He appeared purpose on maneuvering them towards the double doorways forward, which opened right into a monstrous, echoing health club packed with felt-draped tables and upholstery displays. Rebecca had now not inspiration to invite what kind of show this is able to be. She had anticipated technological know-how tasks, considering the fact that she’d spent a couple of lengthy, uninteresting hours at technological know-how festivals long ago. yet this seemed extra art-related. work have been tacked to the monitors; sculptures and clumsy ceramic vases and summary cord structures stood at the tables. every one had a reputation subsequent to it, lettered in grade-school print on a rectangle of white poster board, and already a number of the grandparents have been asserting, “Did you do that? ” and, “Oh, my, isn’t this whatever! ” “Which is yours? ” Rebecca requested Peter. rather than answering, he became sideways to slide via a cluster of girls. He rounded the 1st aisle and stopped brief on the head of the second one. There, in a pitcher field the scale of a giant aquarium, a type of oil derrick made from brightly coloured rods and sockets and toothed wheels pivoted up and down, permitting a chain of blue marbles to roll the size of its backbone and land in a steel saucer. each one marble was once a marginally diverse measurement and rang out a distinct notice at the scale: do, re, mi … From the saucer the marbles traveled via a convoluted tube and lower back to their start line, the place they rolled right down to land as soon as again—do, re, mi, fa, sol, los angeles, ti, DO! , many times, tender musical plinks! which may be heard, she belatedly learned, in the course of the gymnasium. What brought on the marbles’ go back, she couldn’t think. She used to be mystified, and awestruck, and captivated. She can have stood there perpetually, rapt, and people should have felt an analogous simply because particularly a crowd had collected, none of them in any hurry to maneuver on. “Peter! ” she acknowledged. “This is terrific! ” Peter tilted his head and studied the contraption significantly, his arms deep in his wallet, his again angled ahead underneath the burden of his knapsack. “This is … I don’t know the way you probably did it! It’s extraordinary! What do your lecturers say? ” she requested him. “I imagine they type of beloved it. ” “Is there a motor, or what? ” “That’s a mystery. ” “Oh, don’t inform me, then. I’ll simply view it as a miracle. ” “But i'll provide you with a hint,” he stated. “Think approximately these toy birds that bob right into a ingesting glass. ” “Ah,” she stated, none the wiser. He stated, “Would you're keen on to determine the opposite initiatives? ” “No,” she acknowledged, “I think I’ll simply remain the following and respect this one. ” He grimaced and checked out the ceiling, implying, Grandmothers! What are you able to do? yet she might inform he used to be happy. • • • She phoned Will once she acquired domestic; she felt stretched like a band of elastic till she heard his voice on the different finish of the road. “I’m back,” she advised him. “Did you visit D. C. with no me? ” “Oh, no, i'd by no means do this. ” “You may still have,” she acknowledged. even though she was once satisfied he hadn’t. “How was once your grandson’s show? ” “It was once fantastic! I want you've gotten obvious it. ” “I want i may have too,” he stated. She permit herself photo that, for a second: Will at her aspect on Grandparents’ Day.