Smiling, Jane turned the kitchen radio to a classical music station and sat down at the table with a legal pad and pencil. "Well, Priscilla, what shall we do today?" she said.

The phone rang at one o'clock. "Yes?" Jane said sharply, irritated at being interrupted. She and Priscilla were in the midst of an adventure, and Jane was dying to see how it came out.

“Jane? This is Mel VanDyne.”

Gulp! Nicely—but not too nicely—Jane said, "Oh, hello. How are you, Mel?"

“Fine. How are you getting along?"

“Just fine." God! I'm so boring! Say something fascinating! Quick!

“Listen, Jane—I've been out of town, and I wondered, that is, would you be free this evening?"

“What did you have in mind?" That was cool, wasn't it? Cool, or just bitchy?

“Dinner, a movie?"

“I'd love t— oh, no. I can't. I'm taking a class. It's not out until nine-thirty."

“Then how about after your class?"

“Where would we go then?" Jane asked, then feltstupid. Just because she was usually home by nine didn't mean the world shut down at that hour.

“I don't know. How about going for drinks? Maybe some dancing?”

Dancing! She hadn't danced for a decade! "How about ice cream and talk, Mel? I want to hear about what you've been doing, and bars are so noisy." She'd probably find out that bars were quiet these days and she'd shown herself up as completely out of touch, but she couldn't face dancing without a couple weeks of practice. Lessons, more likely. The last dance she'd really mastered had been the twist.

“Sounds great. I'll pick you up from your class. Where is it?"