“What? Of course they do. We just saw one.”
“What we saw was a meteor,” Billy said. “Aunt Emma has a book about meteors, and I’ve read all about them. They are actually small chunks of rock which are traveling through space. From time to time, one of them falls to earth. I saw one once.”
“What do you mean, you saw one once? We just did see one.”
“No, I mean I saw one after it hit. I held it in my hand.”
“Oh, I bet it was beautiful,” Kathleen said. “They must look like a large diamond, they glow so when you see them at night.”
“They glow because they are heated up as they are falling. Actually, they just look like any other rock. There isn’t anything spectacular about them.”
“That’s a shame,” Kathleen said. “I rather like thinking of them as beautiful things.”
“Well, they are beautiful when you see them the way most people see them,” Billy said. “So they will always be beautiful in your eyes.”
You are a strange one, Billy Clinton.”
“Why do you say that?”
“You aren’t like any other man I know. You are different.”
“I hope that is a good different,” Billy said.
“It’s a very good different.”
They heard music from the hotel, not disjointed bits and pieces as if the band was warming up, but a complete number, indicating the dance had begun.
“I think we should get back now,” Billy said.
“Yes,” Kathleen said.
Turning, they walked quickly back to the hotel, stepping in through the door as the caller shouted, “Choose your partners for the Virginia reel!”
Billy offered Kathleen his arm. “May I have this dance, Miss Garrison?”
“I would be honored,” Kathleen replied.
The music began then, with the fiddle loud and clear, the bass fiddle carrying the rhythm, the guitars providing the counterpoint.
Although the band supplied the music, Prentiss Hampton had stepped in as the caller.
“All go forward and all go back,
Once more time forward and back.
Make a turn with your right elbow.
A big wide swing and around you go.
Those in front sashay down
And sashay back.
Now let’s have the elbow reel.
A right to the middle and a left to the side,
A right to the middle, then reel on down.
Touch in the middle and a’work your way back.
Sashay around and down you go.”
Around the dance floor, those who were without partners watched the dancers, including those who were too old and those who were too young. A few danced along the sidelines as if they had partners, but most participated in the dance by clapping their hands and stomping their feet.
“Oh, my,” Kathleen said when the dance was finished. She fanned her hand back and forth in front of her face. “That was most invigorating.”
“Would you like to step outside for a breath of fresh air?” Billy suggested.
“Yes,” Kathleen said enthusiastically. “Yes, I think I would enjoy that.”
Kathleen and Billy were standing out front when Falcon and Rachael Kirby came walking up.
“Good evening, Miss Kirby, Mr. MacCallister,” Kathleen said.
“Good evening,” Billy added.
“Good evening,” Falcon replied.
“Now, there’s a sight I never thought I would see,” Rachael said as she and Falcon stepped inside.
“What is that?”
“General Garrison’s daughter with one of Ike Clinton’s sons. Those two men are bitter enemies.”
“Surely, being in the business you are in, you know that such a thing isn’t without precedence,” Falcon said.
