“Sure. I’m okay. Thanks for coming in to see about me.” I covered her hand with mine. Our hands lay together upon the counterpane. Her long thin fingers, scrubby unkempt fingernails. My fat smooth young hands, one wearing a class ring, one still wearing a diamond engagement ring that had belonged to my grandmother and the plain gold band I had bought for myself so we could get married.

“We’ll talk some more later,” she said. “After Jim leaves and the others go to bed. I have something I want to show you. A book of poems I think you might like to read.” She took back her beautiful busy hand. A hand that cooked and typed and planted flowers and touched a man she loved, a hand that was being used up and consumed. We got up from the bed and went back out into the living room. Jim was standing by the fireplace. “There’s a Celestron telescope mounted on the roof of this house,” he said. “Has Charles shown it to you?”

“No.”

“Take her and show her the moons of Saturn.” Charles laughed. “Jim can’t stay away from that telescope. I think that’s all he comes over for.”

“I do not. I come for Derry’s cooking. Come along, Rhoda, come see the stars. Charles William, you and Irise come too.”

“Not me. I’m going to bed.”

“Me too,” Irise answered. “I didn’t sleep a bit last night. I was so excited. I never sleep before I go on a trip.”

“I never sleep anyway,” I said. “My mother says I’ve never been asleep in my life.” Derry and Charles looked at each other. A strange dark look passed between them.

“The unsafe child,” Derry said. “Charles is writing about that.”

“Tell me, Rhoda,” Charles asked, “was your mother sick when you were small?”

“She almost died having me. She had uremic poisoning. She said I almost tore her up being born. They had to give her something to make me come fast.”

“I want to talk to you some more about that, if you’ll let me. Well, take her up on the roof, Jim. Make him let you see the moons, Rhoda. He never shows anyone the moons.”