Jack and Rose sat in the dining room at the hotel. Rose was feeling good this morning and so Jack happily watched her as she finished her plate of pancakes. He was not really mystified as to her odd eating habits, but rather biding his time, until she shared her news with him.

Helen Williams walked up to their table to refill their coffee cups.

"So, how did things go for you yesterday?" she asked.

Jack looked up at her and answered, "Fine, just fine."

Helen studied him after she poured out some coffee. She could no longer keep her suspicions to herself.

"You're Hank and Edy's boy, aren't you? I wondered why you were so anxious to get out to see the old place," she said.

"Yes, I'm Jack," he answered, somewhat shyly.

"Why didn't you say something yesterday. So many folks in town knew your parents and wondered what ever became of you," she told him.

"I needed to work through a few things first. Yesterday was a bit overwhelming. I just wasn't ready to talk about it, until I had been out there," he said. "Today though, Rose and I are going visiting and I plan to show her more of Chippewa Falls. I am sure we will run into some old friends today."

Helen nodded her headed wisely.

"Those Carlsons sure have made it nice out there, haven't they?" Helen asked him. "It's the showplace of the county."

Rose agreed with Helen saying, "Yes, it was like being in a fantasy land. Everything is so lovely and they are so charming."

Helen turned away for a moment to see who was coming up behind her.

"Morning, Jack, Rose, Helen. How are all of you this morning?"

Jack cringed when he heard the voice.

"Not that Calvert guy again," he thought.

"Good morning," said Rose politely.

"Yeah, good morning," echoed Jack, unenthusiastically.

Roger started to pull out a chair at their table, asking if they minded if he joined them.

"No, no of course not," said Rose politely.

He took a sip of the coffee that Helen had poured for him.

"So, how was your days yesterday?" he asked.

"It was fine," answered Jack, thinking of how soon he and Rose could finish and leave.

"Yes," agreed Rose, the Carlson's are lovely people. They said they knew you."

"Oh, yes, I've stopped there to buy some pies and pick up the eggs for Helen. Say, you folks going anywhere today, where you need a ride?" Roger asked hopefully.

"No," replied Jack as he clamped his hand over Rose's. "No, I really don't know what we are doing today," he said trying to be vague. "Rose," he asked, "are you done?"

She bit her lip and nodded. She knew what Jack wanted. To get out of the dining room as fast as possible. Jack was for some reason unusually jealous and uncomfortable around Roger Calvert. Though as she admitted yesterday to Jack, there was something about the man that bothered her too.

"Yes, Jack," she said demurely. "I'm ready."

When Roger saw that they were leaving, he pulled a small business card out of his wallet and handed it to Jack.

"If you two are ever in Cedar Rapids and need anything, just let me know," said Roger.

Jack took the card without looking at it and replied, "Sure, thanks." But made no similar offer to Roger. The sooner they were away from him the better. Jack did put out his hand to thank Calvert for taking them out to the farm.

"Thanks very much for taking us out to the farm yesterday. I appreciated that," said Jack.

Rose and Jack stood up, as did Roger. Rose started away from the table first.

"Hey, Dawson," said Roger softly. "I think I understand. If I had a wife like that, I would protect her with my life."

Jack looked at him, thinking about what he and Rose had gone through. He gave Roger a quick smile.

"If you only knew," muttered Jack, who turned and left the room.

* * * * * * * * * *

Rose and Jack spent the morning looking over all of Jack's old haunts in Chippewa Falls. He showed her the high school, the movie house, his favorite bakery and the First Presbyterian Church where he had been baptized. They had stopped at the bank and looked up Mr. Woodward. He did remember Hank and Edy and was happy to help Jack with the problem of transferring the money. He wrote out a receipt for the amount, agreeing to transfer the money by wire, as soon as Jack telegraphed him from Denver.

Now they sat on the banks of the Chippewa River eating their lunch. Helen had sent them with a picnic basket, remembering how much the Dawson family had enjoyed eating outside.

"Jack, do you have any desire to stay here?" wondered Rose.

"None at all," he answered frankly. "I am glad we came to see everything, but I will be just as happy to move on tomorrow. Maybe if things had been different and I knew nothing of the world out there," he said, as he made a wide gesture with his hand, "it would have been alright. But not now, not for us."

Rose smiled back at him.

