retreat and hoped nutrition might make it respectable. Elise accused me of delaying proceedings.
“I’m hungry too,” I said.
“That’s an unusually convenient development.”
Then her stomach growled.
We looked at each other, and she laughed despite herself. It did not undo what she had asked. It simply allowed us to remain two people who could still find a little kindness in being ridiculous.
We rode the train back toward campus and walked to the overlook above the Mississippi. The afternoon had cooled. Leaves moved along the path, and the
