O+F

in it to Mark Barnes without getting into details. "I mean, we w

laughed. "H

weekends-nice place, garden out back, blueberries, the high bush kind. I pruned them. We'd have a glass

hip," Mark said. "Now it's 18 weeks and dropping.

"All very well for you. I'm not, lik

cuz you're four

Oliver said. "Do

hit," Mark said. "Do I

ou do it,

it doesn't count." Mark drank and smiled. "I spend a fortune on shirts and sweaters. 'Oooh,' they say. I hold out my arm for the feel. 'Yeah

e a fortune,

said. "Linen. You go

" Oliv

he was in Freeport and stopped at the Ralph Lauren factory outlet store. He bought a linen bush jacket that was radically marked down. It was dy

t at Jacky's had liberated him. He wondered why. Why had it felt right, somehow, to be punished by her

feel this way? He couldn't be sure-this was murky territory-but he suspected that it had to do with his mother. She seemed to hover around the edges when he thought back. He wondered if he hadn't, at a very young age, taken on responsibility for

t home and at the Cons

m into the "Drummi

um anything

e have a teacher-a Master Drummer. A lot of people have

t have

one. I'll bring it for you." She was enth

to meet at the Conservancy and then be bussed to Wolf Ne

eached out and felt it between her t

. Linen," he said, but he was damne

You're going to love this." He accepted it, feeling foolish. She handed him a wooden striker. "You can hold it any way that

et it," Ol

as shaped like a miniature conga, handmade with a skin head that was lashed tight. He rested it on his lap and watched

more on the way. There's another group coming down the coas

are

have fun. I am going to have fun!" She passed around a box of

ocean was just out of sight through trees and down a steep bank. Paths wound along a narrow wooded peninsula with views of islands, tiny co

bus. A van drove up. Its horn tooted twice, and a short round man popped out. He was holding a stick adorned with feathers and bel

ief," Ol

he stepped closer and whispered, "He's expensive, b

lks," Bogdolf said, tw

ve we time f

ce and addressed the group, "this is Bogdolf, Lore Keeper. I've asked him to speak to us this morning." She sat in one of

ll on Oliver, and he pointed at him with the stick. "Let me hear it, son." He made striking motions with his stick. "Ba, ba boom! Ba, ba, boom! Let me hear it now." He had twirled his way directly in front

ered back several steps. He looked again at Oliver and made a commanding motion with the sti

and fell. He was on the verge of tears. He laughed. He whispered. Threatened. Trembled. Finally: "And that is how the little drum saved

modestly and made his way to the cof

" Oliv

didn't know you were going to

on an island just offshore. They got down to serious drumming for an hour before lunch and then for several hours afterwards. They w

r the other drummer. Oliver and the boy followed him through the center of the complications as the group got into synch and began to rock. He felt a duty to do it right, to keep the beat, kee

, "if you take 16 even beats, numbers 1,4,7,11, and 13 are the son clave beats. So, it is asymmetrical within the 16 beats, but symmetrical outside; the pattern r

ifer said, "who says

he subject. "How

rated. "Sometimes I think he doesn

e kids, someday?" It jus

. We've be

e weekend," Olive

n . . . You want to go to a movie Saturday afternoon, maybe have a drink

. That sounds a

telling me I should go out

e understood. He found it hard to say no to her, which is why, on Saturday night,

he was as purposeful in bed as she was in the office. She took him inside her and urged him on, as though something might pull him away at any moment. It was fast and satisfyin

kly. "Will you be in on Monday?" He nodded. She bent over him and put her hand on his chest, as if to measur

t." And sh

round the house wondering wha

That was wonderful, Oliver. But-it will just have to be a lost weekend

er said. "There ought t

und his neck and just

it he

used to you,"

, Wednesday,"

She looked normally married and involved in what they were doing. Oliver went in a different direction, feeli

ing. Qui

inen jacket,"

pleased. "There you

e door, when Francesca came in with her two girls. Oliver looked at her and

large white "Harbor Fish" T-sh

ve to go to

" Francesca pointed and put her free hand on

ds-motherhood,

asy. An elderly couple passed them on their way out.

't you t

hank you," Francesca sa

said. "Is anyon

shook her head deliberately. There were no words, or too many, to explain. "My lucky day," Oliv

hun

ward the table. When she reached the booth,

ive

Oli

y name. Oliver Muni Presc

" She held an arm out to Elena who was pleased with her conquest of the bathroo

as big as yo

"Stupid-you're supposed t

Oliver said. "You are

be

," sh

tty girls," Oliver

nish sounds. Oliver wanted to put his arms around her and keep her from harm forever. "

rls," Oli

s your

" Oliver said

er of Francesca's wide mouth curved up; the

ng himself. He felt the rings of calm a

One of the regular wai

or me," O

for the gi

pple," El

" France

eas

orange." The wai

r. Oliver didn't ask about her husband. She didn't ask about his work. They stayed with what mattered: themselves, lunch, th

t box and the bronze heart. "She's the one," he said