Meadowlark Read Online Free PDF Page A

painting of an
Italian hill town, impressionistic rather than representational, hung
on the wall opposite the dressing table. A chair and reading lamp sat
beneath it.
    "Fee's in Italy with her grandmother." Bianca turned to Jay.
"Our daughter, Fiona. She's trying to make up her mind whether to
be an archeologist or an art historian. She graduated from Mills last
year." Bianca sounded indulgent but scornful as if her daughter
should have a clear goal in mind at twenty-two.
    Bianca opened a door. "The baths are shared, or can be,
between rooms. The boys' rooms across the hall share a bath. This
one is Fee's but that"--she indicated a door--"can be unlocked. Papa
suggested the arrangement. I don't like the modern fad for
bathrooms every ten feet."
    The bathroom was a bathroom. Well-engineered and
tasteful but otherwise unremarkable, rather like what you'd expect
in a good hotel.
    Bianca opened the locked door and showed us the bedroom
on the far side. It was pleasant, but more impersonal than her
daughter's room. We followed Bianca down the hall. At the end she
opened a door on a large room, rather chilly, that was furnished with
a conference table and the usual amenities. It had a carpet for
acoustic baffling and a service area for beverages. I could see it as a
classroom. In fact, though the fixtures and furnishings were new, it
had a used look. A spiral stair in one corner led up to the second
story.
    "I like this." She gave us a conspiratorial grin as she led us
up. At the top, she said, "Oh, sorry, Mike. I thought you were out with
your dad."
    "He sent me in." The voice was sullen.
    I poked my head up into what looked at first glance like an
office. The speaker, a kid of eighteen or so, stared at me. He had
sandy hair and glasses and wore a Shoalwater Community College
sweatshirt over jeans.
    I said, "Hi."
    The kid mumbled a greeting, but when he spotted Jay his
face brightened. "Professor Dodge!"
    Jay hauled himself up the last steps. "Hi, Mike. I haven't seen
you around this quarter."
    The kid gave a shamefaced grin. "I'm hitting the books for a
change."
    "About time," Jay said mildly. "This is my wife. Lark, Mike
Wallace. He took the evidence class fall quarter."
    Mike extended his hand and we shook. "I flunked it, too." He
seemed to hold no grudge.
    "Everybody's entitled to one goof-up," Jay murmured. "At
least you figured out what was wrong."
    Bianca was smiling in an unfocussed way as if she wanted to
get on with the tour.
    I strolled to the window in the gable end. As in the
conference room below, it had a state-of-the-art French door with an
arc of glass above it. "Must be a great view." I could see nothing but
wind-driven sleet and a small wet deck.
    "Looks out at Bald Mountain. Not a mountain really, a big
hill. We called it Bald Mountain, because it was being clear-cut when
we moved in twelve years ago. It looks less scabrous now, but the
scenery's better from the living room--the Coho River estuary."
    I murmured approval.
    "What do you think of our information center?"
    I looked around. Four color monitors, computers with
modems, and a big laser printer dominated a well-arranged space. I
spotted a fax machine, another smaller printer, and assorted gadgets.
"Wow."
    That was apparently the right response. One of the monitors
showed a computer game, the kind where something zaps
something, and the rest were blank. Mike doing homework? He and
Jay were standing by that computer talking school.
    Bianca said, "Our interns use both rooms. The workshop
participants can write here or at least edit and print."
    "And go back and forth to the classroom. I see." I was
wondering if Hugo had accessed his electronic forum from this
room.
    She opened a cabinet. "I got laptops, too, in case they want
to work in their rooms." Four sleek new laptops occupied slim
shelves in the cabinet.
    "I imagine some of the participants will bring their
own."
    "If they don't, they can take turns." She pulled a drawer. It
was full of yellow legal