He made his way down the aisle saying hello now and then to people he knew, most of them looking as ragged and wet and worn-out as he felt. Then he saw that only one of the four seats in the group was free. The third was occupied by Angeline Mangiamele, her lap full of camera bags.

“Well, my goodness,” said Pearl, getting up to scoot over into the empty seat. She was wearing a patchwork jacket, elaborately beaded and embellished, that jingled as she moved. “Don’t you look a mess. I thought you took your car to the airport?”

“Nice to see you, too,” John said, trying not to look at Angie. “My car is on its way to the dealership,” he said. “Hooked to the back of a tow truck. And no comments about foreign cars. Please.”

“Well, that’s a shame,” said Harriet, but her smile said she was delighted with this turn of events. “You just settle down there, John, and rest yourself. Pearl and I have been shopping, for your wedding, no less.”

“Angie,” said John. “How are you? Did these two drag you along shopping?”

Pearl said, “She’s got more sense than that. Angie there was interviewing Miss Anabel. Imagine.” To Angie she said: “I’ll bet those two old ladies talked your ear off, didn’t they, now? Harriet, do you suppose we’ll get like that in our old age, telling the same story over and over?”

“She didn’t repeat herself to me,” said Angie. John could see that she was irritated, that she had liked Miss Anabel and liked Miss Zula and was impatient with Pearl and Harriet, which was surely understandable; each of them was nice enough on their own, but together they were too much even for Caroline. But Angie was holding back, whether out of courtesy or for his sake, he couldn’t tell.

Harriet was telling Pearl that most certainly they’d live to be as old as Miss Zula and Miss Anabel—hadn’t the woman who read the tarot cards for them last time they were in New Orleans told them so?

“Didn’t that woman have a gift?” Pearl said.

“I swear,” Harriet said, “it was almost like listening to the voice of God talking to me directly.” She placed her hand on her breast.

“I wish God would talk to me directly,” said Pearl. “I’ve got some questions I’d like to ask him.”