Juliet holds out her hand. "Give me your shoes."

We have driven down the coast to the city: Juliet had an appointment with a specialist. We have a competent doctor in the village, and I like her very much. She is very kind, and had no shame in telling Juliet that she wanted her to see someone with greater knowledge than she. Marco says we are lucky to have her.

Juliet and I are standing in a quiet alley, the quiet stacks of flats making a canyon above us. It is dim now, and late in the evening. Juliet and I are taking a walk after dinner, and Juliet has been taking the two of us down the back ways of the city at random, finding secret places and webbings of clotheslines to segment the sky. All around us is lit only by a sodium bulb burning high above and the hot blue moon, full in the sky and higher still.

The drive to the city was pleasant; we took the big car, because the roads were simply too long for anything smaller. Juliet spent the trip in the front next to Marco, legs folded gently beneath her on the wide leather seat. I spent my time alone in the back, uncomfortable in my luxury of space. The big car is very quiet. We did not talk much.

The alleyway is cobbled, and spaces between the wide stones are filled with tiny bits of broken glass, a geologic settling of every beer and wine bottle dropped in carelessness or thrown in revelry in this place. I flex my toes on the cool stones. Juliet's bare feet look delicate next to mine.

During the trip, I would sometimes find Marco's eyes in the rear-view mirror. His eyes looked tired, and under some weight. Marco has been looking worried in recent weeks, but then again I have never known him to not appear somewhat so.

I take a careful step. The spaces around the cobbles are deep, and the skin of my feet stays well clear of the jumbled edges beneath. The moon and the lamp make them shine and shift, and the street is mortared with jewels. Juliet steps up next to me, and puts her arm carefully in mine. "You see?" She is close to me now, and she is scented gently with lavender. "It will be fine."