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"Well," I said, "not directly First we had to go to Geneva There’s a clinic not far from there where they do extraordinary work They’ve had wonderful success with personality disorders, and the doctor I spoke to said he thought they would be able to onders with Jane"

"Jane?"

"Sheena"

"You didn’t leave her in Griggstown?"

"Well, how could I? I didn’t think the Penners would be that happy to find her there, and besides she was basically a good person underneath, and she’d had a terrible life, and-"

"And after all you were married to her"

"Oh, for Christ’s sake, Kitty-"

Shemoues in books, but I had never seen one ht they were French desserts A chocolate nac Kittyjust that Then she took a short sip of wine and a long look at me

"You went to Geneva," she prompted

"I had to go to Zurich anyway To turn the bearer bonds and negotiable paper into cash and put part of it in my account there"

"Part of it?"

"Well, part of it went to the clinic in Geneva And part of it went, uh-"

"To Griggstown to finance the work of the MMM," she supplied "Don’t gape How long have I known you? A long tio?"

"That’s all"

She nodded encouragingly "So then you came on home"

"Not exactly I had to stop off in Amsterdam and sell the diaedly

" Dublin?"

"I have trouble getting into England You know that From Dublin I took the ferry across the Irish Sea Then ent froanshire, to be specific We went to this little town called Llundudllumellythludlum-"

"Oh, that little town We?"

" Pluotten about her You took her to Glublublub? Why?"

I explained I took Pluht about it the more I realized there was no other sensible place for her She was obviously out of it in Modonoland, neither black nor white in a land where the twain never ood anyway And while the Cape Coloreds in Capetown ht have made a place for her, it was a place I wouldn’t have wished on anyone Nor did I think the good old US of A was quite what she needed to fulfill herself

"But she has relatives all over Glaanshire," I told Kitty "On her father’s side The Welsh Nationalists I put her in touch ere all excited at the idea of digging up relatives of hers She’ll fit in perfectly Since she’s the only colored person for miles around she won’t have to worry about prejudice There’s never prejudice anywhere unless there’s a good-sized group to focus it on"

"So Pluht In-"

"Please don’t say the na to say the name of the county"

"Don’t say that either She’s in Wales and Sheena’s in Switzerland You’ve e mistress far and wide, haven’t you?"

I tried to make a moue It didn’t work I looked at Kitty, and she looked at ed

"At any rate," I said, "here I aht to New York I’m back"

"So you are"

"And I’round now," I said "I’ve had a chance to work everything out inWe’ll get married, Kitty You and I Married And we’ll adopt Minna and make a sensible hoodforsaken jungle of a city and get a nice little house in the suburbs A home, a real home for the three of us With a lawn and trees and a finished basement and aluminum storms and screens and-"

"What in hell is an aluminum storm?"

"You know, those combination s Storm s I don’t knohat they are They advertise them in the Sunday Times in the section where they offer termite inspections Whatever they are we’ll have the at, a sane and healthy life for both of us, for the three of us, and we can haveyou want, you can pick out the dog-"

I sort of trailed off She was looking at ht in her eyes, andoddly in ain, and let it trail off again because it was not going well

She said, "You must be out of your mind, Evan"

She said, "A wife and children and a house in the suburbs A washer-dryer and a refrigerator-freezer and an aluminum storm Evan, if you honestly think that’s what you want, then you’d better make an appointment with that brilliant doctor in Switzerland"