The Gorgon Festival (25 page)

Thoughts of Ester swung Ward’s mind from less immediate considerations.

At times, all of us wish to go back and follow the path not taken, he thought, to know loves brighter than loves we have known, but the same player would make the same errors in a different ball park. From his first youth he owned a graveyard in Germany and from his second a crematorium on Malibu.

Youth, he decided, was not merely a chronological condition, but a process of learning. To grow old was to become aware of one’s limitations and, now, he accepted his, knowing within his limits his theoretical skills would still provide the more abundant life. One final application of the youth solution to Ester’s upper torso would do it.

Backgammon and Parcheesi were not in his retirement bag.