t materials. The judge and his wife were inclined more toward
discussions of political questions and judicial problems, whereas Tim and
Janet Fisher were more interested in music, movies, and the general trend
of the automobile repair business; or more to the point, whether to
expand the present facility in Shipmont, to open another branch
elsewhere, or to sell out to buy a really big operation in some sizable
city.

James saw a change in Martha, too. It had been months since he came back
home to supervise the removal of his belongings. Now Martha had filled
out. She was dressed in a shirt-and-skirt instead of the little jumper
dresses James remembered. Martha's hair was lightly wavy instead of
trimmed short, and she was wearing a very faint touch of color on her
lips. She wore tiny slippers with heels just a trifle higher than the
altitude recommended for a girl close to thirteen.

Ultimately they fell into animated chatter of their own, just as they
always had. There was a barrier between the pair of them and Martha's
mother and stepfather--slightly higher than the usual barrier erected
between children and their adults because of their educational adventures
together. They had covered reams and volumes together. Martha's mother
was interested in Holden's machine only when something specific came to
her attention that she did not wish to forget such as a recipe or a
pattern, and one very extensive course that enabled her to add a column
of three-digit numbers by the whole lines instead of taking each column
digit by digit. Tim Fisher himself had deeper interests, but nearly all
of them directed at making Tim Fisher a better manager of the automobile
repair business. There had been some discussion of the possibility that
Tim Fisher might memorize some subject such as the names of all baseball
players and their yearly and lifetime scoring, fielding, and playing
averages, training for him to go as a contestant on one of the big money
giveaway shows. This never came to pass; Tim Fisher did not have any
spectacular qualities about him that would land him an invitation. So
Tim's work with Holden's machine had been straightforward studies in
mechanics and bookkeeping and business management--plus a fine repertoire
of bawdy songs he had rung in on the sly and subsequently used at
parties.

James and Martha had taken all they wanted of education and available
information, sometimes with plan and the guidance of schoolbooks a