15/03/2026 15:47

---

I passed the big pine that Jo had once banged intoin our Jeep, trying to back up the driveway. And now, as if the thought had called them, Icould see the rest shimmer into faint being behind him, standing in aline across the path. They sat silent over their coffee and Joe puffed at a cigar. Nor did Jo and I ever give it one, not even between ourselves.

The chemo. At the consulate Mac met a Syrian who offered to buy his stock of books. Bad weather was comin in, good gorry, yes. Dozens of them.