The house, a mobile home like all the others, its licence plate tacked to the side wall, was embedded in concrete. The side which faced the road had a screened porch the full length of the house, which gave them an unobstructed view of the western mountains, and it was well furnished with comfortable chairs and a table for eating on or for setting up a puzzle. The living room had a dining ell that faced south. The narrow kitchen was well-equipped with dishwasher and microwave as well as an ordinary stove and refrigerator. The larger of the two bedrooms had a dressing room and bath which opened off it. The other bathroom opened on to the hall next to the small bedroom.

‘This is really very nice,’ David said. ‘I’ve never been in one of these before.’

‘I’m just going to drive into town and get some groceries before the store closes,’ Diana said. ‘I won’t be more than half an hour.’

It was too abrupt a way to leave Constance, but Diana had no choice. David didn’t yet know the town, and she doubted that he wanted to drive the car though he might not mind once he saw for himself how wide the roads were, how little the traffic and easy parking. And nearly everyone behind the wheel would make him look like a boy.

There was the little Mexican restaurant still. Might they even be able to go out for dinner? Diana swung the car around Christmas Circle and was in the little town with its shabby, high-priced market and its several competing liquor stores. There would be gin tonight for David, scotch for herself and Constance.

Diana could hardly believe how agile she was as she got out of the car and nearly strode into the store. Her liberated body was still connected to Constance by a taut string, but she was a kite in the sweet desert air, not a fish straining into the hurting dark. She could hurry. She could be extravagant.

The valley lay in the shadow of the mountains as she made her way home. It did feel like going home. David and Constance came out to help carry things in.

‘You’re all unpacked,’ David announced, ‘though Constance keeps telling me we must have claimed the wrong luggage because she doesn’t recognize a single thing of either hers or yours.’

‘They’re all new, that’s why,’ Diana said, kissing Constance.

‘Whole suitcases full?’ Constance asked.

‘Look at the size of that gin bottle!’ David said. ‘Can I drink that in two weeks?’

‘Well, be careful of it,’ Diana said. ‘American drink is stronger than ours.’

‘Do you know how to use a microwave oven?’ David asked.

‘I’m too old for that sort of thing.’

‘But I do,’ David said. ‘Both the girls have them. Bacon, good. I can do you a wonderful bacon for breakfast.’