Siri Hustvedt

many people talk to me about their presences.

And there was a woman, I was signing her book, and she said, my husband died, it was only months ago.

And she said that when she gets into bed,

She feels him.

He touches her.

I mean, she feels this presence touching her.

Not no other, she doesn't turn over and see him, but she has the sensation.

And I said, and how do you feel?

She said, it's wonderful.

Yes, I mean, I think this is, and I do, I have to say I miss it.

I miss the comedy.

You know, we, I think,

in each other's eyes, nobody else's, but in each other's eyes, we were a kind of comedy team.

You know, the silliest things like bumping into each other in the bathroom and then dissolving in laughter.

Or I tell one story in the book when it was the summer of 2022.

And, you know, we were recovering from many terrible events.

And yet we were in this lovely hotel in Italy and in Terramina.

And we were having a late, late snack dinner.

And Paul had a glass of wine in one hand, a vape in the other.

And I said, darling, come across the patio.