"You see," Penn said. "It's not a bad state." They had another round.
"I saw you once--driving by with one of my students."
"Pookie," Penn said. "I should have gotten in touch, but I thought
you'd disapprove."
"She wasn't the brightest," Arthur said. "Attractive, though."
"Pookie could drink! Loved to swim, good dancer. How's _your_ love
life? Any little Arthurs around?"
"No."
"Me neither. I did have some step-kids for a while." Penn's expression
lifted. "That was a good thing."
"When was that?"
"Let's see--about four years ago, now."
"Where are they?"
"Oakland. Sergio, Consuela, and Esperanza. What a crew."
"And their mother?"
"Gorgeous. Constanza. I met her on a bus in Guayaquil."
"Guayaquil?"
"I was just back from the Galapagos. Remember, we talked about going
there sometime."
"Blue-footed boobys," Arthur said.
"Exactly," Penn said. "And the tortoises. Amazing! I was in the money.
I took a couple of months to go down and check out some of the places
we lived when I was a kid. My Spanish came back. Had a good time.
Anyway, I was on a city bus when Constanza got on with the kids. The
bus was full, so I gave her my seat. The kids were crawling all over
her. She had that long black hair, you know, red cheeks, bright eyes,
one of those solid bodies for the ages--we started joking around, made
a date to meet at a park the next day. Have you been there?"
"Never have.
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