WE"D REACHED MEMORIAL Day, Fritz and I, marooned in lives not our own. Every waking minute, we talked or thought about how to get across to our world. Even puttering in the yard, one of us had notes at the deteriorating picnic table. Natalie came and went, mostly running errands for us, reserved and reluctant to interject a comment about an outcome she hoped wouldn"t occur.
WE"D REACHED MEMORIALWith less than a month of school remaining, I had avoided extra visibility, with the kids or the teachers. Sandy had bluntly asked if I had started using drugs again. When I asked her why she thought that, she said I"d been aloof and uninvolved. I said I had a mission to complete, and then I"d be gone. In spite of what she"d seen, she shook her head.
George cornered me on Thursday, as June began a
