When she finally got going on Penny at the wheel of the Bertha P. Moran, it was practically five o'clock.

She went down to the den.

Royal sat reading Men in Groups, his feet in blue socks on the hassock.

He looked up at her. "Done?" he asked. He had fixed the frame of his glasses with adhesive tape.

"Hell, no," she said. "I just got started."

"How come?"

"I don't know," she said. "Something's been bugging me. Listen, would you do me a favor? Now that it's moving I want to stay with it."

"Supper?" he said.

She nodded. "Would you take them to the pizza place? Or to McDonald's?"

He took his pipe from the table. "All right," he said.

"I want to get it done with," she said. "Otherwise I won't enjoy next weekend."

He laid the open book down across his lap and took his pipe-cleaning gadget from the table.

She turned to go, and looked back at him. "You sure you don't mind?" she asked.

He twisted the gadget back and forth in the pipe bowl. "Sure," he said.

"Stay with it." He looked up at her and smiled. "I don't mind," he said.

COMPLETED IN FEBRUARY, 1972,

IN NEW YORK CITY,

AND DEDICATED TO ELLIE AND JOE BUSMAN