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was Skip—I thought it was probably a mistake. Skip might be here just the same, so while I had this hotel I asked if Skip Grison was there. They said he was and connected me. Are you through eating, Mother?”
    “Yes, I am. I’m a light eater, darling. Surely you remember.” Vanessa turned to Skip. “I want to thank you for a very pleasant dinner. By the way, Chelle darling, we did sleep together. It was on the train coming up.”
    “No shit?” Chelle looked startled.
    “We shared a compartment,” Skip explained. “We had to, because the train was full by the time Vanessa tried to book. We did not do what Vanessa implied.”
    She smiled prettily. “I suggested it, but he said my berth was too small. To spare my feelings, I’m sure. Most men relish a tight berth.”
    “I believe him,” Chelle said. “There’s no way I could ever believe you, Mother dear. Not about anything.”
    “Never credit men about sex,” Vanessa told her. “To hear your father talk … Well, they cannot be believed, and I ought to have taught you that.”
    “The Army did. Since you’ve finished your food, how about going back to your room?”
    “How rude you are!”
    Absently at first, then with fascination, Skip noticed that Chelle’s left hand held her pencil and was writing in her notebook with it.
    “I remember you,” Chelle told Vanessa. “I know you forward and backward, and you haven’t changed a hair. I need to get to know Skip all over again.”
    “I’m sure it will be fascinating exploration for you both—provided that one of you has brought the requisite medications.”
    “We’re still contracted, aren’t we, Skip?” For a moment Chelle looked stricken. “You wouldn’t be here if you’d backed out some way.”
    He nodded. “You’re not sorry?”
    “Hell, no! Want to check that for yourself?”
    “Yes. As soon as possible.”
    “Then please tell my dear momma to get the fuck out of our room.”
    Vanessa rose. “You won’t forget my predicament, will you, Skip?”
    He shook his head.
    When she had gone, Chelle said, “So Mother’s got a problem, or says she does. Want to tell me about it?”
    “No. Ethically, I can’t. But even if I could, I would prefer not to.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “Because I’d be betraying someone I enlisted to help me, that’s all. If she wants to tell you, fine. But she’s asked my assistance, and I like to think I’m an honest man and not just an honest lawyer.”
    Chelle had a charming grin; he wondered whether she knew it. “Lawyers are all crooks. Ask anybody.”
    “Right. And all soldiers are thugs. May I kiss a thug? Again?”
    Her nod seemed strangely shy.
    When they parted she said, “We’ve a lot of catching up to do. Are you good at cross-examination?”
    “I am. Very.”
    “Just like that?” She smiled.
    “Let me enlarge on it. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in cross-examination, and I know it. But when I listen to others trying to do it, I understand why so many tell me I’m good.”
    “Then I’m not going to let you ask me questions. I won’t ask you any either. You answered the big question I had when you came here.” Chelle sat down on the bed.
    He sat beside her. “You answered mine when you asked the hotel about me when you couldn’t find your mother.”
    “Thanks. She’s changed somehow. You probably don’t remember how she used to be.”
    “Did I…?” He paused. “Yes, I saw her once. We ran into her in some restaurant.”
    “Simone’s. You saw her twice. At least twice. The other time was when she went on base and tried to get the Army to turn me loose. We were in the Enlisted Personnel Club watching a couple of my friends play Ping-Pong.”
    “Yes, I remember.”
    “Mother’d gotten through to the base commander—she knows politicians—and he asked me to come to his office and explain that I didn’t want a discharge. You came with me.”
    “You’re right. She was vehement.”
    “She threw a fit. She’s good at