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making one pile of ship pieces, another of connected and loose squares of cloth.
    I'd thought this was a completed top, just not yet finished into a quilt. "Ouch," I yelped and
pulled a pin away from my finger, sucking at the welling of blood.
    "Gotcha, did she?" said Sam. "Gone, but not forgotten."
    As I continued, carefully, taking the squares apart I found that few of them were sewn
together, leaving more loose ones than I'd thought. To make room, I moved the ship pieces into the
model box, set it on the floor. I spread the quilt pieces on the top.
    The deep maroon pieces were velvet, lovely to pet. My fingers massaged the nap.
    Sam picked up another piece of velvet, ran his hand back and forth, watching the color
change from dark to light as he flipped the nap, smiling. Sewn to some of the velvets were squares
of light brown corduroy, the same size, printed with small flowers. I made a pile of loose, leftover
squares, wondering if there were enough to finish the top.
    In the middle of the bundle was a piece of notebook size paper. On it Aunt Sophie had
drawn the plan for the quilt. "Well! This will help."
    "Sure would be nice to see it together," said Sam. He'd picked up the ship and I thought he
meant that. But he put out his free hand and, again, stroked the velvet.
    I just stared. How was I to make any order of this mess?
    "I'll help you with quilting, if you want," I remembered Magda saying at the fair. I'd said
"No" at the time, being sure I didn't want anything to do with this. Now, I was wondering, just what
would it look like if it was all put together?
    I said nothing more to Sam about the quilt, but put him onto setting out the ship pieces on
Roger's work table. "Look, here in this drawer are his glue and modeling things." He was easily
diverted and spent much of the day working on the ship. I was happy that he was doing it, but
watching him handling the pieces was unsettling. I left him to it. It was the next week before I
discovered that Sam had taken it home with him. It was a relief.
    I must be out of my mind. "One of the Willamina quilters said she'd help me put it
together, if I want. In fact, she gave me her number."
    Sam looked at me, as if it all seemed simple to him. "So, call her."
    "I've got a lot of things to do."
    "And all the time in the world." He rolled his eyes. "I'd sure like to see it done," implying
that it was the least I could do for my old cousin.
    "Now," he said. "Call her now."
    On her answering machine I heard the strong voice I'd first heard behind me in the crush at
the Bug Exhibit. Sam leaned to the phone to listen. "Hello, Magda here. Today I'm at the Fair so if
you leave your name and number, I'll call you back. Meanwhile, keep stitching." Her laugh ended the
message.
    At the beep I did as instructed, and said, "I met you at the fair. You wanted to know about
my aunt's Cannon Beach quilt. So call me." Sam glowered at me until I added, "And maybe I want
you to help me with one of her other quilts."
    I hung up and said, "Maybe. But don't count on it."
    "What a good voice." Sam wasn't referring to mine. There was a light in his eyes that
disturbed me.
    "Sam, what's going on?"
    "Nothing. I forgot to tell you that Magda stopped by our bugs booth when you weren't
there. We discovered that we knew each other from way back, when Sue and I were doing Sophie's
Cabins. So, we're old friends. That's all."
    I considered. "Sam, I think Magda is married." I didn't mention the age difference, and I
didn't know her marital state but I'd seen her plain wedding band. I noticed things like that.
    "So?" He stepped back. "Her voice reminds me of Sue. Strong like. Not many women speak
like that. And what if she is married, what's that got to do with me?" He ducked as I passed the
phone close by his ear to smack the receiver into the cradle.
    "Sorry," I fibbed. "Just don't be trouble."
    "Don't you worry, sweetheart." He laughed. "Frankly, I think we could both use a little spice
in our lives." Whatever