"Are you serious? On a Sunday during winter break? No students for miles. No teachers either. Only me, trying to get this damn monograph in shape.” The thought of it effectively broke the spell. He sighed, leaned back in his chair, and slapped the uppermost sheaf of papers on the desk.

"And are you?"

"Getting it in shape? I don't know. I've lost the rhythm or something. It all seems stale. Or I seem stale.” He lifted the top sheet. “'A Reassessment of Middle Pleistocene Hominids,'” he read aloud. “'Taxonomic Reconsiderations Based on Recent Second Interglacial Evidence from Eastern Europe.'” He grimaced. “What do you think, does it grab you?"

"Uh…"

"Me neither, and the title's the best part."

They both laughed and Julie squeezed his hand. “Come on, it's your birthday. I'm taking you out for lunch."

"I thought you had to work."

"Olympic National Park can get by without me for a few hours. Why don't we drive into Seattle? We could be there by one."

"I don't think so, Julie. We wouldn't be back till late. I'd really like to finish up this paper and get it out of my hair. Then I can do something else for the next three weeks."

"Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know. Build some bookcases for the study…maybe clean up all those fir cones in back…get the garage straightened out…"

"Oh, poor baby, you really are in the dumps, aren't you? Okay, we'll just go someplace here in Port Angeles. How about a steak at the Bushwacker?"

He shrugged and hauled himself to his feet. “Okay, sure."

"What's wrong, Gideon? Is it just the forty-first birthday blues?"

Yes, he supposed it was. That and the misty gray rain that had been sifting continuously down for nine dismal days and looked as if it wouldn't let up until summer. He was a confirmed lover of rain and fog, but the dreary, dark winters of western Washington were going to take some getting used to.