One morning not much later we were having breakfast in the plant room. Or the conservatory if you prefer. I shared an idea that had been buzzing around in my head for some time, since before Edward came with his seed pot.

"I want to invite the Indians for a picnic and swim day one day and when I do, Edward will surely want to see the grave."

"Claire, we could really do that. See if that huge barbecue grill out by the pool really works. We've never tried it out.

"It's never been used. It's still factory clean."

"What? Then how do you know it works? We should try it out. It's our duty to do that."

"But then it will be used."

"And for good purpose. Has anybody told you not to use it?"

"Well, no. Nobody has ever told me anything at all about it."

"Then we have to try it out. When is the next kiln day?"

"I can't believe we are actually thinking about that. What a change in my life. What does kiln day have to do with it."

"That's the day to try it out. We have to be there for a couple of hours anyway."

After breakfast we went there to inspect and marvel at the magnificence and obvious expense of it.

The barbecue grill in question was a huge permanent stone installation on the far side of the swimming pool. It had three foot by three foot stone slab tabletops on either side of a steel barbecue cooker about six feet long with six knobs on it, two handles and a small assortment of gages. Two doors below the tile counter concealed a storage area and the propane bottles. We hadn't paid any attention to it before today. My exposure to outdoor cooking was the hot dog on a stick over a bonfire in the park and that not often. I wondered what on earth we needed knobs and gages for.

In the days to follow, Rose experimented with the BBQ. Later, I found out she had unearthed the owner's manual for it from the office upstairs. She cooked trial hamburgers for us on it and pronounced it functional. It had never been used before and had now become something new to clean. Just part of the price you pay, running a castle.