Tim was thinking about Edna. He didn't want to picture her in another man's arms but he forced himself to consider why she had been drawn outside the circle of his arms to find -- what? Solace? Comfort? Romance? Cheap thrills?

If it was romance she was looking for, he was sure he could provide that. As for those other things, hadn't he already given her more than any woman had a right to demand?

He was sitting in the Koffee Kup Kafe, having a cup of coffee and a doughnut, with the weekly paper before him. He snapped open the paper, letting his eyes barely rest on the farm commodities report and glancing past the local sports news, to look at the advertisements on the society page. There was a romantic picture on the drugstore ad -- for a skin peel, whatever that was. The flower shop was advertising for funerals, and there was a closeout on anoraks in the Mini Mercantile Mart. Forget it. There was no romance around here.

Then what made Dennis romantic? He and Tim were both farm boys, had grown up together, in fact. What did Dennis have that Tim didn't have? They both had farms, pickup trucks, fairly decent looks, strong bodies. Well, ice skates. Dennis had ice skates, Tim had skis. But ice skating isn't everything, it isn't even year-round.

There was the music, of course. Everywhere Dennis went there was music. On his tractor, in his truck, coming out the front door of his house or echoing in his barn, there was always music. Tim remembered when it started, the Christmas Dennis got the hi-fi set and Tim got a bowling ball. Dennis spent the whole of the school vacation setting up that hi fi set in his room, adjusting the speakers, regulating the volume, the bass and the treble while Tim went with the guys to the bowling alley.

"Well, things might have been different," Tim thought,

"_  _    _    _  _  _    _    _  _    _  _."

(a 2 letter word + a 1 letter word + a 3 letter word + a 1 letter word + a 2 letter word + a 2 letter word)

 Copyright 1998 J.J. Schnebel
All rights reserved

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