“What do you think?” Aggie looked at me and then at Cal.

Later, when we were leaving, Aggie said that she was going down to buy a container of milk. I said I’d go, figuring that I’d give them a chance to be alone. Maybe I wouldn’t even get the milk, I’d just go on to the Grant. But she said no, and she put on a sweater and we went downstairs.

“You can really do it,” Cal said to Aggie. They were holding hands.

“You’re just getting old,” she said. “Anything sounds good to an old man.”

“Who’s getting old?” Cal sucked his stomach in. “You must be out of your mind, girl.”

“You’re getting old,” she said. “I can see that hair getting kind of thin up there in front. You got to let me grease your hair sometimes.”

“I ain’t getting old,” Cal said. “I’m faster than this turkey here.”

“You can’t even beat me,” she said.

“See that lamppost down there,” Cal said. “I’ll give you a head start and beat you so bad you’ll think I’m sixteen years old.”

“You think so?” Aggie said.

“I know so.”

“Tie your shoes and I’ll consider it.”

When Cal looked down at his shoe, Aggie took off for the lamppost.

“Here I come! Here I come!” Cal shouted out.

When he shouted that, Aggie really started running. Cal didn’t run at all; he just watched her. When she got to the lamppost, she turned and saw that he hadn’t run. She watched him laughing as she leaned against the post, trying to catch her breath. And then, just as we got to where she was standing, her smiles changed to tears. She grabbed his shirt at the shoulders and held them and looked at him as if she was thinking of a way to throw him down or something. Then she kissed him.

“Take care of yourself, baby,” she said. “Don’t get yourself hurt.”

Then she was gone. Even from where we stood, we could see she was still crying as she went.

I saw Mary-Ann in front of the State Office Building. At first I almost didn’t recognize her. She looked different.

“Hey, what’s happening?” I said. I started to lean over and kiss her on the cheek.

“Go to hell!” she said.

She started walking away, just like that, and I let her. I figured she’d see I wasn’t chasing after her and stop, but she didn’t. Finally I did go after her. I spoke to her again, but this time she didn’t even answer. That’s the way we walked all the way uptown. Only she was really hoofing. I had to walk fast to keep up with her. I figured that maybe she’d cool down by the time she got uptown, so I waited before I said anything else to her. But I did check her out, and I saw why she looked so different. The left side of her face was bruised and swollen. You could tell even though she was wearing shades.