Boulevard des Capucines

Boulevard des Capucines
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
American Day Dream
Biblis painting
Luke's Aunt Beru was filling a pitcher with blue liquid from a refrigerated container.Behind her, in the dining area, a steady buzz of conversation reached to the kitchen. She sighed sadly. The mealtime discussions between her husband and Lukehad grown steadily more acrimonious as the boy's restlessness pulled him indirections other than farming. Directions for which Owen, a stolid man of the soil ifthere ever was one, had absolutely no sympathy. Returning the bulk container to the refrigerator unit, she placed the pitcher on atray and hurried back to the dining room. Beru was not a brilliant woman, but shepossessed an instinctive understanding of her important position in this household.She functioned like the damping rods in a nuclear reactor. As long as she waspresent, Owen and Luke would continue to generate a lot of heat, but if she was out oftheir presence for too long—boom! Condenser units built into the bottom of each plate kept the food on the dining-room table hot as she hurried in. immediately, both men lowered their voices tosomething civilized and shifted the subject. Beru pretended not to notice the change. "I think that Artoo unit might have been stolen, Uncle Owen," Luke was saying,as if that had been the topic of conversation all along.