"Sometime today."

At that moment they were both startled by a small woman in sweaty brown clothing and a yard bird hat stepping out from behind a highway sign and motioning them to stop.

"Hey!" he said.

"Carrie. Meet Peggy Moon. She and her brother own the motel."

"I know. Fred told me this might be a good place to catch you. Peggy, I'm Carolyn Pennymark. I worked at the same magazine as Lindy. Look, I have to make this fast, guys. There is really a mob scene right back there at the motel. Two television trucks, wire service people, syndication people."

"What the hell do they want?" Roy asked.

"What they... we... always want. News is the process of making not very much out of practically nothing. How does it feel to find out they found your wife's body at the bottom of a well ? Why did you stay down here ? Did you have some kind of a hunch?"

Peggy said fiercely, That's the last thing he needs right now!"

"I know that, sugar. Why do you think I'm here? There's not much time. Look, what I do mostly in life, I make deals. Okay.

Give me the exclusive rights, and I'll keep those clowns off you.

I can't offer money because that would be in terrible taste. But we can put a thousand-dollar bond in your kid's education fund."

That's tacky!" Peggy said loudly.

"Hush, dear. Life is tacky. Okay? I'll get you through the picket line, Roy. We had a nice talk. I think we understand each other. Don't get downwind of me. I have been on a dead zz8 run for quite a while, and I smell like a horse barn. Okay?

Peggy, sweetie, the best place would be whatever you've got behind that office of yours. Less ground to cover. Okay?"

"It's where we live, my brother and I. There's a kitchen and then' "I've got Fred all set to lock it after we come galloping through. Peggy, have you got a typewriter I can use?"

"A Corona as old as the hills."

"Good. I learned on one of those. Okay, you guys. What we do, we walk absolutely straight and steady. No glances to left or right. Ignore the mikes they'll stick in your face. Walk right through them. They'll pull them back. Ignore bad language and, Roy, you ignore any rotten thing they'll say about you or Lindy to get you going. Just pretend it's all in a language you can't understand. They'll have some choice things to call me too. Okay, troops? Off we go. Blind and deaf and steadfast."

Once they were in the office and Fred had slammed the door and bolted it, Roy knew that without her coaching it wouldn't have worked. He would have felt compelled to turn to them and tell them what he thought of their sick questions. Which, of course, was what they wanted. They circled the office and rapped on the windows, banged on the door. Peggy pulled the draperies and they turned on the lights. Fred was delighted by the whole thing. He had told their three customers that they wouldn't be answering the switchboard, and so when it shrilled at them, Peggy ignored it. In about fifteen minutes they heard car doors chunking and the engines starting up and the cars leaving, squealing their tires when they turned angrily onto the state road.

Carolyn looked at Peggy.

"Didn't I hear you say something when we pushed our way through out there?"

Peggy shrugged and twisted from side to side.

"Just two words. That's all. I figured they couldn't use words like that on the air."

"Have you ever thought of trying my line of work?"

Peggy smiled sweetly at her.

"Not seriously."

Carolyn turned to Roy.

"Okay. Here's our interview." She handed him the sheet she had typed.

"But we didn't do the interview yet!"

This is what I would have asked and this is what I think you would have answered. If you don't like any part of it, make your mark and we'll go over it."

He sat and read it, with Peggy leaning over to read it with him, standing beside the chair, her hand on his shoulder.

"I think it's pretty good," he said.

"No changes."

"It even sounds like him," Peggy said.

"Sweetie, I am a pro. And thank you. Now initial on the bottom there indicating your approval, Roy. Thanks. Peggy, can you put me through to New York? Here's my phone card."

A few minutes later they heard her say, "Marty? Marty, love? Is it really you? In spite of the way you tried to delay me and frustrate me, I have an exclusive with the bereaved spouse.

Of course it's approved and signed. Put this onto the machinery and I'll dictate. And when you vend it to our sister daily, I want my piece of the action. Oh, and you approve a thousand dollar bond for the little girl who lost her mother. Okay?

Okay. Am I on? Right. At the sound of the beep, I shall proceed."

As Carolyn began dictating, Peggy took Roy's arm and led him back into a small room with a big television set and piles of books and magazines.

"What I wanted to say, Roy. When she's through and you can get on the phone, don't try to tell Janie."

He stared at her.

"She has to know, doesn't she?"

"Of course she has to know. But do it the best way for her.

Tell her grandma how to do it. Let her grandma hold her on her lap and hug her and tell her, okay?"

"Yes. That's better. You're right. I couldn't have done it."

"You could have done it," Peggy said.

"You could have done it as well as anybody could. Over the phone. But holding is better. Arms around you are better. And I'm kind of an expert."

And a little later, after Carrie Pennymark had left, he heard the phone ringing, up in Hartford.

Bruce's mother woke him early on Friday morning and told him she had something to show him in the kitchen. He followed her out. Baron lay on the cool tiles in front of the kitchen sink. When Bruce spoke his name and knelt beside him, the dog lifted his head and yawned, tongue lolling, then lowered his head and closed his eyes and his tail thumped a couple of times against the floor. He was very thin and filthy, his red hair matted with burrs and twigs.

"I saw a dog pack trotting by," she said, 'and one of them looked something like Baron, so I opened the door and called him, and he peeled off and came trotting in. He's been out with the boys, Brucie. He's a rascal."

He stood up and turned towards her, smiling, and then the tears came. He stood in the circle of her arms and cried like a little kid. It made him ashamed to be so weak, to cry like that, sobbing and snuffling. She held him and stroked the back of his head. He tried to make himself stop. He could hear his father in the bathroom. He didn't want his father to hear him crying.