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"Oh, you mean your brother in the army?"

"That's right," I said.

"Well, how about tomorrow then?" he asked.

"I'll let you know tomorrow," I said. "I don't mean to be vague, but I don't know how much time Roy has here and I do want to spend as much of it as I can with him," I explained.

"Sure, sure. I understand. Well, I'd better get to my vocal class or Professor Wilhelm will have my tongue on a platter," he joked. "See you later."

I went to class and tried to concentrate and to listen well, but with thoughts of Roy behind them, my eyes were continually drawn to the clock. I wished I had the power to move the hands forward and rush the day along. I couldn't wait to see Roy, see how he had changed and see what he thought was different about me.

Before the school day ended, we had another rainstorm and once again, I had forgotten my umbrella. I stood inside the school's front entrance, fuming. It was a little after three. Roy would be at the house in under an hour and I would look like a drowned rat.

"What's wrong?" I heard Randall ask from behind me. "I forgot my umbrella again. I just can't get used to treating it as if it was a hat."

He laughed and handed me his.

"But now you'll get wet," I said.

"I'll be fine. I'll lend it to you if you promise to bring it back to me personally the moment you have the opportunity," he added. "Yes," he said before I could utter a response. "It's a bribe."

I laughed and took it.

"Thanks, Randall."

He gave me that boyishly handsome smile. Roy was coming today. I couldn't harden my heart against anyone. The sky was gray and emptying its showers of tears over the city, but for me, there was the promise of sunshine and rainbows. Randall had his work and his wonderful talent, but I knew he was as alone as I was. I had been disappointed in him, but I had no right to condemn him. People who are left in the sea to be tossed and thrown about shouldn't look down on others like them swimming for the first available lifeboat. If anyone should understand loneliness, it should be me, I thought.

I leaned toward him and kissed him on the cheek. It was as if I had lit the small candles behind his eyes. How they glittered.

"Have a good visit," he wished me.

I watched him go, imagining that someday he would be a singing star. I wouldn't be beside him, but years and years from now, we might meet and smile and only for a brief moment, remember. For now, we were more like two comets passing close enough to linger in each other's magnetic fields for a few seconds of eternity before moving on toward other worlds, other suns, other destinies.

I stepped out, opened the umbrella, and hurried off, my heart beating faster and louder with every step I took. Even with the heavy rain, I was able to get home a little before four. Roy had not yet arrived. In an hour I had to begin helping Mrs. Chester with dinner. I changed into my uniform quickly and rushed back to the front of the house, hovering near the door. I had told Leo that I expected my brother. I knew Boggs would question him and I wanted him to understand that this wasn't just another visitor to be turned away or left standing outside for hours.

Finally, close to four-thirty, the doorbell sounded. I held my breath as Leo hobbled to it, far too slowly for me.

"Good afternoon," he said.

"I'm here to see Rain Arnold." The voice was so deep and commanding, I feared it wasn't Roy, but when I stepped up to the door, there was no doubt.

He did look taller, broader, and trimmer. His shoulders were back, his posture firm. A smile began in his lips and rippled through his face until it brightened his eyes.

"Roy!" I cried and ran into his waiting arms.

Leo stepped back, amazed, amused and a bit unsettled.

"You look all grown up," Roy said when I stepped back. He held me out with his hands on my shoulders. "Not that you didn't before," he added. "You just look older."

"And you. I wouldn't have recognized you. You look bigger and older and ..."

He laughed.

"Can we go for a walk?"

"Don't stand there with the door open," I heard from behind and turned to see Boggs in the hallway.

"It's my brother," I said firmly.