going to Fay’s today, said I had the flu.”
“You don’t suppose he saw me, do you?”
“If he did he wouldn’t think anything about it. That’s one reason I’m going to miss Billy.”
They finished getting Ellie’s things together, then Roebuck waited while she walked to the motel office to check out and get her rent refund.
As he was putting her things in the back of the car he saw her returning slowly, buttoning the flap of her purse.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
“Sure, I told them what you said to.” She went to the motel room door and closed it so it locked from the inside. “I hate to leave anyplace,” she said. “I guess I’m the kind that gets attached to things more than I should.”
As they were getting into the car an old man stepped out of the motel office and waved to them. Roebuck raised an arm and waved back as he shut the car door.
“Mr. Lane?” he asked.
Ellie nodded, not looking up as Roebuck drove the car from the lot and out onto the highway.
He cranked down his window to let in the fresh morning air.
8
They had been traveling for two days along the side roads and the back highways, through the fertile plowed fields of Illinois, across the Mississippi into the lush, hot greenness of Missouri in summertime. Ellie sat beside Roebuck in the car, staring straight ahead at everything and nothing in that mild hypnotic state people fall into after hours of driving. Roebuck glanced sideways at her profile against the rushing scenery, and she sensed his glance.
“It’s beautiful in this part of the country,” she said, “all rolling and wild.”
“Ever been through here in the fall?” Roebuck asked, watching the highway. “There’s every color you can imagine in those woods. I was here some time ago on a hunting trip.”
“Do you like to hunt?”
“I’ve hunted everything from squirrel to lion.”
They lapsed into silence, a silent with which Roebuck could be completely at ease. Ellie worked that way on him sometime, soothing him. Perhaps it was his complete and uncompromising mastery over her, and her complete loyalty. Here was a woman who could be trusted, Roebuck thought, and he had not thought that about many women. Maybe that was the reason she inspired a certain degree of confession in him.
“I was born near here,” Roebuck said, “Arkansas. But it’s not like it is here, not this pretty or this hot.”
“Do you have those weeping willow trees there?” Ellie pointed to a roadside grove of the huge, graceful trees.
“Some.”
“There’s no prettier tree than a weeping willow,” Ellie said, “or sadder, the way they thirst for moisture and grow all turned down instead of up.”
Roebuck nodded. “You usually find them around septic tanks.” He concentrated on his driving for a while. “We’re going to have to steal another car sometime soon.”
“It sure is less trouble to steal a car than I thought.”
“You bet it is,” Roebuck said with a tight grin. “People are fools.”
Ellie sighed. “I hope the police are fools.”
“They are,” he assured her.
“How come we don’t travel at night, Lou?”
Roebuck crooked his arm and rested it on the ledge of the open car window, flattening his bicep against the warm metal of the door as a group of young motorcyclists flashed by going in the other direction. “Less conspicuous during the day,” he said. “There are fewer cars on the road at night and you can see their lights for miles. Besides, the police might be expecting me to travel by night. I told you they were mostly fools. In Intelligence it was all we could do to keep them from botching up our work when they were trying to help.”
A brightly lettered restaurant sign, crying for their attention with a command to STOP AND EAT, appeared in the distance alongside the highway, and Roebuck slowed the car. “What about some supper?”
“If you want to stop, Lou.”
“We have to eat soon,” Roebuck said, “and that
“You don’t suppose he saw me, do you?”
“If he did he wouldn’t think anything about it. That’s one reason I’m going to miss Billy.”
They finished getting Ellie’s things together, then Roebuck waited while she walked to the motel office to check out and get her rent refund.
As he was putting her things in the back of the car he saw her returning slowly, buttoning the flap of her purse.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
“Sure, I told them what you said to.” She went to the motel room door and closed it so it locked from the inside. “I hate to leave anyplace,” she said. “I guess I’m the kind that gets attached to things more than I should.”
As they were getting into the car an old man stepped out of the motel office and waved to them. Roebuck raised an arm and waved back as he shut the car door.
“Mr. Lane?” he asked.
Ellie nodded, not looking up as Roebuck drove the car from the lot and out onto the highway.
He cranked down his window to let in the fresh morning air.
8
They had been traveling for two days along the side roads and the back highways, through the fertile plowed fields of Illinois, across the Mississippi into the lush, hot greenness of Missouri in summertime. Ellie sat beside Roebuck in the car, staring straight ahead at everything and nothing in that mild hypnotic state people fall into after hours of driving. Roebuck glanced sideways at her profile against the rushing scenery, and she sensed his glance.
“It’s beautiful in this part of the country,” she said, “all rolling and wild.”
“Ever been through here in the fall?” Roebuck asked, watching the highway. “There’s every color you can imagine in those woods. I was here some time ago on a hunting trip.”
“Do you like to hunt?”
“I’ve hunted everything from squirrel to lion.”
They lapsed into silence, a silent with which Roebuck could be completely at ease. Ellie worked that way on him sometime, soothing him. Perhaps it was his complete and uncompromising mastery over her, and her complete loyalty. Here was a woman who could be trusted, Roebuck thought, and he had not thought that about many women. Maybe that was the reason she inspired a certain degree of confession in him.
“I was born near here,” Roebuck said, “Arkansas. But it’s not like it is here, not this pretty or this hot.”
“Do you have those weeping willow trees there?” Ellie pointed to a roadside grove of the huge, graceful trees.
“Some.”
“There’s no prettier tree than a weeping willow,” Ellie said, “or sadder, the way they thirst for moisture and grow all turned down instead of up.”
Roebuck nodded. “You usually find them around septic tanks.” He concentrated on his driving for a while. “We’re going to have to steal another car sometime soon.”
“It sure is less trouble to steal a car than I thought.”
“You bet it is,” Roebuck said with a tight grin. “People are fools.”
Ellie sighed. “I hope the police are fools.”
“They are,” he assured her.
“How come we don’t travel at night, Lou?”
Roebuck crooked his arm and rested it on the ledge of the open car window, flattening his bicep against the warm metal of the door as a group of young motorcyclists flashed by going in the other direction. “Less conspicuous during the day,” he said. “There are fewer cars on the road at night and you can see their lights for miles. Besides, the police might be expecting me to travel by night. I told you they were mostly fools. In Intelligence it was all we could do to keep them from botching up our work when they were trying to help.”
A brightly lettered restaurant sign, crying for their attention with a command to STOP AND EAT, appeared in the distance alongside the highway, and Roebuck slowed the car. “What about some supper?”
“If you want to stop, Lou.”
“We have to eat soon,” Roebuck said, “and that
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