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"Friend" is not easily defined And yet,

These things mean that to me

Concerning one whom, even now,

I hope to see again

And count the days and hours

Until a second

What else was it Karen had said that day in her apartment? "I can use a typewriter It's electric and I work it with a stick in my teeth"

With a flash of e-slowly, patiently -over the words be had just read, her teeth gripping the stick tightly, her blonde head-the only part of her she coulditself after each laborious effort to touch a keyboard letter He wondered how many drafts Karen had done before the letter-perfect final version she had sent him

Unexpectedly, be realized, his one, a war it

On his way to join the press party at breakfast, Nim was surprised to meet Walter Talbot Jr Nim had not seen Wally since the day of his father's funeral Mo his recent visit to Ardythe, then rationalized that Wally and his mother led separate, independent lives

Wally greeted his you here?"

Ni, then asked, "And you?"

Wally glanced at the high voltage lines above them "Our helicopter patrol found broken insulators on one of the towers-probably a hunter using the, working with the line hot We hope to be finished this afternoon"

While they talked, a third man joined them Wally introduced him as Fred Wilkins, a company technician

"Glad to meet you, Mr Goldman I've heard of you Seen you a lot on TV"

The newcoht red hair and was healthily suntanned

"As you can see from the look of him," Wally said, "Fred lives out here"

Niet lonely?"

Wilkins shook his head emphatically "Not for me, sir, or the wife Our kids love it, too" He inhaled deeply "Breathe that air, et in any city And there's plenty of sunshine, all the fishing you need"

Niht try it for a vacation"

"Daddy!” a child's voice piped "Daddy, has the mailman come?"

As the trio turned their heads, a small boy ran toward theht red hair, e unmistakable

"Just the company mailman, son," Fred Wilkins said “The post office van'll be another hour" He explained to the others, "Danny's excited because it's his birthday He's hoping for soes"

"I' and sturdy for his age "I had soht be more"

"Happy birthday, Danny!" Niether

Mo toward the visitors' bunkhouse

16

In the tailrace tunnel's sehty thunderous sound of confined rushing water, Oakland Tribune shouted, "When I get through these two days I'onna ask for a quiet week on the obit desk"

Several others nearby smiled but shook their heads, unable to bear the words for two reasons-the all-enveloping water sound and plugs of absorbent cotton in their ears Material for the plugs, whichtunnel noise a little, had been handed theroup scrambled down a steep rock stairway to where the tailrace of Devil's Cate 1 generating plant ee River, twenty feet below

As they fiddled with the earplugs, preparing to enter the tunnel, someone had called out, "Hey, Tess! Why you takin' us in by the back door?"

"It's the tradesmen's entrance," she answered "Since when did you characters deserve better? Besides, you're always sounding off about needing color for your stories Here it is"

"Color? In there?" Los Angeles Ti forward into the blackness which was punctuated only by a few diht bulbs The tunnel was approximately circular, hewn out of solid rock, with the walls left rough and unfinished as at the time of excavation

The light bulbs were near the roof Suspended halfway between them and the turbulent water was a narroalk on which the visitors would walk Ropes on either side of the catwalk could be grabbed as handholds Earlier, following breakfast, Ni-"a hydroelectric plant that's coround, inside a mountain Later we'll talk about the proposed Devil's Gate puround-entirely out of sight"