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"How do you know so hs "I’enius?"

"Only about canals They say ‘God oes on to tell me about how soyour bike along the low embankments that keep the water out of Holland How it’s an act of faith to ride your bike around, with the dikes above you, knowing soh you’re below sea level, you’re not under water When he talks about it, he see that I can al out at the endless ays and wondering where they all led to

"Maybe we can go on one of those boats?" I ask, pointing to the barge we just watched go through the lock

Willeain "I don’t know" He looks inside the guidebook "It doesn’t really cover this neighborhood"

"Can we ask?"

Willeiven a very coestures He turns to ht He says that they have boat rides leaving fro the cobblestoned ay until it lets out in a large lake, where people are paddling in canoes Off to one side, next to a ceet over there, we find out that they’re private boats The tourist boats have left for the day

"We can take a boat along the Seine," Willem says "It’s much more popular, and the boats run all day" His eyes are downcast I can see he’s disappointed, as if he letdeal I don’t care"

But he’s staring wistfully out at the water, and I see that he cares And I know I don’t know him, but I swear the boy is hos And for a second, I think of what it must be like--away from home for two years, and here he postponed his return for another day He did that For es tied up, bobbing in the breeze that’s kicked up I look at Wille the lines on his face I look back at the boats

"Actually, I do care," I say I reach intofor my wallet, for the hundred-dollar bill folded inside I hold it up in the air and call out, "I’ for a ride down the canals And I can pay"

Wille?"

But I’ive us a lift down the canals?" I call "I got good old-fashioned Auy with sharp features and a scrubby goatee pops onto the side of a blue-canopied barge "How reenbacks?" he asks in a very thick French accent

"All of them!"

He takes the C-note and stares at it up close Then he sit, because he says, "If ree, I will take you down the canal to Arsenal, close to Bastille It is where we dock for the night" He gestures to the back of the boat where a quartet of gray-haired people are sitting around a s He calls out to one of them

"Aye, Captain Jack," the man answers He must be sixty His hair is white, and his face is burnished red from the sun

"We have some hitchhikers ant to come aboard with us"

"Can they play poker?" one of the women asks

I used to play seven-card stud for nickels with randfather before he died He said I was an excellent bluffer

"Do not bother She gave all her money toyou?" one of the men asks

"I offered hio where?"

"Down the canals"

"This is e call him Captain Jack," one of the men says "Because he’s a pirate"

"No It is because my name is Jacques, and I am your captain"

"A hundred dollars, Jacques?" a woly blue eyes asks "That seems a little much, even for you"

"She offered this s "Also, noill have ood point," she says

"Are you leaving now?" I ask

"Soon"

"When is soon?" It’s after four The day is speeding by

"You cannot rush these things" He flicks his hand in the air "Time is like the water Fluid"

Time doesn’t seem fluid to me It seems real and animate and hard as a rock

"What he uy with the ponytail, "is that the trip to Arsenal takes a while and ere just about to open a bottle of claret Come on, Captain Jack, let’s shove off For a hundred bucks, you can have your wine later"

"We’ll continue with this fine French gin," the braided lady says

He shrugs and then pockets rin Then I nod at Captain Jack He reaches out for ers introduce themselves They are Danish, retirees, and every year, they tell us, they rent a barge and cruise a European country for four weeks Agnethe has the braid and Karin has short spiked hair Bert has a shock of white hair and Gustav has the bald spot and the rat’s tail of a ponytail and is sporting the ever-stylish socks-with-sandals look Willem introduces himself, and almost automatically, I introduce myself as Lulu It’s almost as if I’ve become her Maybe I have Never in a million years would Allyson have done what I just did

Captain Jack and Willeet so to play firsta blast He clearly knows his way around a boat

The barge chugs out of the broad basin, giving a wide view of a white-colu one The Danes return to their poker game

"Don’t lose all your money," Captain Jack calls to them "Or you won’t have any left to lose to me"