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Show 26-5 both decided it took too much concentration and we would rather just have fun. This afternoon, Andrew seemed a bit edgy and preoccupied. He asked me several times when I was going home and I told him I would wait for Father. Finally, after we finished one game, he folded up the board and put the game away. "I have to talk to you, Annie. I have to tell you something." He was suddenly very busy with the board and the pieces. I suddenly felt nervous and cold. "I'm going away for a while, Annie." Then he looked at me. I stared back at him. "Your father has found a hospital up north that is doing a lot of surgery on problems, uh, on faces like mine." He paused and looked down. "They can't do any more here. That last bit was all they could do. But this other place," he took a deep breath and turned sideways on the bench, "well, maybe they can do more. Try to fix this up a bit better." He lightly touched his cheek with his fingers. Then he reached across the table and touched my cheek. "Annie? Don't look so sad. Please. I'll come back." "How far ..." I couldn't speak. I cleared my throat. "How far away is it?" My voice seemed awfully loud. "About a hundred miles. It's the big Veteran's Hospital. Just full of nice guys like me." He smiled at me. Then he said more quietly, "It's not so far that you can't come up and see me. On holidays." I nodded. I stood up and walked to the window and watched the sheets of rain coat the glass and dim everything outside. I clenched my hands together in front of me. I hated Father for doing this, for planning this. He knew how much Andrew meant to me. Then I turned and looked at Andrew. He was sitting where I had left him, his bandaged hand cradled in his lap and his head resting on his good hand. In the dimming light of the huge, echoing room, he looked tired and older than he was. I realized how cheerful he always was when I was around, but/flaw lie Lkuu»iH my hack was turned, he looked like all the other men in the |