Carol sighed and plopped down at the kitchen table. Kate took a seat

opposite her. “What I was trying to say was if you don't take some chances you

might just miss out on something better than you thought, that's all.”

“What happened with you and Lucius?” Kate said softly.

Carol hesitated. “Well, we were good friends in school. Just like you and Peter. He lived down on the south side of town, down where the bowling alley

is? It was all farmland then.”

“Did he ever take you out on a date?”

She smiled, gazing at the table, flicking a crumb from the tablecloth. “We used to go roller skating in Compton. They had a rink on the edge of town, Rhonda's Roll-a-Rama.”

Kate almost laughed, but the pensive look on Carol's face stopped her. “So

you too were a pair, huh?”

“Oh, no, not really. I think we both liked each other, you know, but our parents didn't quite see eye to eye. He was four years older than me, you know.

He was so dashing. Tall and thin, with horn-rimmed glasses. A lot like Peter, actually.” She seemed to remember something, staring into space. “He had these

long sideburns, and he smoked clove cigarettes.”

“Wait, Lucius smoked?”

She chuckled, putting her finger to her mouth. “Got caught once outside of

shop class. I don't think his parents ever found out. If they had, they probably would have sent him to military school. They were pretty strict. Did you know

his dad worked at Nitrovex?”

Kate put her chin in her hand. “I didn't.”

“It was a lot smaller back then, just starting out. They didn't think much of

their son wanting to go to college, for some reason. Maybe they thought working

a factory floor was more secure than getting a degree at some college. I think he

smoked just to try to act rebellious.”

Kate had a sudden picture of a young Lucius, with mutton-chop sideburns and a walrus mustache, long brown hair blowing in the breeze. Decked out in a

rainbow-colored headband, sitting on a rumbling purple chopper, revving the engine. And Carol on the back of it, wearing a Nehru jacket with beads and fringe, arms around his waist, wearing mirrored granny glasses. Flashing a peace

sign.

“So what happened?”

Carol sighed. “Well, as I said, my parents didn't think too much of it, me being about sixteen and all and him almost four years older.”

“So that was it? You never got together?”

“We tried, but remember, he was older. He went off to college when I was

just starting high school. Oh, he snuck back a few times early on or we'd meet

down the road in Millersburg or some place. I told my parents I was going

bowling with my friends. I'd never lied to them before.”

Kate's mouth curved in a small smile. She was trying to imagine her kind little friend as a rebellious teenager.

“And, of course, we wrote each other. Nice long letters about what we were

doing, and school and such. Not so much what we were feeling though. First, it

was a couple of times a week. Then it was once a week, then every month, and

then we just…stopped.”

Kate felt the silence hanging in the air, the only sound the ticking of the old

schoolhouse clock hanging on the wall. She put her hand on Carol's.

“And then you met Percy?”

Carol nodded, smiling. “In college, yes. Swept me off my feet, you might say.” She took off her glasses and peered through them, then laid them on the table. “Lucius managed to avoid the draft—flat feet, I believe, but don't tell him I know that. Met his wife a few years after college. We never really saw each other until he came back here to teach.”

“Wasn't that kind of awkward?”

“Oh, not so much. We were practical. You got on with life. You can't always

dwell in the past, you know.” She paused, looking down. “Still, it is a part of who you are. My dad used to say 'Who we are in the present includes who we

were in the past.' ”

Something, a feeling, a notion, tugged at Kate's thoughts, but it never materialized. She felt…not really sad, but wistful? Was that the word? And the

uneasy part was she wasn't sure if it was for her friend or her. She rubbed her temples with her hand. Man. Being back here was really messing with her emotions.

“Well,” Carol stood suddenly. “Enough of that. I have to get ready for the ladies.” She hustled into the kitchen. In a few moments, Kate could hear pots banging and water coming from the faucet. And…was that sniffing? She couldn't

be sure.

* * *