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He said nothing. His face was gray and droopy, as if the skin were sliding off.
“Okay?”
“What’s that?” he muttered.
I took a breath. “When Sissy drowned—afterward—didn’t you feel bad? I mean, even I felt guilty. Didn’t you feel—when you thought about it—didn’t you feel a little bit bad?”
A fine yellow dust had settled on the windshield, and Elro started the wipers to clear the glass. He watched as the worn rubber blades left streaks of dust that stayed there, defying the wipers as they swept again and again over the same course. Finally, he shut the wipers off. “No,” he said.
We came to the outskirts of a town, probably the one the farmboy had talked about. We passed a square brick high school sitting surrounded by a lawn of unshaded brown grass. At a feed store, a line of wagons and trucks was already backed up against a loading dock. A sign said MINNIEFIELD POP. 707.
“Let’s get some food,” said Elro.
“I need a pair of shoes.”
“First food.”
The town was just a treeless strip of road, with a few buildings on either side and a railroad crossing at the far end. Everything was painted white and, under the bright sun, the buildings gave off a hard shine, like bleached bones.
Elro parked along the sidewalk beside several other pickups and just down the street from an untended horse and wagon. The straps from the horse’s harness were tied around the parking meter. The horse’s head was down and he was snorting around in the dust in the gutter. Elro went on ahead, but I stopped in front of the horse. I’d taken off my remaining shoe and was standing in my bare feet on the hot concrete sidewalk. The horse’s nose looked cool and velvety and, without thinking, I stuck my foot out and ran my big toe down it. The horse shook his head quickly, and his long tongue lolled out and licked the bottom of my foot. I looked up and down the street. Aside from some children playing on the sidewalk on the other side, the street was empty. So I offered up my other foot. The horse obliged again, sending shivers down my back.
Minniefield had one restaurant, Coogan’s Dinette, which faced the street with two dark windows made of small panes of glass. A bell connected to the screen door tinkled when I went in, and a half dozen customers—all men—looked up from their coffee and eggs. A counter with stools ran along one side, and fifteen or so small tables were scattered across a dark wood floor. Elro was sitting at a table in the corner, studying a cardboard menu.
“I hope no one notices my bare feet,” I said softly when I sat down.
“Keep ’em under the table.”
“Do you suppose the police have put out a bulletin about us yet?”
“Shut up.”
A waitress in a white smock came out of the back and sauntered over. “So this is your friend,” she said to Elro. She held her head back and laughed with an overloud, wet sound. “It’s a little early in the day for a date, isn’t it?” She was about Bunny’s age, but way too made up, with her hair twisted into a loose knob and flaky powder covering old acne scars on her cheeks.
Elro mumbled something and stared harder at the menu. The waitress bent down between us and spoke in a whisper. “Well, if you kids are elopin’, don’t worry, ’cause your secret is safe with me.” She nodded at each of us in turn. “I had an offer to elope when I was sixteen, and I turned it down, and I’ve been stuck here ever since. Been stuck in a town that don’t know nothin’.” She pointed to her ring finger, which was bare. “Of course, I’ve had other offers,” she said to me, “but nothin’ to take me away from here.”
“I’ll have fried eggs and pancakes,” said Elro.
The waitress straightened up. “And milk, lots of milk,” she said, winking at me.
“We ain’t elopin’,” Elro said.
“Listen to him.” The waitress cocked her knob of hair at Elro. “You stay out all night, and you’re elopin’, that’s for sure. You may not know it yet, but you’re elopin’. Wait ’till you try to take that pretty girl back to her daddy. Then you’ll see what I mean.” She shook her head and leaned over me. “Ain’t I right, honey?”
Her dress fell away in front, and I could see a small ball of cotton stuffed between her breasts. The cotton had been soaked in perfume, and the sweet, heavy fragrance curled up around my head, tugging at me like a rope. I sat back. “Tea and toast,” I sputtered.
She laughed again. “Don’t worry, I told you your secret is safe with me.” Still laughing, she turned and walked away, shaking her head.
“What was that all about?” I whispered to Elro.
He shook his head.
“Are we that obvious?”
“Shut up.”
The food perked him up. He ate a big plate of eggs and pancakes and drank lots of milk, since the waitress kept coming back to refill his glass. His color returned, and his eyes came alive. Eventually, he started talking again.
“Can’t wait to get to the Dells,” he said. “They got great stuff there, caves and things.”
