Paris Summer by April Lynn Kihlstrom Page A

little; and later, when we moved to the
suburbs, there was a fishpond in the backyard. And a
swimming pool. Not that I was ever given permission
to use the swimming pool for my boats. But the pool
made a nice ocean and I was reasonably careful, so no
one stopped me.”
    “Is it hard to make sailboats?” Janine asked,
pretending she knew nothing about the subject.
    “Oh, no!” Sandy exclaimed and launched into a
description of various types of sailboats and the
problems in building each.
    He was still explaining sailboats to Janine when they
reached the park. At first Sandy and Janine wandered
aimlessly since Janine could not remember where the
boat pond was. Janine was grateful for the park’s
coolness and was feeling oddly content as she walked
beside the flower beds. Sandy was also feeling happy,
Janine guessed, since a careless whistling had replaced
his discussion of sailboats.
    They were not quite walking at random, however.
Without consciously intending to, Sandy and Janine
found themselves moving in the direction of the
children’s voices. At first Janine was puzzled to see so
many children running through the park, since the
French school year didn’t end so soon and it couldn’t
be another holiday. Then she remembered that
Wednesday is a day off for French children. She passed
this information on to Sandy, who nodded. “I’d hate to
be inside on a day like today.”

    As Sandy said this, he spotted a group of children
and, beyond them, the pond. It was a large, shallow
octagonal pool about a hundred feet across with a
fountain in the center. The pond was circled by
children, many of whom had little sailboats. “Look!”
Sandy said, pointing to the far side of the pool. “She
must rent the boats!”
    Obediently Janine looked at the old woman Sandy
was pointing to. She sat next to a large, flat-topped cart
that was covered with boats. The woman was placidly
knitting, pausing now and then to hand a boat to a
child and collect some coins in return. “Can we rent a
boat, too?” Janine asked eagerly.
    He laughed. “Two of them! Come on.”
    Sandy took Janine’s hand and they half ran, half
skipped down the steps toward the pond. The old
woman eyed them oddly as they each selected a boat,
but she smiled as they handed her the money. Finding
an empty space, Janine sat on the edge of the pool.
Sandy hesitated only a moment, then joined her. By
that time, Janine had deftly unbuttoned the cuffs of her
sleeves and rolled them up above the elbow. Both set
their boats in the water trying to turn them so wind
would catch the sails. Janine, however, was hampered
by her long hair blowing across her face. She took her
boat out of the water and set it in her lap as she fished
for the rubber bands in her pocket. She quickly
separated her hair and made two pigtails. After that she
was quickly able to get her boat moving.
    Sandy, preoccupied with his own sailboat, had not
noticed Janine’s actions. He turned to point out a boat
and burst out laughing. “Good Lord! Jenny, you look
like you’re fifteen years old.”

    Janine stiffened, irritated as always by comments on
how young she looked. But Sandy had a cure for that.
He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “And
you look irresistible,” he added softly.
    Trying to hide her confusion, Janine pointed to the
boats. “Look, Sandy, that boat! It’s going to go under
the fountain and be capsized.”
    “No, it won’t,” Sandy answered easily. “See, already
it’s shying away from the fountain. Hey, look though.
A school of fish.”
    It took Janine a moment to see them, but Sandy was
right. There was a cluster of five or six large fish
swimming near the edge of the shallow pool. One of the
children had also noticed the fish, and they darted
away into deeper water as the child tossed a pebble at
them. Janine laughed happily, enjoying the warm sun
and light breeze. She was content to let Sandy