On the drive to Springfield he thought about Allie and what he would buy her. Something fine. Or imported. He thought about that Bob Dylan song of a man bringing his woman a pair of boots of Spanish leather. But it was too hot to think of boots. A summer dress, maybe, with flowers on it. Some French perfume. A scarf made in China. Or jewelry. No, that was out. There was only one jewel to buy her, and he was going to wait until he knew it was the exact right time.

The sun shone bright off the river to his left. The water was still high from yesterday and most of the boulders were submerged. Near the Springfield city limits was a small pebbled beach. A pickup truck was parked there. Two girls in one-piece bathing suits were wading in waist deep. On the ground in front of the truck sat a man about Floyd’s age, maybe younger. His hair was buzz-cut the same way, and Leo wondered if he was a soldier, home for good, sitting there watching his wife and sister swim, thinking about combat.

Leo walked in and out of a Rexall drugstore and two boutiques before he saw Tony’s Musical Suite under an awning next to a barber shop. The inside was dim and hot and smelled like rosewood. Behind the glass counter stood a man in a green T-shirt. He was clean shaven and his black hair was long and hung to his shoulders. “Beautiful day in the world.”

“You sell harmonicas?”

The man had three turquoise and silver rings on his fingers, and when he patted the counter top with his palm, they clicked against the glass. “I only carry Marine Band, but I move ’em in every key.”

Leo looked down at two blue felt-covered shelves. The top one had guitar picks on it; a juice harp; a red-, orange-, and green-flamed guitar strap rolled up like a sleeping snake; and a tuning fork. On the bottom shelf was nothing but harmonicas in three neat rows, shining silver in the light of the display case.

“You play?”

“Yep.”

“Local?”

“Heywood.”

The man handed Leo a Tony’s Musical Suite business card. “Ever groove to Anthony and the Holy Roaders?”

Leo nodded, still reading the card.

“That’s us. We just lost our harp to Uncle Sam. You want to bend ’em sometime, buzz my horn.”

Leo said sure thing and bought four harmonicas: a G, a B-flat, an A, and one in D. While Tony took them out of the case and boxed them, Leo looked again at the Mexican guitar strap on the top shelf. He pointed at it and said he’d take that too. He wanted to get something for Ryder but Ryder had two harps in every key so it had to be something else. Leo walked over to the book rack and flipped through some jazz song books, folk books, then the blues. He pulled out a thin book with a picture of Huddy Ledbetter on the cover. He dropped it on the counter, and Tony told him twenty-eight and change. Leo handed over two twenties. “What kind of music do you guys play?”