the marine swung into the saddle and slotted the axe into one of the saddle straps , the head nestled alongside the saddle . ' wow , ' said tom . ' cool axe . ' nathaniel grinned . ' i thought so . ' they set off back to the abbey , the marine riding next to father o'hara 's wagon and tom next to his sister 's . ' so tell me , father , ' said nathaniel

searching about , his eyes fell upon the great man , standing very still , touching his beam5 , cantilevered from the garden wall , just as he had drawn it in the two new sciences , published three years earlier . vincenzo wondered what went through the mind of his professore during all of those hours of solitude , day after day . the great man had now been completely blind for more than three years . at the sound of footsteps , galileo , recoiled from the beam , as if embarrassed , and declared cheerfully , '' ah , is that you , vincenzo

what if no one bothered anymore to raise money for museums and dance companies and orchestras ? what if all the parties she lived for had no more reason to exist and simply stopped happening , leaving all her diamonds and black cocktail dresses useless ? mom needed her infrastructure too , i suddenly realized , and she was watching it crumble away . so all i said was , '' seventeen years is a long time , mom

or , '' -- he lightened his tone -- '' we could just enjoy our drinks and not think about that sort of thing . '' '' no need to be like that about it . '' jorge took a large swig of his drink , and the group fell into awkward silence . '' who wants to find somewhere with music ? '' raf asked as they started getting towards the end of their
drinks