you ever done anything
like that?”
He shook his head.
“He had to figure it out as he went along,”
Eleanor said.
“Gaston can do anything, once he sets his mind to
it,” said Crystal.
“Anybody can, with a little time and
patience,” Rigby said.
“We spent two days in that basement,”
Eleanor said, “tearing down this machine, packing the
parts, and putting them on the truck. It was so cold your
hands would stick to the steel when you touched it, and all
around us the wreckers were stringing
explosives.”
“But we got the damn thing,” Crystal said,
“and sang Christmas carols all the way home…in
February.”
“We thought of getting the heater fixed in
Montana,” Eleanor said, “but by then, hey, it
was up to ten degrees—a major heat wave.”
“And we could smell home,” Rigby said.
I could almost feel the satisfaction and joy of getting
it set up here in working order, and I said something to
the effect.
“Yeah,” Crystal said, “even I
can’t deny that.”
“You can’t put a label on it,” Rigby
said.
“Somehow you mean more to each other,”
Eleanor said, “after you’ve done something like
that.”
A sudden silence fell over the table. The evening was
over, and I knew that, once again, I was not going to bust
her. I didn’t know why—it certainly
wasn’t Poe anymore—but I was ready to live with
it, whatever happened.
“You’ll find a lot of books over there if
you’d like to read,” Crystal said. “Sorry
there’s no TV.”
I made a so-who-needs-it gesture with my hands.
“Breakfast at six-thirty,” she said.
“That’s if you want to eat with us. I’ll
rustle you up something whenever you come over.”
She walked me to the door, leaving Eleanor and her
father alone at the kitchen table. On the porch she took my
hand. “Thank you,” she whispered. Then she
hugged me tight and disappeared back into the house. I
stood on the porch listening to the rain. The night was as
dark as it ever gets, but I felt as if a huge weight had
been lifted from my back. There would be no bust, no
handcuffs, no force. I watched my five grand grow wings and
fly away into the night. Half the puzzle was finished.
Now that I knew what I was not going to do, I thought I
could sleep.
9
----
I opened my eyes to the ringing of the telephone. It was five
after three by the luminous clock on the table beside me: I
had been asleep almost five hours. Par for the course, I
thought, staring into the dark where the phone was. I let
it ring, knowing it couldn’t be for me, but it kept
on until I had to do something about it. When I picked it
up, Eleanor was there in my ear.
“I’m coming over. Is that okay?”
“I don’t know…what’ll your
parents say?”
But she had hung up. I rolled over and sat on the bed.
When five minutes had passed and she hadn’t arrived,
I groped my way to the window and looked across at the
house. It was dark except for a faint light on the side
facing away from me. Soon that too went out—someone
in a bathroom, I thought—but then another light came
on in the opposite corner. Something moved in the yard: I
couldn’t tell what as I tried to see through the
rain-streaked glass, but it looked like some critter
standing under the window had moved quickly back into the
darkness. A deer maybe, or just a mirage thrown out by a
brain still groggy from too little sleep. But I
hadn’t forgotten about Eleanor’s stalker and I
sat on the sill and watched the yard. The light went out
and again I swam in an all-black world. I sat for a long
time looking at nothing.
At ten to four I decided that she wasn’t coming
and I went back to bed.
I heard a sharp click somewhere, then a bump.
There she is
, I thought. But nothing happened. The drumming of the rain
was the only reminder that I could still think and I could
still hear. The minutes
like that?”
He shook his head.
“He had to figure it out as he went along,”
Eleanor said.
“Gaston can do anything, once he sets his mind to
it,” said Crystal.
“Anybody can, with a little time and
patience,” Rigby said.
“We spent two days in that basement,”
Eleanor said, “tearing down this machine, packing the
parts, and putting them on the truck. It was so cold your
hands would stick to the steel when you touched it, and all
around us the wreckers were stringing
explosives.”
“But we got the damn thing,” Crystal said,
“and sang Christmas carols all the way home…in
February.”
“We thought of getting the heater fixed in
Montana,” Eleanor said, “but by then, hey, it
was up to ten degrees—a major heat wave.”
“And we could smell home,” Rigby said.
I could almost feel the satisfaction and joy of getting
it set up here in working order, and I said something to
the effect.
“Yeah,” Crystal said, “even I
can’t deny that.”
“You can’t put a label on it,” Rigby
said.
“Somehow you mean more to each other,”
Eleanor said, “after you’ve done something like
that.”
A sudden silence fell over the table. The evening was
over, and I knew that, once again, I was not going to bust
her. I didn’t know why—it certainly
wasn’t Poe anymore—but I was ready to live with
it, whatever happened.
“You’ll find a lot of books over there if
you’d like to read,” Crystal said. “Sorry
there’s no TV.”
I made a so-who-needs-it gesture with my hands.
“Breakfast at six-thirty,” she said.
“That’s if you want to eat with us. I’ll
rustle you up something whenever you come over.”
She walked me to the door, leaving Eleanor and her
father alone at the kitchen table. On the porch she took my
hand. “Thank you,” she whispered. Then she
hugged me tight and disappeared back into the house. I
stood on the porch listening to the rain. The night was as
dark as it ever gets, but I felt as if a huge weight had
been lifted from my back. There would be no bust, no
handcuffs, no force. I watched my five grand grow wings and
fly away into the night. Half the puzzle was finished.
Now that I knew what I was not going to do, I thought I
could sleep.
9
----
I opened my eyes to the ringing of the telephone. It was five
after three by the luminous clock on the table beside me: I
had been asleep almost five hours. Par for the course, I
thought, staring into the dark where the phone was. I let
it ring, knowing it couldn’t be for me, but it kept
on until I had to do something about it. When I picked it
up, Eleanor was there in my ear.
“I’m coming over. Is that okay?”
“I don’t know…what’ll your
parents say?”
But she had hung up. I rolled over and sat on the bed.
When five minutes had passed and she hadn’t arrived,
I groped my way to the window and looked across at the
house. It was dark except for a faint light on the side
facing away from me. Soon that too went out—someone
in a bathroom, I thought—but then another light came
on in the opposite corner. Something moved in the yard: I
couldn’t tell what as I tried to see through the
rain-streaked glass, but it looked like some critter
standing under the window had moved quickly back into the
darkness. A deer maybe, or just a mirage thrown out by a
brain still groggy from too little sleep. But I
hadn’t forgotten about Eleanor’s stalker and I
sat on the sill and watched the yard. The light went out
and again I swam in an all-black world. I sat for a long
time looking at nothing.
At ten to four I decided that she wasn’t coming
and I went back to bed.
I heard a sharp click somewhere, then a bump.
There she is
, I thought. But nothing happened. The drumming of the rain
was the only reminder that I could still think and I could
still hear. The minutes
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