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“I don’t know. I think so. I was in trouble as well, and I thought about you.”
“Were you in very big trouble?”
“Enormous. Yes.”
“Will you pour me a glass of water, please?”
He did. She said, “Spider, what do you do?”
“Do?”
“For a job.”
“Whatever I feel like doing.”
“I think,” she said, “I may stay here, for a bit. The nurses have been telling me how much they need teachers here. I’d like to see that I was making a difference.”
“That might be fun.”
“And what would you do, if I did?”
“Oh. Well, if you were here, I’m sure I could find something to keep me busy.”
Their fingers twined, tight as a ship’s knot.
“Do you think we can make this work?” she asked.
“I think so,” said Spider, soberly. “And if I get bored with you, I’ll just go away and do something else. So not to worry.”
“Oh,” said Rosie, “I’m not worried.” And she wasn’t. There was steel in her voice beneath the softness. You could tell where her mother got it from.
CHARLIE FOUND DAISY ON A DECK CHAIR OUT ON THE BEACH. He thought she was asleep in the sun. When his shadow touched her, she said, “Hello Charlie.” She didn’t open her eyes.
“How did you know it was me?”
“Your hat smells like a cigar. Are you going to be getting rid of it soon?”
“No,” said Charlie. “I told you. Family heirloom. I plan to wear it till I die, then leave it to my children. So. Do you still have a job with the police force?”
“Sort of,” she said. “My boss said that it’s been decided that what I was suffering from was nervous exhaustion brought on by overwork, and I’m on sick leave until I feel well enough to come back.”
“Ah. And when will that be?”
“Not sure,” she said. “Can you pass the suntan oil?”
He had a box in his pocket. He took it out and put it on the arm of the deck chair. “In a minute. Er.” He paused. “You know,” he said, “we’ve already done the big embarrassing one of these at gunpoint.” He opened the box. “But this is for you, from me. Well, Rosie returned it to me. And we can swap it for one you like. Pick out a different one. Probably it won’t even fit. But it’s yours. If you want it. And um. Me.”
She reached into the box and took out the engagement ring.
“Hmph. All right,” she said. “As long as you’re not just doing it to get the lime back.”
TIGER PROWLED. HIS TAIL LASHED IRRITABLY FROM SIDE TO side as he pa
ced back and forth across the mouth of his cave. His eyes burned like emerald torches in the shadows.
“Whole world and everything used to be mine,” said Tiger. “Moon and stars and sun and stories. I owned them all.”
“I feel it incumbent on me to point out,” said a small voice from the back of the cave, “that you said that already.”
