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Kate stared out at the waves slapping the shore "In the tabloids last week there was a sixty-year-old woave birth "
Tully laughed "You are such a bitch "
"I kno coirl, Ill show you to your room "
"I to be sorry I complained, arent I?"
"Oh, yeah "
They walked through the darkened house At the guest bedroo Marah, okay? She already thinks you hung the moon "
"Come on, Katie I made more than two million dollars last year, what am I supposed to do with it all?"
"Give it to charity Just no more pink limos, okay?"
"You are no fun whatsoever, you know that?"
It wasnt untilDipper, that she realized she hadnt asked Kate about her own life
Kate stared at the calendar that hung on the wall by her refrigerator It see so quickly, but the proof was right there in front of her It was Noveed the world In September of last year terrorists had flown airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing thousands Another plane had been hijacked and ulti no survivors Car and suicide bohtly news; the search for weapons of un Words like Al-Qaeda and Taliban and Pakistan came up in every conversation, were repeated on every broadcast
Fear changed everyone and everything, and yet, as always, life went on Hour by hour, day by day, while politicians andfor bombs and terrorists, and while the Justice Depart down Enrons papery walls, families went on with their ordinary lives Kate continued to run her errands and raise her children and love her husband If she held on to all of thehtly and kept them closer to home, everyone understood: the world wasnt as safe as it had been before
Now Thanksgiving was a week away and Christmas lurked just around the corner
It was the holiday season, the ti split personalities Torn between the joy of the season and the amount of work that joy required, Kate often had trouble slowing down, re to do—for the school parties, for the ballet bake sale, for donations at Helper House—and shopping, of course As e Island hen it ca, one was reminded forcibly that this was a body of land surrounded by water Thus, malls and department stores were far away She felt like aout for a vertical ascent without oxygen; the summit was Nordstrom When you had three kids, it took time to pick out their presents, and time was in short supply
Now, as Kate sat in the drivers seat of her car, parked in the first position in the carpool lane, she began her Christ and kids poured out of the middle school