Honeymoon for Three

moving faster than a speeding bullet.”
    “We have to cover a lot of territory before school starts. I’m a teacher. What do you do?”
    “Uh, I’m in the retail business. Meat, produce, canned food. That sort of thing.”
    “Where do you live?”
    “Los Angeles.”
    “ No kidding. Me too. This really is a coincidence. We’ll have to get together.”
    Gary came up beside Penny. He had seen her talking to a strange man. “Gary, this is Alfred Ward. We went to high school together. Can you believe that?”
    “ Glad to meet you, Alfred.” Gary extended his hand.
    Penny was glad Gary wasn’t the jealous type. Of course, he had no reason to be, especially with Alfred. But since Alfred had been a classmate of hers and because they had known each other forever, she owed him more than just a hello and good-bye.
    “We’re going to take the monorail back to the wharf and have dinner there. Would you like to come with us? We can catch up on what’s been happening since high school.”
    ***
    Alfred had not expected to run into them in Seattle. They were a day ahead of their schedule, as laid out in the notebook he had purloined. That morning he had waited until they drove away before he set foot outside his cabin. He was still limping from the effects of his fall, but he could manage to get around.
    After he ate breakfast at the lodge, he had to decide what to do. He knew he should go back to L.A. He was on a fool’s errand, as he’d realized when he heard Connie Francis singing about fools. In addition, his money wasn’t going to last forever. He needed to get his job back. However, he didn’t want to leave on such a negative note, with his tail between his legs.
    He wanted to feel that he had at least accomplished something. He didn’t know what that something was. Maybe if he went to Seattle and did some sightseeing he would feel better about himself. Then he could tell people—if anybody asked—that he had been on vacation. Seattle was a city, and he liked cities much better than the wilderness he had been seeing.
    When Penny accosted him on the Space Needle, he was shocked. His first instinct was to run away, but that was impossible. Then, when she was so friendly, he remembered how she had acted toward him in high school. She was almost the only member of the in-crowd who had paid much attention to him. She had always smiled and showed concern for his well-being.
    The dinner went well. They ate in a cafeteria at Pike’s Place Market with a view of Puget Sound. By the time they arrived there, Alfred had regained his poise. He was witty as they reminisced about the foibles of the students and teachers at their high school. He kept them both laughing with his stories. He had learned to play the class clown in school to gain attention, and this ability stood him in good stead now.
    “ We were always doing things like taking the flags from the golf course and hiding in the trees. One time, a group of us were wandering around on a summer night, looking for something to do. The house where the Coles live now was about to be built. The boundaries of the house were staked out, and the stakes were connected with string. We moved one of the stakes. The next day the builders dug the foundation. They never spotted the error.”
    “That house has always looked skew-geed to me,” Penny said, covering her mouth with her hand. “So you’re the one who did it.”
    “ You didn’t tell anybody about it?” Gary was frowning.
    “ Uh oh, I should have warned you,” Penny said. “Gary has very high moral standards. Yesterday, we stopped and bought a box of plums. When he saw me take a couple from another box and add them to our box, he said, ‘Are you going to teach our children to do that?’ Of course I was just replacing bad ones…”
    “Where are you headed from here?” Gary asked, interrupting Penny.
    “Los Angeles. Gotta get back to work.”
    “What part of Los Angeles do you live in?” Penny asked. “We’re going to be living in Torrance.”
    “Nice place, Torrance. I’m living inland. East of there. I’m not rich enough to live near the beach.”
    “Give us your address and phone number, so we can get together.”
    “ Well…I’m in the process of moving. I’ll let you know where I am after I’m settled. If you’d like to give me your information….”
    Penny was already writing it down. This was much easier than calling somebody in Fenwick. He wasn’t about to let them know that