hat was that?'

"I said we should have tried harder,' Henry said defiantly. They was a nice young couple. We should have tried harder.'

She felt a touch of compassion for the old man in spite of her thudding head, and laid a hand on his arm. "It's the ritual,' she said.

"Well, sometimes I just feel like saying frig the ritual!'

"Henry!' She drew her hand back, shocked in spite of herself.

But he wasn't getting any younger, she reminded herself. The wheels were getting a little rusty upstairs, no doubt.

"I don't care," he said stubbornly. "They seemed like a real nice young couple. You said so, too, and don't try to say you didn't.'

"I did think they were nice,' she said. "But we can't help that, Henry. Why, you said so yourself just last night.'

"I know,' he sighed.

"We don't make them stay,' she said. "Just the opposite. We warn them out of town. They decide to stay themselves. They always decide to stay. They make their own decision. That's part of the ritual, too.'

"I know,' he repeated. He drew a deep breath and grimaced. "I hate the smell afterward. Whole goddam town smells like clabbered milk.'

"It'll be gone by noon. You know that.'

"Ayuh. But I just about hope I'm underground when it comes around again, Laura. And if I ain't, I hope somebody else gets the job of meetin whoever comes just before rainy season. I like bein able to pay m'bills when they come due just as well as anybody else, but I tell you, a man gets tired of toads. Even if it is only once every seven years, a man can get damned tired of toads.'

"A woman, too,' she said softly.

"Well,' he said, looking around with a sigh, "I guess we might try puttin some of this damn mess right, don't you?'

"Sure,' she said. "And, you know, Henry, we don't make ritual, we only follow it.'

"I know, but¡­'

"And things could change. There's no telling when or why, but they could. This might be the last time we have rainy season. Or next time no one from out of town might come¡­'

"Don't say that,' he said fearfully. "If no one comes, the toads might not go away like they do when the sun hits em.' 'There, you see?' she asked. "You have come around to my side of it, after all.'

"Well,' he said, "it's a long time. Ain't it. Seven years is a long time.'

"Yes.'

"They was a nice young couple, weren't they?'

"Yes,' she said again.

"Awful way to go,' Henry Eden said with a slight hitch in his voice, and this time she said nothing. After a moment, Henry asked her if she would help him set his sign up again. In spite of her nasty headache, Laura said she would ¨C she didn't like to see Henry so low, especially when he was feeling low over something he could control no more than he could control the tides or the phases of the moon.

By the time they'd finished, he seemed to feel a little better.

"Ayuh,' he said. "Seven years is a hell of a long time.'

It is, she thought, but it always passes, and rainy season always comes around again, and the outsiders come with it, always two of them, always a man and a woman, and we always tell them exactly what is going to happen, and they don't believe it, and what happens¡­ happens. "Come on, you old crock,' she said, "offer me a cup of coffee before my head splits wide open.'

He offered her a cup, and before they had finished, the sounds of hammers and saws had begun in town. Outside the window they could look down Main Street and see people folding back their shutters, talking and laughing.

The air was warm and dry, the sky overhead was a pale and hazy blue, and in Willow, rainy season was over.