After managing to get her skates after running into Mr. Applegate, Annie had taken to the ice with about as much grace as she handled everything else in life; not well. It was fun, and she wasn't terrible at it, but she was not an effortless skater and she had already fallen three times now. Perhaps it might be time to give it up for the afternoon.

"I do now know how people manage." She chuckled in reply to the gentleman who had spoken to her. "I fear I look like a baby giraffe learning to walk." It was an amusing (and true) picture, but Annie realized belatedly, that it was probably not the best comparison to make to a handsome gentleman. Now she could be as graceless in conversation as she was on the skates.