Revisiting Lake Constance
Copyright© 2015 by Peter H. Salus
Chapter 4
A few days later, it seemed as though I was in a willy-willy. Sarah wanted to fly to Honolulu; the Museum was eager to meet my new hire (Sammy, though I’d not yet hired him); and I was trying to find time to sort and think about my specimens.
Henry’s thesis had made many folks at the Bishop and at UH happy. His defense was duly scheduled. At the same time, there was an opening in Adelaide’s Pacific Collection. It was a three-year appointment, but it would fit Henry very well. He flew down for an interview. The job would begin in 90 days. In the interim, Sarah would island-hop with him to Hilo and meet his family. They would then travel further to some other South Pacific islands.
Patrick and Rachel had begun a pool as to when the wedding would take place. Al said that it would be “After he’s doctor and before they fly back to here.” Weena wondered which of them would change their last name. Rachel said “Neither.”
Weena was reading Jenkyns’ Classical Literature. “Have you ever read Catullus?” she asked.
“Not in the last 30 years,” I responded. “Why?”
“I really like Jenkyns’ precis of his life.”
“What does it say?”
She looked. “‘A young provincial aristocrat came to Rome, fell in love with the wrong woman, was driven to put his passion into verse, and changed the literature of Europe.’”