Stone Quilt

The stone quilt led us to a green door. Matt had told us it was here that we would find the carpets of San Limor. There would be something special about them, he promised.
“Look at the ground, there must be a million different kinds of cement!” Aparna moved ahead like a bloodhound pointing to a blue-gray square, a silver-gray rectangle. All the various shades a gray could take, made up our path like a stone quilt.
In front of the green door, there sat a black man in a white sweatshirt with a tan dog. The dog lunged at us, teeth behind a black leather muzzle.
“We’re here to see Otto.” I said in a hopeful tone.
The man said Otto never said nothing about nobody comin’ to see him. He was polite but stern and I wondered how the hell we were going to get inside.
“What’s your dog’s name?” Aparna asked stepping backwards in exaggerated steps like a mime might do. She smiled that smile of hers and I pulled out my camera. The man smiled too.
“The Business!” He answered and his chin lifted a bit.
“I would love to take a picture of you and The Business.” I said solemnly, raising my camera with two hands like an offering.
The man let me take pictures. He started talking to the air, to the concrete, to us.
“I named him after my ex-wife. She was the business, man! Sweet face, but a mouth like a pit-bull…Mean.‘N stupid too Left me for some fat white man who ran a circus. Fuckin’ bitch ran away, with the circus, can you believe it? Hope she havin’ three-headed babies for the sideshow right about now. That’s what I hope.”
“May she give birth to a 10 pound eggplant!” I added. We all laughed and finally he said he would take us to see Otto inside.

I’ll tell you about Otto and what happened later, but right now I need to leave you with the knowledge that the carpets of San Limor are astounding. Their patterns symmetrical and complex close up, simple and chaotic from afar, viewing them was like breathing in the mathematics of beauty. I wanted to rest on one, to pray on one, to make love on one. Aparna felt the same. It was an urgent feeling and we plotted our secret return that very night.