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We had to go or he'd think he was inhibiting our style of living And so ent, hoping Melodie would join him

One day oke up so early the frost was still thick upon the ground and pu under the stacked corn stalks where far The frost looked sweet, like powdered sugar that would soon melt when the sun came out fully

On our e stopped to stare up at the sky as Canadian geese flew south, telling us that winter would come earlier than usual this year We heard the distantbirds fade as they disappeared in thetoward South Carolina--where once we had fled just before winter's sharp bite

In e electric shears to split Jory's cast halfway through; then he used handheld shears to gently cut through what remained Jory said he felt now like a turtle without its shell His strong body had wasted inside that cast "A feeeks of exercising your arms and shoulder ed Chris "You're going to need strong ar that trapeze, and we'll have parallel bars put in your sitting roo position Don't think life is over for you, that all challenges are behind you and nothing o before you're done with life, don't you ever forget that"

"Yeah,"eh "Miles and miles to travel before I can find another body that works like it should I guess I'll start believing in reincarnation"

The quickly chilling days turned bitterly cold, with autu birds stopped flying overhead now that the histling through the treetops, howling around the house, stealing inside our rooh, flooding our bed withfor a new kind of roht love that lit up our spirits, and told us eren't really sinners of the worst kind Not when our love could last as it had, while other es broke up after a fewand feel as we did toward one another Who e hurting? No one, not really Bart was hurting himself; we reasoned

Still, as I haunted by night off disturbing thoughts by thinking of all the trivial details inbeauty of nature I wanted nature to heal my wounds, and Jory's--and perhaps even Bart's

With a keen eye I studied all the signs as a farrew suddenly fatter The squirrels see more nuts Woolly caterpillars looked like tiny train cars of fur inching toward safety--wherever that was

Soon I was pulling out winter coats that I'd intended to give to charities; heavy sweaters and wool skirts I'd never expected to wear in Hawaii In Septeh school in South Carolina This was her last year in a very expensive private school that she "absolutely adored" Her letters poured in like unseasonable war more money for this or that

On and on flowed Cindy's sprawling girlish script, needing everything, despite all the gifts I was constantly bo her with She had dozens of boyfriends, a new one each time she wrote She needed casual clothes for the boy who liked to hunt and fish She needed dressy clothes for the boy who liked operas and concerts She needed jeans and warm tops for herself, and luxury underwear and

nightclothes, for she just couldn't sleep in anything inexpensive

Her letters emphasized all that I'd missed when I was sixteen I remembered Clairmont and my days in Dr Paul's house, with Henny in the kitchen teaching me how to cook by example, not o

rds I'd bought a cookbook on hoin your ht dishes What a child I'd been I sighed Perhaps I'd had it just as good as Cindy, after all--in a different way--after we escaped Foxworth Hall I sniffed Cindy's pink, perfumed stationery before I put down her letter, then turned my attention to the present and all the problems in this Foxworth Hall, without the paper flowers in the attic

Day after day of closely observing Bart when he ith Melodie was convincing reat deal of one another, while Jory saw very little of his wife I tried to believe that Melodie was trying to console Bart for not inheriting as much as he'd believedbut despite myself, I presumed there was more to it than pity

Like a faithful puppy, with only one friend, Joel followed Bart everywhere, except into his office or bedroom He prayed in that tiny room before breakfast, lunch and dinner He prayed before he went to bed, and prayed as he walked about,to himself the appropriate quotes from the Bible to suit whatever occasion provoked him into pious mumbles