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Show ALASKA- 18 " I ' l l call. You know I can't." Ian came home thinner and hollow around the eyes. It had been a long training, and an unexpected storm had stranded his party for three days. "You'd never realize how ferocious a l i t t le mountain can become," he said. " Great training for Alaska, I'll say that." He slept for fourteen hours, his equipment strewn across the floor of their apartment like a heap of carnival banners and d ull metal fists. After he awakened, showered, ate, he knelt on the floor and began sorting, separating the nylon slings into like-colored piles. His multicolored rope lay coiled in a corner of the room. She stood over him, the cup in one hand, her elbows pushed out at sharp angles to her body. "Ian," she said, "I won this." "What?" "Frostbite regatta. I feel different." He rocked back on his heels and began winding a blue sling around his hand. "I missed you," he said. "I'm thirty-five," she said. "I don't need you any more." He stood up. "Oh?" "Not any more." He moved closer to her. "I like i t , whatever it is." He put his hard arms around her. "You're a tough l i t t le lady, huh? Ferocious, like the mountain." He would have begun then and there, but she was smarter now and went into the bathroom to talk into the mirror. Then she telephoned Jc and made plans for lunch. She saw him watching her. |