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friend years earlier, before either was married. It had ended so unpleasantly, at least for Robin, that she could never bring herself to disclose what went wrong. Sam himself had not brought up the matter, no doubt finding it too delicate by reason of the complex loyalties involved.
    Roy’s final duty on this Sunday evening was to return the call from Francine Holbrook. Because Robin was only his sister, at her most waspish she was easier to deal with than Francine, a divorcée with whom he had been having an attachment that for several weeks had been either phasing out or being reawakened. Francine could not make up her mind on this matter and Roy was shrewd enough not to fix a position of his own, having learned by painful experience that in such a situation he could not but lose unless he remained undefinable.
    It was also true that Francine was extremely ardent in bed, or in any other venue in which they found themselves momentarily alone.
    â€œFrancine.”
    â€œI don’t care where you’ve been or who you’ve been doing,” said she in a voice made throatier by the phone than it was face to face. “I want you to come over.”
    â€œNow?”
    â€œRoy, if you had anything better to do right now, you would not be returning my call.” Having said which, she began to talk dirty. As usual, he was both appalled and aroused.
    He began to rebutton his shirt.

2
    S am suffered sharp chest pains the next morning, not long after Kristin had left for the bank. Luckily it was one of the cleaning woman’s days, for he was inept when a situation demanded a prompt response.
    By the time Roy was notified, late in the afternoon, his friend was resting comfortably in a hospital room, having undergone an angioplasty and the insertion of a stent to keep the artery open. He should be out in two days.
    Roy interpreted Kristin’s staccato report as evidence of an intensity of emotion not apparent in her tone, which was mint-cool as always; much the same, he could assume, as that in which she conducted business.
    â€œI’m relieved to get the good news as soon as I got the bad.” Though in reality he was somewhat hurt that he had been informed only now.
    â€œYou could see it as a warning,” said she. “He’s a good fifty pounds overweight.”
    What a time to criticize the man. Nevertheless, Roy found himself vocally agreeing. “I’ve been after him on that matter for years. Maybe he will have learned his lesson now.” He was appalled at how vapid that sounded in his internal echo. “When can I visit him?”
    She gave him the hospital’s schedule, then asked, “Know the first thing he said when he saw me? He wanted to know about the Stecchino.”
    â€œIs that a medical term?”
    â€œIt’s a fancy espresso machine from Italy. It came yesterday afternoon, too late for him to fire it up and give it a maiden run before you were due.”
    â€œThat’s what he was doing this morning when he felt the chest pains?” Typical of Sam, who was competitive in such matters; he had to establish mastery over a new gadget before displaying it to his friend. Machinery, however powered, being as temperamental as it was, his insistence on putting his pride on the line this way was silly. It happened all too frequently that some new device he believed he dominated would wait until there was a witness on hand to see its sudden failure. At such times Sam might become violent toward the offending object. Roy once saw him fling a twenty-eight-hundred-dollar laptop into a blazing fireplace. At Roy’s bon mot, “Now, there’s a Grandyose gesture,” Sam had exploded in laughter. There was some reason to believe that he had been in an up mood throughout the incident. It was ominous news that an inanimate adversary could now seriously threaten his health.
    â€œIt’s polished brass,” Kristin said. “All dials and little