The Colonel is polite, but firm. ‘No, thank you, Barbara.’ For a few moments he forgets her; his mind has gone wandering again. ‘Barbara, the house seems so empty. Where are Billy and Karl?’
‘Billy is where Karl is, you may be sure.’
‘And where is Karl?’
‘He is where Billy boy is, you may be sure.’
‘And where are they both?’
‘Not far from where Barbara is, you bet.’ She flutters to the window and waves her hand. ‘Do you hear Karl’s flute? They have been down all the morning at the pool where the alder is, trying to catch that bull-trout.’
‘They didn’t get him, I’ll swear!’
‘You can ask them.’
‘I spent a lot of my youth trying to get that bull-trout. I tumbled in there sixty years ago.’
‘I tumbled in sixty minutes ago! It can’t be the same trout, dear.’