She turned toward my sedan parked across the street and held the envelope up so the morning sun caught the crisp blue ink of the address.

It was addressed to Major General Evelyn Ulette, Operational Headquarters, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

She slipped the envelope into the slot, and the iron flap snapped shut with a clear, ringing sound.

She did not look across the square toward the dark glass windows of Ulette Insurance.

She walked down the stone steps, got back into the station wagon, and drove west down Main Street toward her new home.

I turned my sedan west onto Route thirty-five, passing the gravel quarries and the open green cornfields that stretched toward the county line.