She sat back again. “As I recall, you never did much courting. Seems to me the girl chased after you with her eyes wide open. A man who’s been all the places you been oughta know how to court a woman. Probably picked up some of those fancy languages.”
He picked up a cookie and bit into it. “A phrase or two.”
“Never knew a woman who wouldn’t flutter a bit with some fancy language.”
Leaning over he kissed both her hands. “I missed you.”
“I knew you’d come back. At my age, you know how to wait. Go find your girl.”
“I think I might.” Rising, he slipped into his coat. “I’ll come back and visit again.”
“See that you do.” She waited until he opened the door. “Jason—button your coat.” She didn’t pull out her handkerchief until she heard the door close behind him.
CHAPTER 4
The sun was high and bright when he stepped outside. Across the street a snowman was rapidly losing weight. He found the streets as he’d found them yesterday on his drive in—full of children fresh out of school. He felt the surge of freedom himself. As he headed north, he saw a girl break away from a group of children and come toward him. Even bundled in hat and scarf he recognized Clara.
“’Scuse me. Did you use to live here?”
“That’s right.” He wanted to tuck her hair into her cap but stopped himself.
“My mother said you did. Today in school, the teacher said you went away and got famous.”
He couldn’t stop the grin. “Well, I went away.”
“And you won a prize. Like Marcie’s brother won a trophy for bowling.”
He thought of his Pulitzer and managed, barely, not to laugh. “Something like that.”
To Clara he looked like a regular person, not someone who bounded around the world on adventures. Her eyes narrowed. “Did you really go to all those places like they said?”
“That depends on what they said.” In tacit agreement they began to walk together. “I’ve been to some places.”
“Like Tokyo? That’s the capital of Japan, we learned that in school.”
“Like Tokyo.”
“Did you eat raw fish?”
“Now and again.”
“That’s really disgusting.” But she seemed pleased all the same. She bent and scooped up snow without breaking rhythm. “Do they squish grapes with their feet in France?”
“I can’t say I ever saw it for myself, but I’ve heard tell.”
“I sure wouldn’t drink it after that. Did you ever ride a camel?”
He watched her bullet the snowball into the base of a tree. “As a matter of fact, I did.”
“What was it like?”
“Uncomfortable.”
It was a description she readily accepted because she’d already figured it out for herself. “The teacher read one of your stories today. The one about this tomb they found in China. Did you see the statues?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Was it likeRaiders?”
