It was then I realized she was checking out and she was 

gonna leave. A curious darkness floated past my shoulder 

pushing forward for a better look. I felt what I couldn’t see.

“She’s not ready to go!” I growled, and whatever it was 

receded into the corner by the window. As I prepared to 

head back to the East Bay that night, something held me 

there. Kathe Kollwitz’s image of Death Seizing a Woman 

burned in my brain. He was waiting to envelop her; and, 

like an erased drawing, they would both disappear. Maybe 

if I stayed, if I never left her side, perhaps I had some power 

to alter Destiny. All I had to do was stay awake forever.

I kissed her goodbye. “See you tomorrow. I’m taking requests.”

As I left, the hospital corridor grew longer as I walked. I had 

never felt so mortal. "Sis, I'll be at the Plaza if you need me!"

I wasn’t ready to leave Sonoma. Not yet. I stopped into the 

hotel bar near where she used to live. I sat in the corner and 

played her favorite music again. A young girl walked in and 

laid a garland of flowers around my glass, smiled into my eyes, 

and left. 

Angels everywhere. 

from Chapter 11, Romancing The Smoke