"I'll go wherever you want," she said. "Because I love you."

Jack pulled her closer until her head was nestled in his shoulder.

"How did I get so lucky?" he thought.

As they sat finishing their lunch, Jack looked up at the high school on the hill.

"My God, Rose, I got in so much trouble when I was a kid. Harmless trouble. And most of the time my parents never knew, or at least I thought they didn't. I was always able to convince the teachers or the principal not to tell Mom."

Jack gave her a mischievous look and smiled.

"One time a bunch of us got caught smoking behind the building. Boy, I was cleaning the boiler room for the rest of the semester after that. My folks never knew. Anyway, I gave that up the night I met you."

Rose watched him, enjoying the look in his sparkling eyes as he talked.

"We did such dumb stuff. One night, none of us came home. Everyone was so worried. That was the night someone dared us to hide out in the school for the whole night. We did it and went crazy as we looked out the windows watching everyone hunt for us. The one place they didn't look was the school. Just before dawn, we sneaked out and came down here to the river and got all muddied up. Then we went home and told our parents that we had gotten lost. I don't think anyone believed us. Compared to the other guys, I got off easy. I had to be home everyday at 3:30 for the next 2 months. I guess maybe they saw through our little games. Ah, but those were good days," Jack said sighing.

Rose snuggled closer to him. She pretended to be very serious when she said "I am shocked Jack, that you of all people would do such things. I thought you were above all that."

Then she started laughing. And Jack laughed too.

"I somehow get the feeling that you weren't so perfect either, were you?" he asked, looking her in the eye.

Rose started giggle so much that she could hardly talk.

"Well, I was kind of naughty too," admitted Rose.

"We were in France and old Madame Deveaux was the headmistress of that finishing school. We used to hide wine under the guise of mouthwash. We thought we were fooling her, but I guess all the girls tried the same thing year after year. Then one time we hid a kitten in our rooms. It just kept meowing and howling. And Madame came to see what was going on. We looked at her with deadpan expressions and tried to convince her that the house was haunted. But one time, the kitten became startled and flew right at Madame. Right into her face."

Rose laid back on the bank of the river laughing hysterically as she recalled those fun filled days. Jack watched her, thrilled to see her happiness.

"That was the end of the tricks and the cat for awhile. She told us that if we loved animals so much, we should find out more about them and she made us write a twenty page paper on cats."

She laughed again.

"Well, we did. But we got help from some medical students at the university in town. It was so technical that she couldn't understand a word."

Jack stroked her cheek and smiled.

"It's nice to know that neither of us is perfect. And we are alike in those ways," said Jack.

Rose gave him one of her innocent tongue in cheek looks.

"But very different in other ways."

Jack pretended exasperation and pulled her to her feet.

"Is that all you ever think about?" he asked.

"Well, I told you that you can't judge a book by it's cover. You thought you knew everything about sheltered, well brought up women."

"I hate to change the subject, but we've got to get going," he said, laughing.

"Alright, I'll get more ladylike again. Jack, I saw a store across from the hotel. I need to stop and pick up a few more things."

"Sure that is fine. Then I want to take you to meet someone. I hope he is still here," Jack told her, suddenly more serious.

"Who is that?" she asked him.

"My best friend from when I grew up, Jay, Jay Edmunds."

* * * * * * * * * *

They were going to find Jay later in the afternoon. Now, Rose was in Bradley's department store doing her shopping and Jack sat on a bench outside the hotel sketching. Next to him on the bench was a greasy brown bag from Rustemyers' Bakery. It was filled with his favorite treat, crullers. Those long, iced doughnuty like delicacies that he remembered from when he was a kid. Whenever his dad had brought him to town, he'd head for the bakery and buy a bag. They had been a staple of his childhood. He had already eaten two and was brushing the crumbs off of his drawing.

Now as he munched, he continued working on his drawing of the two old men across the street. They were standing talking in front of the Coast to Coast Hardware store. He was a little far away to see the details of their faces. But that was okay. He had enough images in his head, so that he could fill in the details.

He was concentrating hard on his work. But in the distance he thought he could hear a kind of muffled, giggling, gasping, heaving sound. Much like that of a gagged pigeon.

"No," he thought. "It can't be. Oh, just what I don't need. Please let it really be a pigeon, not........................."