By now, we had all seen such astonishing things that my behavior hardly seemed strange, but Kurt asked what I was doing, anyway, and when I told him he offered to help. So did Anneke. Together we toted the box up Fifth Avenue to 34th Street. I would never make it to Times Square, but I might make it off Manhattan Island.
Some might have laughed watching these three disparate people carrying a box up the main drag of NYC, but all I sensed around me was defeat and resignation. Candles, torches and flashlights cast a haunting glow over the faces of silent watchers. Once again, I heard the sound of hymns.
We reached the main entrance of the Empire State Building, which – by now unsurprisingly so – was unlocked. The main lobby lay empty, as did the stairwell, so up we climbed. By the 20th flo
