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and I will explain the ground rules. Once," he added pointedly, "everyone is finished."
    Austin stood and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "We'll be waiting in the library then."
    "Mr. Jones, you can not smoke that in here. I'm sorry; I should have mentioned that at the beginning. This castle and its furnishings are very old. If anyone wishes to smoke, they must do so outside."
    With a hateful glare and a muttered curse, Austin went outside through the front door. Brett headed to the library to wait for him there.
    With a disgusted look at their retreating backs, Henry gallantly tried to return to the genial after-dinner conversation. "Well, I'm glad to see that some old places survived the wars pretty much intact," he declared. "Mark and I saw some gorgeous places further south. Oak Palace and East Gate were two of our particular favorites."
    "Rose and I love to visit old places, too," Grace said.
    "Yeah, next year, we plan on doing a tour of birthplaces." Rose looked around at the questioning faces. "We plan to cross the country that way. Last year we took a Black History tour. You would not believe what fascinating things they don't teach you in history class."
    "What kind of tour are you on this time?" Henry wanted to know.
    "A supernatural tour. Grace's idea. But I have to admit it's been fun. The witch museum in Salem, Mass, a voodoo tour of New Orleans, plus we've been visiting some famous and not so famous haunted houses along the way."
    Jack met Dana's eyes and they gleamed with memory. "Are you planning a visit to The Myrtles?" he asked.
    "Arguably the most haunted house in America?" Grace exclaimed. "Of course. It's the highlight of our world trip."
    "We try to break up the theme with little side trips like this. Just to give it some variety."
    Josie smiled shyly. "You seem to travel a lot."
    "Oh, its not just travel", Grace said. "We're trying to experience life to the fullest."
    "We've been doing this for about six years. Grace and I had been friends forever, and it just so happened that our husbands left both of us, pretty close to the same time."
    "Four weeks apart. Can you believe it?" Grace said.
    "You know, same old sad story. Heard it a million times. Trade in the old heap for a newer model. One day Grace dragged me to one of those gripe sessions at the Y-"
    "It was a support group," Grace interrupted.
    "Whatever. A bunch of menopausal old biddies moaning and whining about their sorry lot in lif e… not for me, thanks. I checked the bulletin board to see what else they had that might be interesting." Rose laughed derisively. "Square dancing. Pottery. Flower arranging. This was going to be my lot in life from now on? Screw that. I got mad."
    "It wasn't pretty to see," Grace said.
    Rose grinned. "It felt good though. I was beginning to feel that I had wasted the last thirty-five years of my life, keeping house and typing papers for a man who obviously didn't appreciate it. Do you know what that feels like, to feel you have wasted your life? Well never again. But even though Chester left me for a younger, classier broad, he did try to be fair about money. He gave me a bundle in the divorce settlement."
    "I had money of my own," Grace added.
    "So with money in our pockets and time on our hands, we decided to make up for the lost years. We watched whales in Cape Cod, rode the rapids on the Snake River, fished for marlin off the coast of Florida and herded sheep in Wyoming. I know too many folks our age who go to the Grand Canyon and ooh and ahh and snap, snap, snap with the camera. That's not how I want to finish out the rest of my life. When we went to the Grand Canyon, we rode those little burros down into the canyon, camped out, watched the sunrise over the lip of the canyon the next morning and rode them back up. Now that's the way to see the Grand Canyon."
    Mark glanced around the table. Oscar was nodding at Rose with approval. Henry, resting his head on his fist, was looking at her with a