Someone to watch over me

everyone could see the open cigar box in her dainty little hands. A young couple started dancing in line while a few others dropped coins in the cigar box.
    Lily liked the clink of money in the box more than she liked the music. She couldn’t have been prouder of herself if she’d invented a submarine or a new vaccine. It was the best thing she’d ever done for anyone else, much less strangers. After all her agonizing over giving away the party frocks, she’d done the right thing, and it felt very good to see the result.
    Jack smiled, and grabbed Lily for a quick whirl. Even Mr. Prinney was tapping his foot to the music.
    Lily laughed out loud.
    Robert asked, “What’s so funny?”
    She leaned up close to him and whispered, “I’m afraid I’m turning into Edith White. I suddenly understand her. I grasp the concept of making other people do what’s good for them.“
    “I thought you always knew. After all,“ Robert said, “you made us both come to live in Voorburg.”
    Saturday morning, Jack rousted Ralph early. “You’re not using the motorcycle for anything important today, are you?”
    Ralph looked at the clock on the nightstand. “Holy Jesus, Jack. Are you crazy? This is the only morning I get to sleep late.“
    “Go back to sleep, then. I’ll have the motorcycle back by dark and full of gas.”
    He wasn’t sure that Ralph had fully realized what he’d said. If Jack was lucky, Ralph wouldn’t go looking for the cycle later and think it was stolen.
    Jack had given this trip a lot of thought. He’d decided to take the eastern route down Highway 9 to see if he could find Mary and the children along the way. He hoped she hadn’t come that way, through New York City, but she might have been afraid of crossing the Hudson on yet an- other bridge in a wagon with automobiles zipping along around her.
    As he was going south, he saw a number of people going north who looked as if they’d come from Washington: dejected people, looking sick at heart, not families out for a pleasure ride in the country. He thought one group of men walking along the side of the road was slightly familiar. If they were from the area, he might have seen them at the Anacostia Flats.
    He slowed the motorcycle and hailed them. “Have you passed a woman driving a mule and cart? She has a boy about three or four years old and a babe in arms. Long blond braid under a red kerchief?”
    They didn’t even reply except to shake their heads negatively and keep trudging along. They didn’t want to meet his gaze.
    Jack continued along the road. A cart and mule could have gone faster than men on foot. But he doubted that Mary had gone that fast. She had the children to feed and care for. That would have slowed her down. She probably wouldn’t start until daylight and would stop before it got dark.
    He was entering Yonkers when he thought he might have spotted her. At least it was a small figure with a mule in front. He gunned the cycle and hurried forward. The woman approaching half stood, shaded her eyes, and started waving. “Mr. Summer, Mr. Summer!“ she called out with relief.
    The mule didn’t like the noise and smell of the motorcycle and tried to go past Jack much too fast. Jack turned the machine off and ran to catch up with them. He leaped into the cart, said hello to the little boy, and climbed in front to take the reins. The mule slowed to a stop.
    “I’m so glad to see you,“ Mary said. “What on earth are you doing here? How far are we from home?“
    “Close enough. You’ll make it by sundown if you move along.“
    “But where are you going?”
    Jack said, as if it were obvious, “I was looking for you. I’ll go along in front of you and lead you home. Would your boy like to ride in the sidecar?”
    Mary grinned. “I think he’d faint away with the thrill if you ask him. It’s so fine of you to remember us and help out again. It was such a harrowing, endless drive I honestly wondered if we shouldn’t just start our lives over somewhere along the way.“
    “I’m glad you didn’t. I was awfully worried about you—and the children.”
    Mary glanced at the cot in the back. “The baby slept most of the way. She’ll probably be awake for days when we get to Voorburg. I thank you most heartily for coming to look for us. It’s so good to see a familiar face.“ She patted his hand briefly, then looked appalled that she’d done so.
    Jack carried the boy back to the motorcycle, made a wide slow circle