The telephone rang:
Reaching out, he seized it and answered.
"It's me," said a voice, "It's Pearl! I am coming in—I know you're tired after yesterday, and you need a long sleep—so don't disturb yourself—I'll be in about two o'clock—just when the sun is brightest—didn't I tell you it would be finer still today?"
"You surely did, Pearl," he answered, "however you knew."
"I'm not coming just to see you—ma wants a new strainer, and Bugsey needs boots, and Mary has to have another hank of yarn to finish the sweater she's knitting—these are all very urgent, and I'll get them attended to first, and then…."
She paused:
"Then you'll come and see me, Pearl"—he finished, "and we'll have the meeting which we adjourned three years ago—to meet yesterday."
"That's it," she said, "and goodbye until then."
He looked at his watch, it was just ten—there was yet time.
Reaching for the telephone, he called long distance, Brandon. "Give me
Orchard's greenhouses," he said.