always thought to be the sky. The sequence is repeated over and over again: the grey shark grinding the South tower, the grey shark grinding the South tower, the grey shark grinding the South tower, images overlapping images, news jamming news, terror coming upon terror, horror upon horror, fear upon fear.
“Oh My God.... “ Oh My GOOOD! the soundtrack of the sequence is broadcast over and over without ever losing its poignancy. It will become the soundtrack of the day. Never before has the word God gone so much astray, so much beyond its meaning. Because God was not present in New York city that day. God was only a cry pouring from humanity, a scream reverberating from one building to another, from one tree to another, from one soul to the next.

9:00
He calls her. The cellular....busy. She’s trying to call.
“It’s an act of terrorism,” first thing she says in between fits of coughing. Television has already hinted at that possibility. An American Airlines plane....
“Which is your floor?”
“71.”
He has to swallow whatever saliva he has left. No idea at what height the blast has occurred.
“It’s not true,” she screams. “Ravic, I’m afraid. Ravic…. I’m going to not have half of the meaning his heart wanted them to deliver.
“Darling, be calm. I know it’s horrible! Darling, darling, darling”.... The usual inadequacy of words.
The phone goes mute. He tries again, to no avail. Sioux was probably already dead. But then Sioux had her own disease which doomed her, that fire in the WTC sought to overrule a sentence not adequate to her crime, the crime of having wanted to live.

9:03
He takes a last look at the window. New York is now a town beneath a volcano in full eruption, spewing a new type of magma made of buildings, floors, glass, computers and people, turning everything to fire, to darkness, to a time before light existed. An irrational symmetry binds the North and South towers tied to the same destiny, such as is often the case with twins. Visions that hover in and out of smoke, continually appearing and disappearing. While an obscure hand keeps scribbling its notes on the margins of history, tragedy is taking on the attributes of the apocalypse.

9:04
Watches dole out fractions of time, time too seems to ignore any known temporal rules; new and ever more horrific images superimpose upon one another, seconds have turned

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