Ah. That explains it. Really, this Lemon must be quite unpleasant, though Lucy has a hard time imagining it, given the charming man she has met at LSR parties. “What about?”

But Dennis doesn’t want to go into it, and he retires to the video room table to get out the briefcase and pore over papers. Lucy cleans up, sits down to rest her feet. She’s teaching the Bible class tomorrow morning and they’re doing a chapter of Galatians that is problematic indeed. Paul is an ambiguous writer, when you read him closely; conflicting desires in him, some selfless and some not, make for a somewhat incoherent output. She reads over the teacher’s manual again and worries about the class. She finds herself nodding off. Time for bed already; the evenings always disappear. Dennis is out there staring at nothing, head tilted at an angle. Probably thinking of their plot of land up near Eureka, dreaming of an escape. Lucy shudders at the thought; she didn’t like that desolate coastline, its immense distance from her friends, family, work, the world. In fact she has wondered guiltily if the fire that burned the land was somehow an unwanted response to prayer, God granting her least worthy desire as a peculiar kind of lesson or warning to her.…

They retire. Another day done. Sleepy prayers. She’s got to get Jim back up here. Work on that some more tomorrow. Important. After class. Or the session with Lillian. Or …

Chapter 19

19

That Saturday morning the same old party is beginning at the spa when Sandy gets sick of it. It’s sunny outside and the spa with its plants, mirrors, spectrum slide walls, clanking Nautilus machinery, gym shorts, leotards, and the sweet smell of clean sweat, just isn’t big enough to do the day justice. “Ahhhhhhh! Boring!!!!” He lets the lat pull go and its weights crash down, then he fires off into the mall and comes back with softballs, bats, and a dozen gloves. “Let’s go! Play ball!” He dragoons the whole crowd and they’re off.

It takes them a while to think of a park big enough to play softball in, but Abe does and they track south and east to Ortega, where a large grass park surrounded by eucalyptus trees lies empty. Perfect. There’s even a backstop. They split into teams, lid some eyedroppers, and start up a game.