Read Here I Stay for Free Online Page B

its namesake, and Andrea considered it her masterpiece.
    The choice of names implied that the distinguished personages mentioned had slept there, without actually stating that fabrication as fact. The Ulysses S. Grant room had brass beds, handmade quilts, and braided rugs; the Robert E. Lee room featured Gone With the Wind lamps, a marble-topped washstand, and a hand-crocheted bedspread. The McKinley room...
    So much for the tour, and for all her other plans. I might have known, Andrea thought drearily. When does anything turn out the way you hoped?
    An hour later, showered and changed, she stood at the stove stirring spaghetti sauce. She hadn't bothered to call the boys; they would come when they were ready, and not before.
    Finally she heard them. "Close the screen door," she said automatically, and then, "Jimmie! You're all dirty and scratched up...Where the hell have you been?"
    "How about me?" Kevin held out his arms, now a network of interlaced, bleeding scratches. "Some are from brambles, but that one is Satan's contribution. Hey, Andy, is that vine with the hairy stem poison ivy?"
    "I'd be willing to bet on it," Andrea said. "Honestly, you two...Use that big bar of yellow soap. It's supposed to be good for poison ivy, though I have my doubts."
    Jim started toward the bathroom, remarking, "I'll cook the spaghetti. You always stew it into mush."
    "Yeah, Andy, you sit down and have a beer," Kevin added. "We'll dish up."
    "I hate beer."
    "A genteel glass of wine, then. Put your feet up. God knows you deserve it."
    To her surprise and embarrassment, Andrea felt tears springing to her eyes. Kevin tactfully departed, and she brushed the dampness away. I'm just tired and mad, that's all, she told herself. But she decided to take Kevin's advice. Let them make a mess of the kitchen; the day was a mess anyhow.
    The boys ate voraciously, but Kevin managed to talk at the same time, even when his mouth was full. "I'll bet there's trout in the stream, and we saw deer tracks back in the woods—unless they were cow tracks...You've even got your own private graveyard."
    "Was that where you were? How did you get over the wall? I made sure the gate was padlocked—"
    "Good idea; you don't want neighborhood kids in there. Some of them have a sick attraction to graves," Kevin said seriously.
    " Who has a sick attraction to graves?"
    "No, listen, Andy, you ought to get that place cleaned up. I'll bet the historical society would be interested. Did you know they fought all around here in the Civil War? Maybe there are soldiers' graves—"
    "If you think I'm going to let you dig, looking for relics," Andrea began indignantly.
    "Hell, Andy, we wouldn't do that. I'd like to restore the place, you know, cut down the weeds, put the stones back in place."
    "It would be a tourist attraction, wouldn't it?" Jim said.
    The food had brought some color to his sallow cheeks, and a smear of spaghetti sauce on his chin made him look very young and boyish. Knowing she had already lost the argument, Andrea said, "It would be a terrible job, Jimmie. The enclosure is a solid mass of wild raspberry bushes and poison ivy, there are trees, some good-sized—"
    "I'd like to do it," Jim said.
    "Why, for God's sake?"
    "Why not?" Kevin asked.
    "Because—because there are lots of other things that need to be done. Our first guest is arriving tomorrow—a day early."
    "Greenspan?" Kevin dropped his fork and leaned forward.
    "Yes."
    "Hey, he is a really important guy, you know? Did you read his column on nuclear disarmament?"
    "Yes, I did, and I thought it was a crock of—"
    She stopped herself in time. Both boys burst out laughing. "You're a little old reactionary, Andy," Jim said.
    "And Martin Greenspan is a bleeding-heart liberal—if you want to call names. But he is an important contact, and I want everything to be perfect."
    "Right. We'll help." Kevin jumped to his feet. "What do you want us to do? Make the bed, scrub the john? We even do windows."
    "Now, Kevin,