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said. “Power is where the action is.”
    â€œMother, the action’s everywhere now. That’s why we have the Net.” Laura struggled for politeness. “This isn’t something David and I just stumbled into. It’s a showcase for us. We knew we’d need a place while the baby was small, so we drew up the plans, we carried it through the company, we showed initiative, flexibility.… It was our first big project as a team. People know us now.”
    â€œSo,” her mother said slowly. “You worked it all out very neatly. You have ambition and the baby. Career and the family. A husband and a job. It’s all too pat, Laura. I can’t believe it’s that simple.”
    Laura was icy. “Of course you’d say that, wouldn’t you?”
    Silence fell heavily. Her mother picked at the hem of her skirt. “Laura, I know my visit hasn’t been easy for you. It’s been a long time since we went our separate ways, you and I. I hope we can change that now.”
    Laura said nothing. Her mother went on stubbornly. “Things have changed since your grandmother died. It’s been two years, and she’s not there for either of us now. Laura, I want to help you, if I can. If there’s anything you need. Anything. If you have to travel—it would be fine if you left Loretta with me. Or if you just need someone to talk to.”
    She hesitated, reaching out to touch the baby, a gesture of open need. For the first time, Laura truly saw her mother’s hands. The wrinkled hands of an old woman. “I know you miss your grandmother. You named the baby after her. Loretta.” She stroked the baby’s cheek. “I can’t take her place. But I want to do something, Laura. For my grandchild’s sake.”
    It seemed like a decent, old-fashioned family gesture, Laura thought. But it was an unwelcome favor. She knew she’d have to pay for her mother’s help—with obligations and intimacy. Laura hadn’t asked for that and didn’t want it. And didn’t even need it—she and David had the company behind them, after all, good solid Rizome gemeineschaft . “That’s very nice, mother,” she said. “Thank you for the offer. David and I appreciate it.” She turned her face away, to the window.
    The road improved as the van reached a section zoned for redevelopment. They passed a long marina clustered with autopilot sailboats for hire. Then a fortresslike mall, built, like the Lodge, from concretized beach sand. Vans crowded its parking lot. The mall flashed past in bright commercial garishness: T-SHIRTS BEER WINE VIDEO Come On In, It’s Cool Inside!
    â€œBusiness is good, for a weekday,” Laura said. The crowd was mostly middle-aged Houstonians, freed for the day from their high-rise warrens. Scores of them wandered the beach, aimlessly, staring out to sea, glad of an unobstructed horizon.
    Her mother continued to press. “Laura, I worry about you. I don’t want to run your life for you, if that’s what you’re thinking. You’ve done very well for yourself, and I’m glad for it, truly. But things can happen, through no fault of your own.” She hesitated. “I want you to learn from our experience—mine, my mother’s. Neither of us had good luck—with our men, with our children. And it wasn’t that we didn’t try.”
    Laura’s patience was eroding. Her mother’s experience—it was something that had haunted Laura every day of her life. For her mother to mention it now—as if it were something that might have slipped her daughter’s mind—struck Laura as grossly thoughtless and crass. “It’s not enough to try, Mother. You have to plan ahead. That was something your generation was never any good at.” She gestured at the window. “Don’t you see that out there?”
    The van had reached the southern end of the