She smiled at me, and I knew I would do anything she asked. She flipped a lock of her soft brown hair behind an ear and smiled still more radiantly, more beautifully than I had imagined possible, and I knew that what she was about to ask would be, at the very least, distasteful. But how was I supposed to know that what she wanted from me was an act that would ultimately lead to this sickness I have and maybe to the end of my life and the entire world?

She smiled at me, and I knew I would do anything she asked. She flipped a lock of her soft brown hair behind an ear and smiled still more radiantly, more beautifully than I had imagined possible, and I knew that what she was about to ask would be, at the very least, distasteful. But how was I supposed to know that what she wanted from me was an act that would ultimately lead to this sickness I have and maybe to the end of my life and the entire world?

“What?” I asked innocently. We were sitting on her couch. I was there by her invitation, but when I had leaned in closer, she had leaned away and given me her smile instead of a kiss.

“Oh, I don’t know if I should ask…” she started.

“What?” I repeated. Looking back, I think my eagerness must have been plain enough. Could she have been innocent at that point?

“I need a favor, but we’ve only known each other this short time, and I…” Again she trailed off. I knew I was being led to declare that I would do anything for her, and I still couldn’t avoid telling her just that.

“Well,” was her response. “I inherited this cabin in the woods…They call it lakefront property, but really it’s just an overgrown pond. Anyway, the cabin is falling to pieces – I mean literally, there are pieces of it on the ground all around it – Anyway, the property is really nice, quiet; I guess I would call it serene. I had a contractor up there a week or two ago, and he said he could easily build a new cabin in the same spot.”

She stopped there, and I let myself think about living in a cabin by the lake with her surrounded by no neighbors and in the midst of only tranquility.

“But knocking over the old cabin – it would really be just knocking it over – would cost me thirteen thousand dollars extra, and I can’t afford that, not any time soon, at least…”

I tried to think what was being asked of me but the image of a cherubic girl toddler running towards us in a clearing of the lakeside forest clouded my mind for a moment.

She reached out a hand to tap my shoulder with her forefinger playfully.

“If you help me, I’m sure we can knock that cabin down in a weekend. We can save all that money,” she said.

Now the idea of saving money always sounds good, and there was no way I was going to pass up a weekend in the woods with her; she must have seen that already. Still, one does want to do things properly and so I felt compelled to ask some serious questions.

“How big is the place?”

She must have smelled the utter annihilation of my defenses because her smile and eyes widened, and she leaned forward to give me a peck on the cheek.

“It’s two small rooms. The whole thing is wood. It’s rotting. Really, I think we could use your pickup, tie the cabin up and tug it down, it’s that dilapidated. It’s a shame really. I remember going there every summer with my parents. In fact, I even stayed there – let me see – maybe two years ago. Grandpa had always kept it up nice. It was a great place to stay.”

“What happened to it?” I asked.

“Well, Grandpa died and part of the roof was caved in, and the last couple of winters the snow has fallen straight in, not to mention rain and such.”

“A tree fell?” I asked.

“What?”

“And caved in the roof?”

“Oh, no not at all, well, I mean, kind of, but that’s not what caved in the roof. You’ll never guess what happened.” She paused and clapped her hands together as though actually waiting for me to play a guessing game. I shrugged.

“It got hit by a meteor. It crashed through some treetops and right into the roof – caved in most of it. One of the walls is leaning quite a bit too –”

At this point, the doctor, I forget his name, tapped me on the forehead with his pen.

“I’ve heard all of this already, Mr. Keegan. I heard about the smile, the cabin, the lake. What I asked you was whether you could remember her name. Her name, Mr. Keegan. This could be very important.”

I sneezed.