Florentyna enjoyed having the children around her for the festivities and quickly they recharged all her human batteries. William, nearly fifteen, was already talking about going to Harvard and spent every afternoon poring over math books that even Richard didn’t understand. Annabel spent most of her holiday on the phone talking long distance about boys to different school friends until Richard finally had to explain to her how the Bell Telephone Company made its money. Florentyna read James Michener’s Centennial and under pressure from her daughter listened to Roberta Flack singing “Killing Me Softly with His Song” loudly, again and again. Richard got so sick of the record he begged Annabel to turn the damn thing over. She did, and for the first time Richard listened to a popular record he knew he would enjoy for the rest of his life. Annabel was puzzled when she saw her mother smile at the lyrics her father seemed entranced by: Jesse, come home, there’s a hole in the bed Where we slept.
