“My landing, you mean.”
“Yes, up below the inlet that the tree is sticking out of. So then I sat down, and took off my shoes and stockings, took off your pants and my panties, and then was the cutest thing in Ohio, with a bare bottom Trans-U.S.&C. should put in their ads, it was so pretty. So then I pulled on the galoshes and was ready. I took that money and tramped up to the inlet, then I waded in. Oh, was that water cold. But at least, I could see what I was doing — and went splashing on. By the time I got to the tree the water was up to my bottom, but I dropped the bag in and splashed back. When I got back to the landing I took the galoshes off, dumped the water out, and grabbed up the towel — the reason I had brought it. I wiped myself off quick, then pulled on your pants, my shoes and stockings, the galoshes, and scooted back, thinking how much I loved you. So, how much do you love me?”
I folded her in and told her but once more without any unbuttoning. I admit, I was quite overcome. But when I suggested we prove our love, she said no, we’d better not. “Someone might come, and that would ruin everything. Some damned newspaperman, if he put that in his paper, could ruin everything for us. Better you make dinner now, so we can eat it and then take our time figuring what we say — I mean the story we tell Edgren or whoever answers the phone, that’ll get them started tomorrow, to go up there, find the money, and then take it from there.”
“OK. Just the same, I love you. Do you love me at all?”
“What do you think?”
17
So I made dinner, frying the ham but boiling the potatoes and mashing them so as not to have too much fried stuff, boiling the peas and cutting two pieces of pie. Then we ate and I washed up. We went into the living room. By then it was eight o’clock, and we sat on the sofa, whispering about what we would do to finish up Bledsoe’s idea, which was half carried out already. I think that was the happiest time I’d had with her, up until then, whispering there in the dark, as first I’d think of something and she’d think of something also to make it better. Like when I said I’d gone out before going to bed, “to have a look around, and heard this boat rowing up. When it headed in for the tree I yelled, and it turned and headed downriver” — and she suddenly interrupted:
“Dave, that sounds kind of phoney. Who goes out to have a look around? It’s something you wouldn’t do. But if we both went out, not to have any look, but to take a walk by the river and hold hands and watch for shooting stars—?”
“OK, that’s how it was.
“And then when this boat came along, we were up on the landing by then, sitting there side by side, that’s when it came along—”
“Rowing upstream?”
“Yes, past the island, and—”
“On past the landing—”
“And Dave, that’s when we held still, as we didn’t want to be seen, and—”
“Thought nothing of the boat—”
“That’s right, until I screamed—”
“A real Jill Kreeger screech—”
“As it stopped, then headed for the inlet, and pulled up under that tree—”
“Wait a minute — how did we know where it pulled up? In the dark? It’s 50 yards from the landing up to that inlet, and—”
“The tree is white, Dave — all sycamores are white. We could see the boat against it—”
“So OK, you screamed, and then what?”
“I kept screaming, I did.”
“And what did I do, Jill?”
“You hollered at him, that’s what. You hollered: ‘Who are you, what do you want? What are you doing there?’ ”
“And you kept on with your screaming. And then?”
“He left, all of a sudden.”
“How?”
“He began to row backwards.”
“Backing water, you mean?”
“Whatever it’s called, Dave.”
After some time I asked: “How long did he stay by the tree?”
“No more than a couple of seconds, I would think, Dave. Long enough to get us excited. Not long enough to fish up our money.”
“Your money, Jill.”
When we had that all straightened out, we got on to the rest of it, my call to the sheriff’s office and what I would say. But there we hit a snag, as we were blocked off from me reporting a theft or someone attempting a theft, as to do that I’d have to let on I knew what was in the tree. Then she hit on the idea that I didn’t have any idea why someone would come messing around it, but it was on my place just the same, and for whatever reason he had, there somebody was, “and you want protection, Dave. That’s what’s on your mind. Here they’ve taken your rifle away, as everyone knows by now, as that was on TV, so everyone out here knows. And you have me to think of—”
“I want them to send somebody out?”
“That’s it, Dave — the whole thing’s got you scared, and you don’t bring up the tree and what might be in it till tomorrow, and maybe not even then. Because whoever comes out, maybe he brings it up. Looks like he might, at that. But what you want is protection.”
“In other words, one thing at a time.”
“That’s right — keep it simple.”
“When should I call, Jill?”
“You should call right away quick, after seeing that boat. And people take walks in the early evening, not in the middle of the night.”
“In other words, now.”
“Dave, I would.”
So I called. How much the night clerk cared was exactly not at all. He said the river was public, that anyone had the right to row on it day or night, that no charge could be brought or any arrest made, that the sheriff had no power to act. I said the tree was on my property, and he asked what charge I wanted brought. At that I blew my top. I bellowed into the phone: “So OK, now we know: A girl saves a plane and 28 lives besides the lives of the crew. I save the girl by shooting the guy that was swearing to kill her, and my stepmother tries to save the money the guy baled out with — and the thanks I get is to be told to stand by in case charged — with what, will you tell me that? And on top of that, you take my rifle in and now when I’m completely defenseless, how you help me out is give me a bunch of chatter about the river and how public it is. In God’s name, what do I pay my taxes for? A lot of talk from a night clerk? A lot of—”
“Hold on, hold on.”
“I won’t hold on. I want action, and I mean to get it. Are you sending somebody out or—”
“What’s your number, Mr. Howell?”
I calmed down and gave him my number. He said he’d call me back. As I hung up she burst out laughing and I had to join in. Then we were in each other’s arms, the tears running down our faces, from how funny it was, and I had a hard time stiffening up, fighting the cackles back, so I could take the call back when it came. He said, “An officer will be out. It’ll be a half-hour or so; he has to get dressed. If he’s to spend the night, is there some place he can lie down?” I said, “Yes, sure,” and he said: “OK.”
I licked her tears away, the both of us giggling about it, and she said: “I ought to stay, I would think, to put in my two cents’ worth. But I have to get dressed. My clothes are in your room.”
So we went in there, but before she could dress, she had to undress, and of course I had to help her. So pretty soon she was naked, the second time I’d seen her that way, and it was marvelous to sit on the bed, pull her over to me, and kiss her in all sorts of beautiful places. She didn’t seem to mind, and in fact helped once or twice, by pushing things at me I had missed the first time around. But then she backed away and began pulling things on — pantyhose, bra, and dress. She walked around to the kitchen, got her galoshes and put them back in the car. Then she came back and got her new coat from the closet in the den, brought it out to the living room, and threw it on a chair. Then she sat down on the sofa, motioning me beside her. But then all of a sudden, almost in a panic, she jumped up, telling me: “If you’re putting him in there, the officer when he comes, in Mrs. Howell’s room, we should put sheets on the bed. Do you have any?”