A Farewell to Yarns

of way. I don’t know quite how to explain it.”
    In spite of herself, Jane was fascinated. She wished Phyllis were more articulate. “Did you ever see the boy you married again?”
    Phyllis paused, as if trying to remember. After a moment she said, “We never met again. I didn’t go back home except once or twice, and he moved away as soon as he finished high school.”
    Jane suddenly had a devastating sense of exactly what they were talking about. The Phyllis who ran away and got married was about the same age as Jane’s daughter, Katie, and the boy had been the age of her son Mike. Katie and Mike were babies! Yes, Jane would probably have done just what Phyllis’s parents had done—break it up, put the baby up for adoption, and let the kids have another chance at life. To cover an involuntary shudder, Jane got up and fetched a bag of potato chips and a plastic carton of dip. “So what about Bobby?“ she asked when she sat back down. “How did you find him—and why?“
    “Well, I’d never told a soul about having a baby. Not even Chet. It was the only secret I had from him, and it always bothered me. Then, about a year ago, Chet was out on the ocean in his boat, and there was a terrible storm. While I was waiting for word, I realized that if Chet died, I’d have that secret on my conscience forever. So when he got back safe and sound, I told him about having Bobby. I mean, about the baby, I didn’t know his name was Bobby.“
    “How’d Chet take it?“
    “Oh, Jane, I was so afraid he’d be disgusted with me, but he was wonderful. He knew how sorry I was that we’d never had children. He said that he had his sons and I should at least get to know mine. He got some person who worked for him to find Bobby—”
    Some person who worked for him, Jane reflected. That’s how the rich did things. Wonderful, thoughtful Chet buying Phyllis yet another new stuffed toy. Only this one could bite and make messes in their lives.
    “Bobby’s adoptive mother had died, and his father remarried someone who just couldn’t get along with poor Bobby, so they were happy to let him come visit us on the island. And we all got along so well that he stayed with me.”
    I’ll bet he did, Jane thought. Having driven some poor stepmother crazy, he was suddenly thrown into incredible wealth and a brand new mother who worshiped him. What young man wouldn’t have stayed? Bobby might be pond scum, but even scum knew when it was onto a good thing.
    “Jane, I can’t tell you what a comfort it’s been to have Bobby these last few months. Without him to lean on, I’d have probably just gone to pieces. You see, Chet has been acting very strange. It isn’t anything Bobby says or does, exactly, that’s so comforting. It’s just knowing I have him. Somebody who is my own. Chet’s boys are very nice, but they were half-grown before I got to know them, and they’re so—so businesslike. Not like Bobby at all.”
    Oh, Bobby’s businesslike enough, Jane thought bitterly. He’s gotten into a lovely investment, and he knows it. Too bad he doesn’t know enough to treat it with the respect it deserves. “What does Chet think of Bobby?“ she asked.
    “He loves him!“ Phyllis said with almost shrill confidence. “He doesn’t really understand him, but he loves him.“
    “Doesn’t understand him how?“ Jane felt she shouldn’t be picking at this, but she wanted some confirmation that Chet wasn’t as foolish as Phyllis.
    “Oh, just little things. Chet’s a very affectionate, very open person, and he’s just a little disappointed that Bobby’s so—so reserved.”
    Disappointed that Bobby’s a sullen jerk who treats you like shit, Jane thought. Well, good for old Chet. “What about Chet’s sons? What do they think of Bobby?“
    “Everett lives in London and handles all the European part of the business. He’s never met Bobby, but John—Oh, Jane, you must know John and Joannie, don’t you?“
    “I don’t think so, but Shelley does.“
    “That’s good. I mentioned you to John, and he said he knew you. Something about a ball game. Basketball? Volleyball?“
    “Oh, that John Wagner!“ Jane suddenly remembered him. Boy, did she ever remember him! She and Steve had belonged to a neighborhood volleyball team for a mercifully short time the autumn before Steve died. John Wagner, the captain of the team, was a good-looking, athletic man in his mid-forties who played volleyball as if the future of the human race