“Yeah.”
“Really?”
“No.”
A long pause then. “I’m coming up to see you.”
“Sammy, no.”
“It’ll be after the weekend, before the furnaces are working and school starts again. It’ll be fun. You can make up a bed on the couch for me. And invite the mysterious neighbor over for dinner one night.”
“Sam, you’re matchmaking.”
“Who’s matchmaking? After Claudine-the-bitch-from-hell, maybe I’m ready to go back to boys for a while. I met a nice strange boy when I hitchhiked down to El Paso for Christmas.”
“Oh. Look, Sam, you’ve got to stop hitchhiking.”
“How do you think I’m going to get to Lakeside?”
“Alison McGovern was hitchhiking. Even in a town like this, it’s not safe. I’ll wire you the money. You can take the bus.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Sammy.”
“Okay, Mags. Wire me the money if it’ll let you sleep easier.”
“You know it will.”
“Okay, bossy big sister. Give Leon a hug and tell him Auntie Sammy’s coming up and he’s not to hide his toys in her bed this time.”
“I’ll tell him. I don’t promise it’ll do any good.”
“So when should I expect you?”
“Tomorrow night. You don’t have to meet me at the bus station—I’ll ask Hinzelmann to run me over in Tessie.”
“Too late. Tessie’s in mothballs for the winter. But Hinzelmann will give you a ride anyway. He likes you. You listen to his stories.”
“Maybe you should get Hinzelmann to write your editorial for you. Let’s see. ‘On the Rezoning of the Land by the Old Cemetery. It so happens that in the winter of ought-three my grampaw shot a stag down by the old cemetery by the lake. He was out of bullets, so he used a cherry-stone from the lunch my grandmama had packed for him. Creased the skull of the stag and it shot off like a bat out of heck. Two years later he was down that way and he sees this mighty buck with a spreading cherry tree growing between its antlers. Well, he shot it, and grandmama made cherry pies enough that they were still eating them come the next fourth of July . . . ‘ “
And they both laughed, then.
INTERLUDE 3
Jacksonville, Florida. 2:00 A.M.
“The sign says help wanted.”
“We’re always hiring.”
“I can only work the night shift. Is that going to be a problem?”
“Shouldn’t be. I can get you an application to fill out. You ever worked in a gas station before?”
“No. I figure, how hard can it be?”
“Well, it ain’t rocket science, that’s for sure. You know, ma’am, you don’t mind my saying this, but you do not look well.”