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Bernard, whenever he thought of Geoffrey, would remember his gait on the afternoon of their first meeting Geoffrey walked with the confidence of a banker, mixed with the aloofness of a cat Although they had been introduced at a party previously, that afternoon was their first one-on-one encounter, what Geoffrey called their original pas de deux The exhibition they would soon agree to co-curate would never happen   Bernard had moved to New York for graduate studies only a month earlier The afternoon they met, the temperature was above ninety Bernard told Geoffrey via email that he wanted to buy a Portuguese egg custard, the ones sold in Chinatown bakeries, which he had taken to eating since arriving in the city He could have purchased those custards in the Chinatown back home, but at the time he rarely did There was a place he liked on the corner of Forsyth and Grand, and he suggested they meet at the Grand Street entrance to the D train, right next to the handball courts Geoffrey replied, ‘We can walk from there’ Through the crowds and the looming late summer haze, Bernard recognised the curator as he emerged from the subway, with his self-possessed way of walking Bernard raised his hand in something resembling a wave, but the word ‘wave’ is incorrect; whatever it was that he did with his hands, this something, this quasi-wave, said, in his unsure way, hello Soon Geoffrey was hugging him ‘I’m looking forward to our discussion,’ Geoffrey said ‘We have so much to talk about’   After Bernard purchased his custard, he offered the curator a bite, which Geoffrey declined They started to walk Heading south on Elizabeth Street, they passed an elementary school The pastry of the custard was dry and flaky Bernard wiped the sweat from his forehead The skyscrapers of downtown and the tenements of Manhattan’s Chinatown obscured the horizon Geoffrey was mostly silent, and Bernard wondered when he would bring up the subject of their meeting   They hardly spoke or bothered wondering how half an hour later, after meandering through Lower Manhattan, they had ended up at