Howard sighed. ``You lucky kids,'' he said. ``I'd give anything if I could have found a girl like you.'' Then he told Linda Kay about himself. Of course he couldn't say much, really, because of Debora, but Linda Kay could imagine what kind of woman his wife had been and what a raw deal he had got. It made her feel different about Howard.

She was going to tell Bobby Joe about how mistaken she had been, but he brought one of the cousins home for supper, and all they did was talk about antelope.

Bobby Joe was trying to get Linda Kay to say she would cook one if he brought it home.

``Cook a whole antelope?'' she exclaimed. ``Why, I couldn't even cook a piece of antelope steak; I never even saw any.''

``Oh, you could. I want to roast the whole thing, and have it for the boys.''

Linda Kay told him he couldn't do anything like that with his Grandma dying, and he said well they had to eat, didn't they, they weren't all dying. Linda Kay felt like going off to the bedroom to cry; but they were going up to the Big House after supper, and she had to put on a clean dress and fix her hair a little.

Every night they all went to Mama and Papa Albright's, and sat on the open front porch, where they could get the breeze. It was full-of-the-moon (or a little past), and nearly light as day. They all sat around and drank ice water, and the men smoked, and everybody had a good time. Once in a while they said what a shame it was, with Granny dying, but they all agreed she wouldn't have wanted it any other way.