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was lost in a world that was growing stranger and stranger …”
    “ ‘curiouser and curiouser’ like Alice in Wonderland…”
    “Exactly! Except whenever I followed Miss Hastings’ tweets, and then I felt as though I belonged in her little world, and that I should be the one taking her and Matilda to school to see the kindergarteners, or stopping in at Ma Jean’s Restaurant to get a piece of apple pie and learn the local gossip, or worrying about the foxes…”
    Lila broke off and gazed out the window.
    Rebecca glanced at the pensive face of her friend, and knew Lila wasn’t seeing the snow-covered landscape that whizzed past. The pine trees. The frozen lake. The empty cottages, waiting for summer visitors. “I hope you’re not going to be disappointed, Lila,” she cautioned.
    Lila shook herself back to the present. Her laugh had a sharp edge to it. “Of course I’m going to be disappointed – we’re all going to be disappointed! That’s the way of the world, these days. EVERYBODY is disappointed in life.”
    “It doesn’t have to be that way,” said Rebecca, quietly.
    “No?” challenged Lila.
    “No.”
    “Prove me wrong, then. Do this with me, and I’ll never ask you for anything else again. Please, Becca!”
    Rebecca was thoughtful. “You know I’d do this crazy adventure and a whole lot more to make you happy, and … and … to maybe help you find some sort of a settled life.”
    “Translated from Rebecca-speak: ‘Find a man and settle down and have babies,’” Lila said, drily. “I know, I know what you’re thinking – you think I might find love and romance in Sovereign, Maine. You just can’t stay away from that ‘Lila needs a lover’ mantra!”
    “Lila needs a solid, steady partner, not a lover,” Rebecca corrected. “And if he happens to turn out to be a lover—well, so much the better!”
    They both laughed. Suddenly, Lila spotted the junction sign for Route 9/202. “Turn left up there,” she said, pointing to an up-coming intersection.  
    Rebecca slowed her vehicle, and pulled over into the left-hand turn lane. “Is this it?”
    “This is it!” said Lila. “Let’s go see what Sovereign, Maine can do for BOTH of us. Who knows, you might even find a ‘solid, steady partner’ yourself!”
    “Me?!” Rebecca said, blushing. She felt a thrill of … what? … pulsating through her. Hope? Excitement? New life?
    Funny, it had never occurred to Rebecca that she might find love and romance in Sovereign, Maine!
     
     

Chapter 4
    Sovereign, Maine
     
    As Rebecca Johnson and Lila Woodsum turn onto Route 9/202 to wend their way up through the picturesque central Maine towns of Albion, Unity and Troy – shaking the dust of corporate America off their feet (and possibly their old way of life) – perhaps this is a good time for us to take a little turn ourselves. Perhaps, my pips, you’ll allow me a fleeting divergence as I describe to you their destination, Sovereign, Maine, and the way of life toward which they are motoring.
    In beginning, I must point out that there is no longer a town center in Sovereign, so if you are expecting to see a country village with charming shops and brick houses, such as in neighboring Unity, for example, you’ll be disappointed. For public buildings, the town of Sovereign now boasts only four: the post office, the elementary school, the Union Church, and the volunteer fire station. Each of these four establishments stands independent like sentinels on four different corners in town. There is also Gilpin’s General Store, situated halfway through Sovereign on the main road, Route 9/202, and which acts as the glue that holds the community together.
    Sovereign, like its neighbors Troy and Thorndike, is a farming community, with the prospect of miles of rolling pasture ground relieved only by private and town wood lots, a brook or two (and more than the requisite number of vernal pools and frog ponds) and a few rolling hills on the Dixmont