| OCR Text |
Show -232- other phone. "Just a moment," he said to his daughter. " I ' l l see xmere your mother i s ." fife-called, but got no ansxrer. On the dining room table he found a note; "Gone to the store. Be back soon." He told his daughter he supposed her mother had gone grocery shopping. He f e l t sure, though, that the v i s i t xrould be welcome. She would be back soon, and they had no other appointments. In saying t h i s , he lied a l i t t l e , because he had thought of going to look for h i s wife's present. But there xas s t i ll time. "We'll look forward to seeing you." "Okay," she replied. "We should get there by five." After his daughter had hung up, he got his shears from the l i t t l e closet beloxr the telephone, xrent out and snipped off the rose-hips. He walked, then, around the house to the patio, the dog following. With the shears, he snipped off a few dead blossoms from the fuchsias. Ho gazed doxm on San Pablo Bay, the sun's rays s t i l l glimmering on i t , a few white sails skimming i t so^slpwly they seemed to be standing s t i l l. Just a week before Christmas, he thought, and such weather. Most of the years he had lived hero, i t had rained at Christmas time. He xas beginning to feel hungry, and he wondered if he should go inside and fix himself a sandwich. Just then his |
