"Such a lovely color," Owen Divers chimed in. He was such a sweetie. Always waiting for Mommsie and Daddykins to have their say before he opened his mouth, "Do you call it Titian blonde, I believe?"

"Strawberry blonde," her father said, reaching for the sugar, "like her mother had."

For some reason, it still made Blair feel a little sad every time he brought up her mother. Why couldn't he just find a nice college widow and get remarried? She would miss him terribly, but the man must get lonely. Surely at least just for companionship… Her thoughts were cut off by the very charming Mrs. Haver, the wife of another Zoology professor. One whose specialty was long-legged birds.

"Aren't you afraid you'll be a bit lonely out there in the bush?" she said, lifting all three of her chins up as she raised her head and eyed the girl, "I was. My goodness, the year Jackson and I spent there, I nearly lost my sanity. No one to talk to, no one to listen to me, except Jackson, of course…"

Blair was vaguely aware that Mrs. Haver was droning on ad nauseam. But something the woman had said made her thoughts rush off and carry her along with them. What was it?

Ah, yes, the loneliness thing. Why wouldn't she be lonely out there? Away from everything and everyone she knew that was familiar to her. Not another white person around for hundreds of miles. Why had she no fear of those outer reaches of the world? Why was she even looking forward to the peace and solidarity of it?

She tapped her spoon on the table as the woman continued to buzz on, her voice rambling off in a jagged monotone. She was actually eager about getting out there. Fiercely eager.

In fact, it's all she had thought about for days. All the plans and packing and shots she had had to get. She had loved every second of it. She would miss her entire sophomore year at college. Oh, she would get her Zoology credit all right. And she needed it, since she was planning to become a zoologist herself. But she would miss homecoming, the football games, the swimming meets, the dorm friends, the dates…