Finding D&D - 9

 Olivia heads to the bathroom and, predictably, Susan reaches for her coat. October now and the weather's getting cold. Rick stands and asks if she'd mind his coming along and she says, "No, of course." He follows her outside.

John has sat down again and appears to be copying some part of his character onto another sheet; he's been fairly quiet all night and I want to ask, but I won't as long as Jason's here. None of us know the fellow yet and I know it's not the time to ask John what's wrong — though I know something is.

There's nothing odd about Jason's presence creating a shadow over the usual rhythms of a group. Someone like Jason was going to be friendly because I trusted Susan's judgment. She wouldn't have asked me to let just anyone play; I've long known that her instincts about people are good.

Susan's husband had been named Daniel too, like his son. He was a professor specialising in urban planning; when Susan discovered she was pregnant, Daniel had been in Boston, overseeing a reconstruction project as a consultant, with a nice stipend in the bargain. When Susan told him over the phone that she was four months pregnant — they hadn't seen each other in a few months — Daniel had been wildly happy about it, half raving on the phone as Susan told us. The next day, he was home. He'd caught the first flight out of Boston he could get and after 17 hours of hopping planes, he was back in Calgary. He told Boston they'd have to do without him; he wasn't leaving his wife and child for any reason. That was the sort of man that Susan married.

Continued on The Higher Path