She was studying the layout of her society page-which she briefly sketched out as it filled up-when she realized with a jolt that Randall was standing at the other side of the desk.

I’m as bad as Leila, she thought ruefully.

“Movie in Memphis Friday night?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Won’t you smile, Sphinx?”

She smiled.

As he walked through Leila’s room into his office, she typed cheerfully, “The mother of the bride wore beige silk…”

Catherine polished off two weddings with dispatch. She was glad she didn’t have to actually attend the ceremonies. She usually dropped by the bride’s house and extended her regrets, leaving a form to fill out that made writing the stories practically automatic.

Bridesmaids’ names and places of residence, descriptions of everyone’s dress, and details of the decorations at the short Southern reception. Groom’s employment, bride’s employment (this last recently instituted). Honeymoon itinerary.

Summer and Christmas were the wedding seasons. May was parties for graduates. Obituaries and children’s birthday parties, anniversary celebrations and dinner parties, trips and out-of-town guests filled up the rest of the year. All of these appeared on Catherine’s society page except the obituaries, which were scattered through the paper as fillers. Catherine wrote those as well-unless the death was unusual in some way, in which case Tom picked it up.

Leila buzzed Catherine’s extension more often than any other. At the little paper, Monday and Tuesday were the busiest days, the two days before the paper came out, when people realized they had to contact her before the weekly noon deadlines. The Gazette was printed on Wednesday morning, distributed Wednesday afternoon.

This Monday was no exception. Catherine worked steadily through the morning, taking notes from callers and typing them up as soon as possible.