5
Sentiments
Skip, after settling into a twenty-minute monologue about country life, suddenly announced it was time he should start clearing up, and Emily took her cue to leave. She wasn’t sad to see the sun again, but old Skip had been welcome if grizzled company, and Emily, who was used to being on the other side of the conversation, had enjoyed being the customer for a change. Elaine had never tired of dispensing local information, but it had grated on Emily at times. She had questioned why her grandmother hadn’t simply handed the customer a flyer for a local attraction instead of giving them a personal account, but it was just that, Elaine had explained, that they wanted: a touch of humanity in a world which was moving away from it.
At just after three, Emily only had an hour or so
