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You are hu an old lady

"Very well," she said "I’ll try changing his food But if he’s still not hiive him a complete battery of tests"

"Of course"

"I’ll want an answer"

On the stainless-steel table, Aristophanes purred, happily twitched his long tail, and looked infuriatingly normal

Later, at home, just inside the front door, when Grace slipped the latch on the padded travel basket and opened the lid, Aristophanes exploded out of confine, his ears laid back against his head, eyes wild He clawed her hand and squealed as she thrust him away from her He sprinted down the hall, disappeared into the kitchen, where the pet door gave him access to the rear yard

Shocked, Grace stared at her hand Ari’s claws had e of her palan to trickle down her wrist

Carol’s last appointment on Friday was at one o’clock: a fifty-irl as gradually recovering froo, when she had first been brought to Carol, Kathy had weighed only seventy-five pounds, at least thirty pounds below her ideal weight She had been teetering on the edge of starvation, repelled by the sight and even the thought of food, stubbornly refusing to eat more than an occasional soda cracker or slice of bread, often gagging on even those bland morsels When she was put in front of a ht of her e fat and could not be convinced that she was, in fact, frighteningly thin Her prospects for survival had seehed ninety pounds, up fifteen, still well below a healthy weight for a girl of her height and bone structure, but at least she was no longer in danger of dying A loss of self-respect and self-confidence was nearly always the seed fro to like herself again, a sure sign that she was on her way back froained a norht and taste of food; but her attitude was far better than it had been, for now she recognized the need for food, even though she didn’t have any desire for it The girl had a long way to go before she would be fully recovered, but the worst was past for her; in tiain weightaround a hundred and five or a hundred and ten pounds Kathy’s progress had been i to Carol, and today’s session only added to that satisfaction As had becoed each other at the end of the session, and Kathy held on tighter and longer than usual When the girl left the office, she was s

A few minutes later, at two o’clock, Carol went to the hospital In the gift shop off the lobby, she bought a deck of playing cards and a miniature checkerboard with nickle-sized checkers that all fit neatly into a vinyl carrying case

Upstairs, in 316, the television was on, and Jane was reading a azine She looked up when Carol entered, and she said, "You really caot?"

"Cards, checkers I thought maybe they’d help you pass the ti else"

"Hey, did I say I was giving these to you? No way You think I’ them, kid I expect theood condition as they are now, or I’ll take you all the way to the Suprerinned "Boy, you’re tough"

"I eat nails for breakfast"

"Don’t they get stuck in your teeth?"

"I pluck ‘em out with pliers"

"Ever eat barbed wire?"

"Never for breakfast I have it for lunch now and then"

They both laughed, and Carol said, "So do you play checkers?"

"I don’t know I don’t re’s co"

"Don’t worry It will"

"My folks haven’t shown up, either"

"Well, you’ve only beenfor one day Give the about that"

They played three games of checkers Jane remembered all of the rules, but she couldn’t recall where or hom she had played before

The afternoon passed quickly, and Carol enjoyed every ood sense of huame was checkers, hearts, or five-hundred rummy, she played to win, but she never pouted when she lost She was very good cohly unlikely that she would go unclaiers are so self-centered, spaced out on drugs, bullheaded, and destructive that when one of them decides to run away froh of relief froood kid like Jane Doe disappears, a lot of people start sounding alarht They’re probably crazy orry right now Sooner or later they’ll turn up, crying and laughing with relief that their girl has been found alive So why not sooner? Where are they?

The doorbell rang at precisely three-thirty Paul answered it and found a pallid, gray-eyed ray shirt, and a dark gray sweater

"Mr Tracy?"

"Yes Are you froray ood I ao"

They shook hands, and Alsgood entered the foyer, looking with interest at the interior of the house "Lovely place You’re lucky to get same-day service Usually, I’m scheduled three days in advance But when you called this ency, I’d just had a cancellation"

"You’re a building inspector?" Paul asked, closing the door

"Structural engineer, to be precise What our company does is inspect the house before it’s sold, usually on behalf of the buyer, at his expense We tell hi into a heartache of any sort--a leaky roof, a cellar that floods, a cru, that kind of thing We’re fully bonded, so even if we overlook so, our client is protected Are you the buyer or the seller?"