Shakespeares Counselor Page 0,51

the air to measure her agreement. "Why should I have to drive over to Montrose to get my workout pants? Why shouldn't the kids taking jazz at Syndi Swayze's be able to get their kneepads here? I mean, there are some things you just can't get at Wal-Mart!"

I'd never seen Janet so animated. And she sounded younger. How old could she be? Wish some astonishment, I realized Janet was at least seven years younger than I was.

"So, are you totally satisfied with your job?" Bobo asked, out of the blue.

"Well." Janet scrunched up her face. "You know how it is. I've run Safe After School for four years now, and I feel like I've got it down. I'm restless. But I don't want to teach school, which is the only thing I'm trained for."

"My family, we're all merchants," Bobo said.

It was true, I realized, though I'd never have thought to put it that way. Bobo's family had made their money selling things; the sporting goods store that leaned heavily toward hunting and fishing equipment, the lumber and home supplies store, and the oil company that had supplied the money to build the Winthrop empire.

"So," he resumed, "I guess it's in my blood. See, what I've been thinking lately - now you tell me if you think this is a good idea, Janet, and of course you, too, Lily - I think that the sporting goods store isn't really the kind of place most women and kids want to come into. What they want, I think, is a smaller store where they can come in without going through a lot of crossbows and fishing rods and rifles, a smaller store where they can find their running shorts and athletic bras and those kneepads you mentioned - the ones you need to wear when you take jazz dancing."

"Tap shoes," said Janet, longing in her voice. "Ballet slippers."

"I think we really have an idea here."

"It would be great," she said, philosophically. "But ideas aren't money to underwrite a store start-up."

"Funny you should mention that," Bobo said. He was grinning. He looked about eighteen, but I knew he was at least twenty-one now. "Because my grandfather's will just got probated, and I happen to have a substantial amount of money."

Janet gaped at him. "We're talking serious? You weren't just dreaming? You really think there's a possibility of doing this?"

"We need to do a lot of figuring."

"We?" Janet asked, her voice weak.

"Yeah. You're the one who knows what we need. You're the idea woman."

"Well." Janet sounded out of breath. "You actually mean it?"

"Sure I do. Hey Lily, would you mind if we finished Janet's run and went over to her place to talk? What do you think about this idea?"

I felt rueful and old. "I think it's a great idea for both of you."

Janet's face lit up like a torch. Bobo's was hardly less excited. In a second, they were stretching before they began running. I noticed Bobo's eyes running over Janet's ass when she bent over. He gave a little nod, all to himself. Yep, it was a nice ass.

As they set off down the street, I had to smile to myself. All those hours I'd worried about Bobo's inappropriate affection for me, all the times I'd tried to repulse him, hate him, fight my own shameful physical attraction to him... and all it took was Janet Shook's brain, ass, and a dash of mercantile blood.

I went inside, and when I'd locked the door behind me, I laughed out loud.

The next morning - the next boring, boring, morning - I went to the library. I needed to swap my books, and I thought I might do some research on runaways. Jack had discussed printing a small pamphlet on the search for runaways, since so much of his business came from such searches. It would be good to feel I'd accomplished something.

The modest Shakespeare library was in the oldest county building, which was about the rank at which most Shakespeareans placed reading. In the summer, it was hot, and in the winter, the pipes clanked and moaned and the air was warm and close. The ceilings were very high. In fact, I believed the building had been a bank at one point in time. There was a lot of marble.

To humanize the building, the librarians had added curtains and area rugs and posters, and on pretty days the attempt worked. But today was not such a day; it was going to rain, and the uniform