She had never been in New York just before Christmas. She had<br >never been in New York all by herself.<br > She took a deep breath of lovely frosty polluted city air as the cab<br >pulled away and left her standing in front of her sister-in-law s<br >townhouse on East Sixty-third Street. It was natural to feel a bit<br >nervous at the start of an adventure， she told herself firmly. Think how<br >Columbus must have felt at the beginning of his. Or Ulysses. Their<br >stomachs must have been fluttery as hell. That was excitement.<br >Anticipation.<br > In her case， apprehension， too. And dread.<br > Because she would have to stay here at Nedda s while she attended<br >the convention instead of checking into a hotel the way she wanted to.<br > Even the least perilous of adventures had pitfalls.<br > "Three nights in a hotel--that ll be damned expensive， Marian，"<br >Larry had pointed out in his maddeningly reasonable manner. "More<br >than we can manage fight now."<br > Or ever， she thought ruefully. Money never meant much to either of<br >them， not until they suddenly needed more of it than they had. A fairly<br >frequent occurrence these days.<br > "Anyway，" Larry said， "my sister s looking forward to seeing you<br >again， she told me so herself." He shook his head the way he did when<br >he was worried. "She sounded unhappy over the phone， another<br >41LQ<br ><br >