The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

out of, and the Greek's guitar, that hadn't been put away yet because he was so drunk. She put the guitar in the case, and washed the glasses, and then went upstairs. After a minute I went up after her.
     
          She was in their bedroom, sitting by the window, looking out at the road.
          "Well?"
          She didn't say anything. I started to leave.
          "I didn't ask you to leave."
          I sat down again. It was a long while before she snapped out of it.
          "You turned on me, Frank."
          "No I didn't. He had me, Cora. I had to sign his paper. If I didn't, then he would tumble to everything. I didn't turn on you. I just went along with him, till I could find out where I was at."
          "You turned on me. I could see it in your eye."
          "All right, Cora, I did. I just turned yellow, that's all. I didn't want to do it. I tried not to do it. But he beat me down. I cracked up, that's all."
          "I know."
          "I went through hell about it."
          "And I turned on you, Frank."
          "They made you do it. You didn't want to. They set a trap for you."
          "I wanted to do it. I hated you then."
          "That's all right. It was for something I didn't really do. You know how it was, now."
          "No. I hated you for something you really did."
          "I never hated you, Cora. I hated myself."
          "I don't hate you now. I hate that Sackett. And Katz. Why couldn't they leave us alone? Why couldn't they let us fight it out together? I wouldn't have minded that. I wouldn't have minded it even if it meant--you know. We would have had our love. And that's all we ever had. But the very first time they started their meanness, you turned on me."
          "And you turned on me, don't forget that."
          "That's the awful part. I turned on you. We both turned on each other."
          "Well, that makes it even, don't it?"
          "It makes it even, but look at us now. We were up on a mountain. We were up so high, Frank. We had it all, out there, that night. I didn't know I could feel anything like that. And we kissed and sealed it so it would be there forever, no matter what happened. We had more than any two people in the world. And then we fell down. First you, and then me. Yes, it makes it even. We're down here together. But we're not up high any more. Our beautiful mountain is gone."
          "Well what the hell? We're together, ain't we?"
          "I guess so. But I thought an awful lot, Frank. Last night. About you and me, and the movies, and why I flopped, and the hash house, and the road, and why you like it. We're just two punks, Frank. God kissed us on the brow that night. He gave us all that two people can ever have. And we just weren't the kind that could have it. We had all that love, and we just cracked up under it. It's a big airplane engine, that takes you through the sky, right up to the top of the mountain. But when you put it in a Ford, it just shakes it to pieces. That's what we are, Frank, a couple of Fords. God is up there laughing at us."
          "The hell he is. Well we're laughing at him too, aren't we? He put up a red stop sign for us, and we went past it. And then what? Did we get shoved off the deep end? We did like hell. We got away clean, and got $10,000 for doing the job. So God kissed us on the brow, did he? Then the devil went to bed with us, and believe you me, kid, he sleeps pretty good."
          "Don't talk that way, Frank."
          "Did we get that ten grand, or didn't we?"
          "I don't want to think about the ten grand. It's a lot, but it couldn't buy our mountain."
          "Mountain, hell, we got the mountain and ten thousand smackers to pile on top of that yet. If you want to go up high, take a look around from that pile."
          "You nut. I wish you could see yourself, yelling with that bandage on your head."
          "You forgot