"He'll get over it. It's not like you're running away with a drug dealer, for God's sake."
"I'll do it this afternoon," Willow said, "before I meet Patrick."
She wrote a short note to go with the album. Her father would be relieved to know that she had requested a leave of absence and would be in good standing at the University. She told him that she needed time to find her own direction. He would think that she was making a mistake, but at least he would hear it from her directly and would recognize that she was serious. She added that there was a guy in town who played piano like Fats Waller. "Love, Willow."
She rode back to the village and ordered flowers for her mother. The Book and Record Shop packaged the Dylan album for her. She slipped in the note and made her second trip of the day to the post office. Not bad, she thought, pedaling to the Depresso. Not bad at all.
"You look cheerful," Patrick said when she arrived.
"It's Pluto," she said, "hanging around Venus again." She bent over and kissed him quickly. "Mercury and Jupiter. You're here early."
"I took the day off."
"So, what happened?" Willow pulled a chair out from the table and sat down.
"Ginger showed up late, around eleven. We talked."
"What's she like?"