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After she hung up she stood for a while, staring at the phone Finally she said aloud, "Shane, are you nuts?" Then she said, "But he toldwas ’so beautiful and so real’ "

She went into her bedroohtstand She said, "He’s inarticulate and silent one time, a babbler the next He could be a psycho killer, Shane" Then she said, "Yeah, he could be, but he’s also a great literary critic"

Because he had suggested dinner and a ray skirt, white blouse, and maroon sweater, but he showed up in a dark blue suit, white shirt with French cuffs, blue silk tie with tie chain, silk display handkerchief, and highly polished black wingtips, as if he were going to the season opener at the opera He carried an umbrella and escorted her froht arm, with such solemn concern that he seemed convinced that she would dissolve if touched by one drop of rain or shatter into athe difference in their dress and the considerable difference in their size-at five-five, she was one foot shorter than he was; at a hundred fifteen pounds, she was less than half his weight-she felt al on a date with her father or an older brother She was not a petite woman, but on his arm and under his uain in the car, but he blamed it on the need to drive with special care in such rotten weather They went to a small Italian restaurant in Costa Mesa, a place in which Laura had eaten a few good iven menus, but even before the waitress could ask if they would like a drink, Daniel said, "This is no good, this is all wrong, let’s find another place"

Surprised, she said, "But why? This is fine Their food’s very good here"

"No, really, this is all wrong No atmosphere, no style, I don’t want you to think, u as he’d done on the phone, blushing, "uht for our first date, I want this to be special," and he got up, "ummmm, I think I know just the place, I’ waitress-"I hope we haven’t inconvenienced you," and he was pulling back Laura’s chair, helping her up, "I know just the place, you’ll like it, I’ve never eaten there but I’ve heard it’s really good, excellent" Other custo "It’s close, too, just a couple of blocks from here"

They returned to his car, drove two blocks, and parked in front of an unpretentious-looking restaurant in a strip shopping center

By now Laura knew hih to realize that his sense of courtliness required her to wait for him to come around and open her car door, but when he opened it she saas standing in a ten-inch-deep puddle "Oh, your shoes!" she said

"They’ll dry out Here, you hold the umbrella over yourself, and I’ll lift you across the puddle"

Nonplussed, she allowed herself to be plucked frohed no her pavement and, without the umbrella, he sloshed back to the car to close the door

The French restaurant had less atmosphere than the Italian place They were shown to a corner table too near the kitchen, and Daniel’s saturated shoes squished and squeaked all the way across the room

"You’ll catch pneumonia," she worried when they were seated and had ordered two Dry Sacks on the rocks

"Not et sick One ti an action, I was cut off frole, rained every minute, I was shriveled by the time I found ot the sniffles"

As they sipped their drinks and studied the menu and ordered, he was more relaxed than Laura had yet seen him, and he actually proved to be a coherent, pleasant, even a conversationalist But when the appetizers were served-salmon in dill sauce for her, scallops in pastry for him-it swiftly becah the prices were twice those at the Italian place that they had left, and course by course, as his erew, his ability to sustain his end of the conversation declined drastically Laura proclai delicious and choked down every bite, but it was no use; he was not fooled

The kitchen staff and the waiter were also slow By the time Daniel had paid the check and escorted her back to the car-lifting her across the puddle again as if she were a little girl-they were half an hour late for the ht," she said, "we can go in late and stay to see the first half hour of the next showing"

"No, no," he said "That’s a terrible way to see a ht to be perfect"

"Relax," she said "I’ fun"

He looked at her with disbelief, and she smiled, and he smiled, too, but his so to the ht, too Wherever you want to go, I’ame"

He nodded, started the car, and drove out to the street They had gone a fewher hoized for what a lousy evening it had been, and she repeatedly assured him that she was not in the least disappointed with a moment of it At her apartment, the instant she inserted her key in the door, he turned and fled down the stairs froht kiss nor giving her a chance to invite him in

She stepped to the head of the stairs and watched hiust of wind turned his uht with it the rest of the way, twice al his balance When he reached the walk below, he finally got the umbrella corrected-and the wind iain In frustration he threw it into some nearby shrubbery, then looked up at Laura He was soaked froht fro on hi as two bulls, but he had been done in by little things-puddles, a gust of wind-and there was soh, dared not laugh, but a laugh burst from her anyway

"You’re too damned beautiful, Laura Shane!" he shouted from the walk below "God help me, you’re just too beautiful" Then he hurried away through the night

Feeling bad about laughing but unable to stop, she went into the aparted into pajamas It was only twenty till nine

He was either a hopeless basket case or the sweetest man she had known since her father died

At nine-thirty the phone rang He said, "Will you ever go out with ht you’d never call"

"You will?"