His throat began to emit little clicking sounds. His mouth worked as if he were toothless and chewing dates. For one helpless second I thought he was going to stand there and bawl like a kid on a sandlot. Then he got himself under some halfway kind of control, shrugged, and turned away as if to look at the chunks of wood I had cut up.

«Well, we can look at your saw,» I said. «Your T-Bird insured?»

«Yeah,» he said, «like your boathouse.»

I saw what he meant, and remembered again what Steff had said about insurance.

«Listen, Dave, I wondered if I could borrow your Saab and take a run up to town. I thought I'd get some bread and cold cuts and beer. A lot of beer.»

«Billy and I are going up in the Scout,» I said. «Come with us if you want. That is, if you'll give me a hand dragging the rest of this tree off to one side.»

«Happy to.»

He grabbed one end but couldn't quite lift it up. I had to do most of the work. Between the two of us we were able to tumble it into the underbrush. Norton was puffing and panting, his cheeks nearly purple. After all the yanking he had done on that chainsaw starter pull, I was a little worried about his ticker.

«Okay?» I asked, and he nodded, still breathing fast. «Come on back to the house, then, I can fix you up with a beer.»

«Thank you,» he said. «How is Stephanie?» He was regaining some of the old smooth pomposity that I disliked.

«Very well, thanks.»

«And your son?»

«He's fine, too.»

«Glad to hear it.»

Steff came out, and a moment's surprise passed over her face when she saw who was with me. Norton smiled and his eyes crawled over her tight T-shirt. He hadn't changed that much after all.

«Hello, Brent,» she said cautiously. Billy poked his head out from under her arm.

«Hello, Stephanie. Hi, Billy.»

«Brent's T-Bird took a pretty good rap in the storm,» I told her. «Stove in the roof, he says.»