She put the foil-wrapped food in the oven. “I wish there was a way we could talk to people all over the world, and see them. Like on a TV.”

“Sounds like something off Star Trek. They didn’t put that show back on, did they?”

“Sadly, not.”

He sat down at the table. “We don’t get much news where I’ve been, so tell me what I’ve missed in the world.”

Vera smiled. Her favorite topic. “East Pakistan renamed itself Bangladesh. Shirley Chisholm says she’s running for president.”

“Couldn’t be worse than Nixon. Does everyone still hate him?”

“Yeah. Especially Maude.”

“Who?”

“It’s a TV show you haven’t seen. And there’s a new movie you have to see. The Godfather.”

“Sounds boring. Too romantic for me.”

Vera chuckled. “Not really. Anyway, Libya and the Soviet Union signed a cooperation treaty. And Congress is sending the Equal Rights Amendment to the states to ratify.”

“Any hope they’ll sign it?”

“None whatever. The US and the Soviet Union and seventy other nations have agreed to ban biological warfare.”

“But they haven’t agreed to ban war,” Adam said.

“No,” Vera said softly. Three young men they’d gone to high school with had been killed in Vietnam. Vera had participated in sit-ins and walkouts. Adam and her father had supported her, but her mother had been angry and scared. But still, the useless war continued.

“Hey!” Adam said. “How did we get morbid?”

“You started it by telling me that you’d bed hopped with half of Africa and—”

“I didn’t! It was once and—” He halted.

“One girl or one time?” she asked.

Adam turned away. “You and I aren’t officially engaged.”

“Right. We’re not.” For the first time, there was anger in Vera’s voice. “Free love and all that.”

Adam cleared his throat. “Did you know that Paul is spending the summer in Europe? Are he and your little sister still an item?”

Vera got the food out of the oven. “They are, and no, Kelly didn’t mention it.”

“That’s because Paul only has two legs. Not important to her.”

Vera smiled as she got plates out of the cabinet. “Pauly’s so mad about Kelly he’s probably only going away for a week. Just seems like the whole summer to him.”

“Nope. He’ll be away all summer. And Forey told me that Miguel will probably marry Gabby. I got the idea he was asked to come more for matchmaking than to help on the farm.”

Vera put out plates and glasses and the food. “This was all told to you since your father’s funeral? All this gossip?”