trailing fragrant smoke.
IN THE morning I placed a station call to t the number listed for George Brell in Harlin gen. I got a lazy-toned switchboard operator who put me through to a sharp-voiced secretary who said that Mr. Brell was not in his office yet. As she had no way of knowing it was a long distance call, I side-stepped her request for my name and said I would phone later.
Then I phoned my barge boat. After three rings, I heard her voice, small, tense, cautious.
"Hello?"
"This is your night nurse speaking."
Page 51
"Trav! Thank God."
"What's the matter? Is something wrong?"
"Nothing in particular. Just... I don't know
... tension, I guess. I got so used to you being nearby. I hear sounds. And I jump. And I had bad dreams."
"Cook them out in the sun."
"I'm going to. On the beach, maybe. When are you coming back?"
"I'm going to Texas today."
"What?"
"There's a man there I want to see. I might be back there by Friday, but I'm not certain.
Take your pills, honey. Don't agitate yourself Eat, sleep and keep busy. You're smack in the middle of hundreds of boats and thousands of people."
"Trav, a woman phoned and she's very anxious to get in touch with you. She said it's an emergency. It sort of put her off stride to have a woman answer and say you're away. I said you might phone and she said to tell you to phone her. Miss McCall. With a very strange first name. I don't know if I have it right."
"Chookie."
"That's it."
I had her look in my book and give me the number. By the time I hung up, Lois sounded pretty good. I wondered if I had been a damn fool not to lock up my liquor supply, or at least to arrange to have somebody stay with her.
Hurry home, Mother McGee. People have their acquired armor, made up of gestures and expressions and defensive chatter. Lois's had all been brutally stripped away, and I knew her as well as anybody ever had or ever would. I knew her from filled teeth to the childhood apple tree, from appendix scar to wedding night, and it was time for her to start growing her new carapace, with me on the outside. I caught her raw, and did not care to be joined to her by scar tissue when healing began.
Chook's phone went to nine rings before she answered in the gritty rancor of interrupted sleep.
But her voice changed when she recognized mine. "Trav! I phoned you last night.
Who is that Mrs. Atkinson?"
"One of your more successful rivals."
"I mean really. is she the one that whosis took on when he dropped Cathy?"
Page 52
"Yes.,)
"Trav, I phoned about Cathy. She worked the first show last night. She seemed fine. And then they found her unconscious out on the beach there at the hotel. She'd been terribly beaten. Her face is a mess. Two broken fingers. They don't know yet if there's any internal injuries. She regained consciousness before they got her to the hospital. The police questioned her. She told them she went out to walk on the beach and somebody jumped her and beat her up. She couldn't give them a description. I talked to her next, after they'd given her a sedative. She acted very strange about it. I think it was him, Trav. She won't be able to work for two weeks anyway, maybe longer. She's really a mess."
"Does she want to talk to me?"
"She doesn't want to talk to anybody. It's in the paper today. Show girl assaulted on private beach. Mysterious assailant and so on."
"Are you going to see her today?"
"Of course!"
"I might not get back before Saturday. Look in on Lois Atkinson if you get a chance. Our friend left her in pretty sad shape. She's a lady." "Oh, really?"
"With ragged edges. You'll like her, I think.
Make girl talk. Then I'll try to phone you tonight at the hotel, for a report on both of them."
"McGee's clinic?"
"The Junior Allen discard club. Take care."
A travel office at the hotel helped me find the best way to get to the Rio Grande Valley. A direct 707 out of Idlewild to Houston, a twohour layover and then a feeder flight down to Harlingen with one stop
IN THE morning I placed a station call to t the number listed for George Brell in Harlin gen. I got a lazy-toned switchboard operator who put me through to a sharp-voiced secretary who said that Mr. Brell was not in his office yet. As she had no way of knowing it was a long distance call, I side-stepped her request for my name and said I would phone later.
Then I phoned my barge boat. After three rings, I heard her voice, small, tense, cautious.
"Hello?"
"This is your night nurse speaking."
Page 51
"Trav! Thank God."
"What's the matter? Is something wrong?"
"Nothing in particular. Just... I don't know
... tension, I guess. I got so used to you being nearby. I hear sounds. And I jump. And I had bad dreams."
"Cook them out in the sun."
"I'm going to. On the beach, maybe. When are you coming back?"
"I'm going to Texas today."
"What?"
"There's a man there I want to see. I might be back there by Friday, but I'm not certain.
Take your pills, honey. Don't agitate yourself Eat, sleep and keep busy. You're smack in the middle of hundreds of boats and thousands of people."
"Trav, a woman phoned and she's very anxious to get in touch with you. She said it's an emergency. It sort of put her off stride to have a woman answer and say you're away. I said you might phone and she said to tell you to phone her. Miss McCall. With a very strange first name. I don't know if I have it right."
"Chookie."
"That's it."
I had her look in my book and give me the number. By the time I hung up, Lois sounded pretty good. I wondered if I had been a damn fool not to lock up my liquor supply, or at least to arrange to have somebody stay with her.
Hurry home, Mother McGee. People have their acquired armor, made up of gestures and expressions and defensive chatter. Lois's had all been brutally stripped away, and I knew her as well as anybody ever had or ever would. I knew her from filled teeth to the childhood apple tree, from appendix scar to wedding night, and it was time for her to start growing her new carapace, with me on the outside. I caught her raw, and did not care to be joined to her by scar tissue when healing began.
Chook's phone went to nine rings before she answered in the gritty rancor of interrupted sleep.
But her voice changed when she recognized mine. "Trav! I phoned you last night.
Who is that Mrs. Atkinson?"
"One of your more successful rivals."
"I mean really. is she the one that whosis took on when he dropped Cathy?"
Page 52
"Yes.,)
"Trav, I phoned about Cathy. She worked the first show last night. She seemed fine. And then they found her unconscious out on the beach there at the hotel. She'd been terribly beaten. Her face is a mess. Two broken fingers. They don't know yet if there's any internal injuries. She regained consciousness before they got her to the hospital. The police questioned her. She told them she went out to walk on the beach and somebody jumped her and beat her up. She couldn't give them a description. I talked to her next, after they'd given her a sedative. She acted very strange about it. I think it was him, Trav. She won't be able to work for two weeks anyway, maybe longer. She's really a mess."
"Does she want to talk to me?"
"She doesn't want to talk to anybody. It's in the paper today. Show girl assaulted on private beach. Mysterious assailant and so on."
"Are you going to see her today?"
"Of course!"
"I might not get back before Saturday. Look in on Lois Atkinson if you get a chance. Our friend left her in pretty sad shape. She's a lady." "Oh, really?"
"With ragged edges. You'll like her, I think.
Make girl talk. Then I'll try to phone you tonight at the hotel, for a report on both of them."
"McGee's clinic?"
"The Junior Allen discard club. Take care."
A travel office at the hotel helped me find the best way to get to the Rio Grande Valley. A direct 707 out of Idlewild to Houston, a twohour layover and then a feeder flight down to Harlingen with one stop
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