All is foreground, wordless and bright.They arrived from the site on a motor scooter. Kathryn had a bandanna around her head and wore a tank top over baggy fatigue pants. It was in its way a kind of gritty high fashion. Tap saw me at the window and ran back to tell his mother, who didn't quite catch herself from looking up. She left the scooter at the edge of a stepped street and they came up toward the house single file."I stole some yogurt," I said."So. Look who's here.”"I'll pay you back a little at a time. What are you up to, Tap? Helping your mom revise the entire history of the ancient world?”I grabbed him under the arms and lifted him to eye level, making a noise that exaggerated the strain involved. I was always making lionlike noises, rough-housing with my kid. He gave me one of his tricky half smiles and then put his hands squarely on my shoulders and said in his small monotone, "We had a bet when you would come. Five drachmas.”"I tried to call the hotel, tried to call the restaurant, couldn't get through.”"I lost," he said.I gave him a sideways toss and put him down. Kathryn went inside to heat pots of water that she would add to their baths."I liked the pages you sent. But your concentration fell off once or twice. Your hero went out in a blizzard wearing his rubbery Ingersoll.”"What's wrong with that? It was the heaviest thing he had.That was the point.”"I think you meant Mackintosh. He went out in a blizzard wearing his rubbery Mackintosh.”"I thought a Mackintosh was a boot. He wouldn't go out with one Mackintosh. He'd wear Mackintoshes.”"He'd wear Wellingtons. A Wellington is a boot.”"Then what's a Mackintosh?”"A raincoat.”"A raincoat. Then what's an Ingersoll?”"A watch.”"A watch," he said, and I could see him store these names and the objects they belonged to, for safekeeping."Your characters are good. I'm learning things I didn't know.”"Can I tell you what Owen says about character?”"Of course you can tell me.