Ruby (Landry 1)

a chance to get to know me. It took a great deal of

courage for you to come to me," he said. The look on

my face confirmed his suspicion. He cleared his throat

and continued.

"It will be hard for me to talk about your

mother when someone else is around, especially

Daphne. I think you understand why."

I nodded.

"I'm sure it's harder for you to understand right

now how it all happened. Sometimes," he said,

smiling to himself, "when I think about it, it does

seem like something I dreamt."

It was as though he were talking in a dream.

His eyes were glazed and far away, his voice smooth,

easy, relaxed.

"I must tell you about my younger brother,

Jean. He was always much different from me, far

more outgoing, energetic, a handsome Don Juan if

there ever was one," he added, breaking into a soft

smile. "I've always been quite shy when it came to

members of the genteel sex.

"Jean was athletic, a track star and a wonderful

sailor. He could make our sailboat slice through the

water on Lake Pontchartrain even if there wasn't

enough breeze to nudge the willows on the bank. "Needless to say, he was my father's favorite,

and my mother always thought of him as her baby.

But I wasn't jealous," he added quickly. "I've always

been more business minded, more comfortable in an

office crunching numbers, talking on the telephone,

and making deals than I have been on a playing field