believe it until I see it carved into a tree.”
“Or painted on a national monument.”
She looked at him oddly. “You’re getting better, Sid, You were so heavy and kind of reluctant. You were out of practice. Do you know you are actually laughing out loud once in a while?”
“I’m traveling with a very comical woman.”
“I swear it, Sid, some day we’re going to laugh until we cry. We’re going to totter around, weak and gasping, trying to stop and not being able to. And you don’t know how good that is going to be for you.”
“Climb into the back, woman. You’re overdue.”
“For what?” she asked with a vast innocence. “Oh! I see what you mean. I should sleep. Yes six, captain sir. For a moment there I had the idea …”
“Nurse!”
With mock haste and fright she clambered lithely over the back of the seat and stretched out. He heard her humming to herself, slightly off key. In a very little while she was sound asleep. The sun moved lower behind them. The big pike rolled through the gentle country.
At two o’clock on Monday morning he was again driving, and they were on a narrow country road just thirty miles from Bolton, moving through the summery moonlight. When he saw the silvered chimney of a burned farmhouse and the slanted roof line of a collapsing barn, he stopped and backed up and turned into the overgrown driveway and, moving slowly picked a way between thesaplings and the berry bushes back to a place beyond the barn, out of sight of the road.
When he turned the lights and motor off, the night was all a stillness edged with silver, with a faroff sound of tree toads.
“Is this AAA approved?” Paula asked.
“They’re remodeling. Low low summer rates. Cross ventilation in every room.”
In a little while they settled themselves for sleep. The night was warm. She had the mattress and made a pillow of the folded blanket and insisted he take the pillow into the front seat. He opened the door on the driver’s side to give himself leg room. Their heads were close, but the barrier of the seat back was between them.
“Sid?”
“Yes, Miss Paula.”
“Sid, were you doing well in that agency business?”
“Pretty well. We were making the regional distributor happy.”
“What were you after?”
“My goal in life? Hell, I don’t know. To prove I could swing it, I guess. A little respect. So that anybody looking at me wouldn’t know but what I’d been there all along.”
“Suppose, Sid, just suppose that all of a sudden you didn’t have to run any more. Would you go after the same thing all over again?”
“I guess so.” She did not answer. In a little while he said, “No. I wouldn’t. I answered too fast. In Jacksonville I was imitating something I’m not. Thelma was part of the imitation too. I proved I could get away with the imitation, and I wouldn’t have to prove it again. I don’t know what I’d do. I would have to find something. It would have to mean a little bit more, I think.” He hesitated. “But it isn’t something I have to figure out right now. I’m still running.”
“There’s always room to run.”
“There better be. I’ll see the old man. And I’ll take off.”
Her voice was strange. “What if I don’t know what I’m supposed to be, either. What if things don’t make any sense to me, the way they’ve happened.”
“Are you asking me something?”
“You don’t know how damned many things I’m scaredof. I’m supposed to be a grown up woman. It’s like there’s a big room and I hide in the corners. Girlish. And I’m twenty-nine. Neither of us are living, are we? Ghosts in the moonlight, and the words don’t mean much either.”
She stirred, and she was suddenly looking down at him over the back of the seat, a featureless pallor of her face framed by the dark of her hair. She reached and drew her fingertips across his lips. She said in an agonized, secret voice, “Sometimes, right or wrong, don’t you have to make
“Or painted on a national monument.”
She looked at him oddly. “You’re getting better, Sid, You were so heavy and kind of reluctant. You were out of practice. Do you know you are actually laughing out loud once in a while?”
“I’m traveling with a very comical woman.”
“I swear it, Sid, some day we’re going to laugh until we cry. We’re going to totter around, weak and gasping, trying to stop and not being able to. And you don’t know how good that is going to be for you.”
“Climb into the back, woman. You’re overdue.”
“For what?” she asked with a vast innocence. “Oh! I see what you mean. I should sleep. Yes six, captain sir. For a moment there I had the idea …”
“Nurse!”
With mock haste and fright she clambered lithely over the back of the seat and stretched out. He heard her humming to herself, slightly off key. In a very little while she was sound asleep. The sun moved lower behind them. The big pike rolled through the gentle country.
At two o’clock on Monday morning he was again driving, and they were on a narrow country road just thirty miles from Bolton, moving through the summery moonlight. When he saw the silvered chimney of a burned farmhouse and the slanted roof line of a collapsing barn, he stopped and backed up and turned into the overgrown driveway and, moving slowly picked a way between thesaplings and the berry bushes back to a place beyond the barn, out of sight of the road.
When he turned the lights and motor off, the night was all a stillness edged with silver, with a faroff sound of tree toads.
“Is this AAA approved?” Paula asked.
“They’re remodeling. Low low summer rates. Cross ventilation in every room.”
In a little while they settled themselves for sleep. The night was warm. She had the mattress and made a pillow of the folded blanket and insisted he take the pillow into the front seat. He opened the door on the driver’s side to give himself leg room. Their heads were close, but the barrier of the seat back was between them.
“Sid?”
“Yes, Miss Paula.”
“Sid, were you doing well in that agency business?”
“Pretty well. We were making the regional distributor happy.”
“What were you after?”
“My goal in life? Hell, I don’t know. To prove I could swing it, I guess. A little respect. So that anybody looking at me wouldn’t know but what I’d been there all along.”
“Suppose, Sid, just suppose that all of a sudden you didn’t have to run any more. Would you go after the same thing all over again?”
“I guess so.” She did not answer. In a little while he said, “No. I wouldn’t. I answered too fast. In Jacksonville I was imitating something I’m not. Thelma was part of the imitation too. I proved I could get away with the imitation, and I wouldn’t have to prove it again. I don’t know what I’d do. I would have to find something. It would have to mean a little bit more, I think.” He hesitated. “But it isn’t something I have to figure out right now. I’m still running.”
“There’s always room to run.”
“There better be. I’ll see the old man. And I’ll take off.”
Her voice was strange. “What if I don’t know what I’m supposed to be, either. What if things don’t make any sense to me, the way they’ve happened.”
“Are you asking me something?”
“You don’t know how damned many things I’m scaredof. I’m supposed to be a grown up woman. It’s like there’s a big room and I hide in the corners. Girlish. And I’m twenty-nine. Neither of us are living, are we? Ghosts in the moonlight, and the words don’t mean much either.”
She stirred, and she was suddenly looking down at him over the back of the seat, a featureless pallor of her face framed by the dark of her hair. She reached and drew her fingertips across his lips. She said in an agonized, secret voice, “Sometimes, right or wrong, don’t you have to make
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