here?"

"She's supposed to show up later," Max said.

"Good deal," Joe said, "haven't seen her for a couple of years." He
wasn't that anxious to see Ingrid, but in Max's presence he lapsed into
old habits. The years might have been weeks, and he might have been
just away on a business trip.

"Wait til you see what I bought," Max said. He handed Joe a photograph
of a farm at the base of a mountain. "It's near Londonderry, in
Vermont. Eight acres at the far corner of this farm." He pointed with
his finger. "Just at the end of this highest field, a piece that runs
up the hill. One of my friends from school owns the farm. My father
came up from Boston and liked it; he gave me the down payment. I made a
tent platform and moved out there last month."

"It's going to get cold," Joe said.

"I'll move into an apartment or a room for the winter. There's a town
road that ends at the farm. I have a right of way from there."

"Can you get in with the truck?"

"Yep. It will take a while to get anything built, but it's a start. And
then--look at this." He handed Joe another picture. At the top of a
clearing, a long log projected out from under a ledge. It was supported
by two shorter logs lashed together in an X. Standing upright on the
end of the log was a prehistoric figure with straight arms and large
rocks for hands. The hands extended out and below its feet. "Stone
Man," Max said proudly.

"It looks like a balancing toy," Joe said. "A balancing giant."

"Yep. He's come down out of the mountains to see what man has done."
Joe looked closely. Stone Man was made of small diameter logs and had a
strong narrow head.

"How did you fasten the head? Is that a rock?"

"It's a piece of slate. I split the end of the log, stuck his head part
way down the split, and lashed it--like a tomahawk."

"Something else, Max! Giacometti goes to Indonesia."

"And Vermont," Max said. "He sways in the wind. The idea came to me
when I first saw the clearing. I knew I had to do it."

"Must have been fun getting it up."

"I built the perch first, got it solid, and then I made a temporary
walkway out of two by sixes, H shaped. We pulled Stone Man out to the
end with a come-along, a couple of inches at a time. It was awesome.
Bunch of guys helped. We had a few brews."

"I'll bet. I like this, Max."

"It'll be cool to see him in winter and then in spring. Deer will come.
Chickadees . . . "

"I'd love to have one of these pictures."

"I