In July 1978, three months after Bryce and Stu's mother died and six weeks after Stu graduated, he caught 14-year-old Bryce jerking off while reading a Penthouse . . . or more accurately, looking at a picture. Stu hadn't scolded or taunted Bryce but had advised him in the mild tone which was already his trademark that if you jerked off at porn too much, you might have trouble getting it up in a later relationship. Bryce had taken his advice . . . that might have happened anyway, because hospital and funeral costs had put the Redman house or what was left of it (just the two brothers) in a shitload of debt and the toil of paying it off left little time for any kind of play.

The result 12 years later was that Bryce was very capable of growing King's Iron. On his first time in bed with Dani the only thing missing had been a TV showing the final shot of Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest. They had showered beforehand, and when Bryce woke a few hours later Dani was showering again — twice in four hours.

Had he made Dani uncomfortable? It hadn't seemed so at the time, but maybe she'd had second thoughts.

Over his workday that June 17 Bryce repeatedly fought the temptation to call Dani and ask if the date was still on. Either she'd call to say if she was coming or not, or just not show. That would be an emotional slap to Bryce, but part of being a mature adult was handling rejection properly.

He was back at home by 5:45. Three minutes after that, Dani called to say she'd be late — she had extra troubleshooting at her office and wouldn't be at Bryce's before 7. Bryce, often a troubleshooter himself, felt a warm glow of relief while saying that was fine. For one thing, it gave Bryce enough extra time to shop for a few extra grocery items.

While driving his car, and later setting up the kitchen, Bryce listened to radio news clips, which included Nelson Mandela's coming visit to the USA (he was already in Canada) and Cardinal O'Connor denying that he would excommunicate those who were pro-choice about abortion. The union of East and West Germany was imminent. The economy was sluggish but not in recession, or so they said. In short, there were new stories but as always they added up to the same old shit.

Danica arrived at 7:04 and Bryce was soon busy teaching her an old East Texas recipe: Soul Smothered Chicken. They prepared it as if they were running a restaurant (which might be in the cards at some future time), and served it on jasmine rice with a mix of corn, lima beans and okra for vegetables.

There was post-supper cleanup over which time Dani talked about her sister Judy, who was raising three kids in Maplewood; and their parents, who lived in White Bear Lake. Then another cleanup: a shower together (this time Bryce had a rubber on). Then came foreplay, and Bryce found himself wondering if the rubber might split and fail to sheath the locomotive's entry.

Before he could guide it in the tunnel, the bedside phone rang. Bryce, who had been called in for evening troubleshoots five times this year, answered right after the first ring.

It was Eddie calling from Sugar Land near Houston, asking how Bryce was. Something was odd about Eddie's voice — the "good old boy" undertone he'd had throughout the work with Bryce and the party afterward was gone, replaced by exactly the calm, composed voice one would expect of a chief handling an emergency.

"Bryce," he said, "our old home town is in quarantine. Anthrax, they say, but I dunno. No one I've tried there is answering."

"That ought to be news, but there's nothing."

"Nothing is right. Folks in Braintree know about the quarantine but are in the dark otherwise. Arnette's barbwired off like it's a war zone. I were you, Bryce, I'd ring my brother there."

"Thanks. Whatever Stu tells me I'll pass on to you."

"I'd appreciate that, Bryce."

Less than a minute later Stu's phone was ringing . . . and ringing over and over, a dozen times. Bryce punched several other numbers from memory and let each of the other ends ring as many times as he'd let Stu's. No one answered at the homes of Bill Hapscomb, Hank Carmichael, Norm Bruett, or Vic Palfrey.

Meantime, Dani had donned a robe. She said, "Bryce?"

Bryce raised a finger, then punched another number — the home of Ben Sims, his IBM boss. Bryce requested a leave of absence, saying that there was a family emergency in Texas. Ben said okay and good luck. Bryce's next call was to American Airlines and they booked a 7 AM flight to Houston. Finally Bryce called Eddie back and said he was coming; Eddie said he would send someone to pick up Bryce at the airport.

"Well, what a turn," Bryce said after hanging up. "I'm off to Texas, bright and early . . . or just early. There's a saying: family comes first."

Dani patted Bryce's right shoulder and said, "That's our saying, too."

Bryce thought, I haven't been living up to that.