I smiled. “It hasn’t been reviewed yet,” I said.

“‘Think of it as an adventure,’ I used to say to you,” said my mother. “And you did. And so your life became an adventure, a wonderful adventure. Performing in all these places, making records. When you were nine, you said you were going to be a great pianist, and I worried that life might disappoint you. And now—” She paused and then she smiled at me. “Now the world is on fire. You’ve set it on fire, Harry.”

“Should we go through to the library?” I asked. “We could listen to it.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, letting herself back down on her pillows. “I’m feeling very weak today. I think I’d better stay in bed. It’s my copy, though?”

I nodded.

“I’ll listen to it later. Maybe I’ll feel stronger this afternoon.” She sounded suddenly crisp. “Listen, you’ve got a lot to do today if you’re going to throw that party Wednesday. You said yesterday you had a thousand errands. You’d better get going.”

“I guess I should,” I said.

“I hope one of your thousand errands is getting a haircut,” she added. “You look like you’re planning to entertain a family of hedgehogs up there.”

• • •

The day of the party broke radiant and clear; I looked through the large windows of my architectonic loft and saw nothing but sunshine stretching in every direction. I had scheduled the day to the minute. I called my mother and asked how she was doing, and she told me that she was fine and that she would be at the party an hour after it started. “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay,” she warned me. “I’ll stay for as long as I can, but it may just be half an hour or so. But I’ll be there for long enough to say hello to everyone. You keep calm.” I called Helen, who confirmed that she would meet me at my apartment at four forty-five. I got my hair cut. I shaved slowly and carefully. I spoke with the florist twice, and settled the question about the tall urns. I went out and bought champagne in case close friends wanted to come back to my house after the main event. I collected my watch (my parents had given me that watch for my twenty-first birthday) from the repair people, with whom it had spent a month. I telephoned some very close friends to make sure that they would arrive on the early side. I spoke with the caterer and tried to confirm the number of guests, but by that time the totals had run away from me. There were so many people who had said that they might be bringing friends, and so many others who had said that they would not be bringing friends, and so many who had called and virtually invited themselves, and so many who had been oddly unavailable.