is pulling into Fourteenth Street. I shout, "Hey, how about we
go to the beach again this fall? Maybe Columbus Day?"

"O.K.!" she shouts. "Columbus Day in the morning."

"Columbus Day in the morning" sounds loud and clear because by then the
subway has stopped. People snicker, and Mary blushes.

"So long," I say, and we both wave, and the train goes.

9

[Illustration: Dave and Tom sitting on front steps with Cat.]

FATHERS

That operation didn't make as much difference to Cat as you might think. I
took him back to the clinic to get the stitches out of his leg and the
bandages off. A few nights later I heard yowls coming up from the
backyard. I went down and pulled him out of a fight. He wasn't hurt yet,
but he sure was right back in there pitching. He seems to have a standing
feud with the cat next door.

However, he's been coming home nights regularly, and sometimes in the cool
part of the morning he'll sit out on the front stoop with me. He sits on a
pillar about six feet above the sidewalk, and I sit on the steps and play
my transistor and read.

Every time a dog gets walked down the street under Cat's perch, he gathers
himself up in a ball, as if he were going to spring. Of course, the poor
dog never knows it was about to be pounced on and wags on down the street.
Cat lets his tail go to sleep then and sneers.

Between weathercasts I hear him purring, loud rumbly purrs, and I look up
and see Tom there, stroking Cat's fur up backward toward his ears. Tom is
looking out into the street and sort of whistling without making any
sound.

"Gee, hi!" I say.

"Hi, too," he says. He strokes Cat back down the right way, gives him a
pat, and sits down. "I just been down to see your dad. He's quite a guy."

"Huh-h-h? You got sunstroke or something? Didn't he read you about ten
lectures on Healthy Living, Honest Effort, Baseball, and Long Walks with a
Dog?"

"No-o-o." Tom grins, but then he sits and stares out at the street again,
so I wait.

"You know," he says, "you give me an idea. _You_ talk like _your_ dad is a
real pain, and that's the way _I_ always have felt about _mine_. But your
dad looks like a great guy to me, so--well, maybe mine could be too, if I
gave him a chance. Your dad was saying I should."

"Should what? You should go home?"

"