room creaked if he so much as wiggled a toe But he had said or rather shouted into his grand mother's hearing aid that the turkey was deli cious and that morning he'd assured her that he'd slept like a top For he was as his schoolmates said a good egg On this day long ago a man in a black great coat boarded the train a few stops before North Haven and sat down beside him The train had not pulled out of the station before the man heaved a deep sigh At the fourth or fifth sigh Terpin had to glance at him The man was large and had a strong rugged face like that of a retired athlete and for some reason this made the tear running down the man's cheek fill Terpin with compassion Excuse me sir Terpin said Would you like me to go to the club car and get you a cup of tea The man merely shook his head so Terpin turned and looked out the window at the hills which were blanketed with the first snow of the year But after a minute the man heaved another sigh
Is there anything the matter sir Terpin asked Oh well the man said wiping his cheek with the sleeve of his black greatcoat it's just my wife Your wife The man nodded I lost her yesterday How did you lose her sir In an operation What operation was that The man glanced at him You wouldn't have heard of it son I might have said Terpin who was consid ered one of the brightest in his class Well the man sighed it was an operation called a hepaticostomy After a moment Terpin said Oh It was unsuccessful The man nodded grimly and another tear rolled down a groove in his rugged cheek Take it from me boy he murmured life's a rotten business
This new tear seemed to fall right on Terpin's heart I know it he agreed with a sigh of his own Have you ever heard of Lake Queechee Sure up by North Haven My parents were canoeing there one day Terpin said sadly when a storm came up The canoe went over and they drowned The man turned and stared at him aghast Both They both drowned Terpin put on a long face They never found the bodies In the paper they said it might be on account of the snapping turtles There're some big ones in the lake over a hundred years old Snapping turtles the man said growing paler By the next stop the man in the black great coat was no longer sighing He was far too busy trying to comfort Terpin to worry about him self As the train neared North Haven the man brought an old rough edged coin out of his pocket and handed it to Terpin
Here boy What is it Terpin asked Have you ever studied ancient Greece I just did a paper on Socrates said Terpin making up to himself for his ignorance of the operation For ancient and medieval history class Well it's an ancient Greek coin It's supposed to be good luck The man shook his head sadly I only wish I'd given it to my wife before she went into the hospital Oh no it's much too valuable Terpin said handing it back The man tried again to give him the ancient coin but Terpin had been brought up well enough to know not to accept such a gift from a stranger And as the train pulled into North Haven he slipped out past the man and shook his hand good bye On the platform he quickly caught sight of his best friend Charles Ackley a tall gangly boy whose head loomed above all the others Charles was holding a football tucked under his arm
