By noon, as they passed through Fresno, the heat of afternoon had: turned the Chevy into a hotbox. Howard blinked away the stinging , sweat that kept trickling into his eyes and stubbornly drove on, awake only with the strength of his anger and annoyance.
“Bob,” said Lovecraft, unfurling his wrinkled handkerchief, “I myself enjoy this sort of heat, which I imagine is salutory to my cold blood, but perhaps we should pause for some liquid refreshment?”
Howard only glared at the road ahead. “It’ll have to wait.”
Glory roused herself from her semiconscious state and lit a cigarette. In a moment the interior of the car was swirling with smoke blown about from the single open window.
“Put your window down, HP,” Howard said.
Lovecraft grimaced as if it were the smoke that annoyed him, but the wince he gave as he turned the crank was of a different sort of pain. “The heat is pleasant, but I must complain that the smoke causes me to imagine the Inferno.”
“If I can’t have something to drink, I might as well smoke myself totally dry,” said Glory, blowing another large plume. She was quiet for a few moments before she leaned forward and said over Howard’s right shoulder, “I’m guessing you didn’t get my hint. I’m about to mess the backseat here, if you know what I mean.”
Howard said nothing.
Lovecraft looked at Glory, who merely shrugged her shoulders. He turned his gaze back to Howard. “Bob, I believe Miss McKenna is in dire need of a ladies’ room.”
Still, Howard failed to respond. He merely adjusted his grip on the steering wheel and clenched his jaw with a bit more force as the scabs under his bandage broke. Just ahead was a Mohawk gas station with the usual placards and a sign that advertised the cleanliness of their bathrooms. Lovecraft glanced at the gas gauge which, from his angle, read just shy of empty.
“Bob, unless you are operating this automobile on some miracle fuel unbeknownst to the rest of us, I believe we are in dire need of gasoline. From the pressure in my bladder, I wager we will attain an equilibrium of fluids as I dispose of the number of gallons we are likely to need.”
Without a word, Howard suddenly hit the brakes and twisted the wheel, skidding across a patch of gravel, just missing the Mohawk Indian signpost as they slid into the gas station and stopped in a cloud of dust. They were some fifty feet from the pumps. Howard opened his door and got out.
“Then get some gas, dammit,” he said through the open door. He stalked off toward the rest rooms.
Lovecraft slid over into the driver’s seat, pulled the door shut, and managed to make it to the pumps after a few alarming grinds from the gearbox. “Hello, there, my fine fellow,” he called to the attendant.
“Honor us with a full tank, if you please. And do not spare your efforts on the various windows.”
“I wasn’t kidding. I’m about ready to burst,” said Glory. “Excuse me.” She stepped out of the car and stretched, brushing her hair back with her fingers, and then she walked in the same direction Howard had taken a few moments earlier.
Lovecraft shut off the ignition and drummed his fingers along the top of the steering wheel. He noticed a dark crust along the top ridge and absentmindedly began to pick at it until he realized it was the blood from the cut on Howard’s hand.
“WOULD YOU MIND terribly explaining to me the purpose of this juvenile behavior? Bob?”
Howard finally erupted. “Damn it, HP. She-She…” He was so upset his words sputtered before he regained enough composure to continue. “She had-she was with him!”
“With whom? To what are you referring?”
“Smith. She-with-had-was with him last night.”
“I see. And for what particular reason does this trouble you so terribly much?”
“Any man worth his salt should be offended by this-this… It’s immoral!”
“Indeed,” said Lovecraft. “Fine words coming from a man who makes his living hawking salacious tales of a thieving barbarian who , frequently beds a bevy of women to whom he is hardly betrothed.”
“Now that ain’t fair, HP! This is the real world we’re in.”
“Indeed. And is it not in this real world that Miss McKenna’s past was known to us? We were well aware of her past… indiscretions long before we arrived at Klarkash-Ton’s cabin, were we not? And if you were gallant enough to offer her the privilege of our company, knowing her moral character, is it not hypocritical of you to be thus offended when her behavior is merely in keeping with what you assumed of her to begin with?”
Howard frowned. “Now you’re soundin’ like a damn lawyer,” he said, markedly calmer. “But I guess you’re right, ain’t ya? If she’s a whore to begin with, why should I get all fired up if she acts like one with Smith?”
“I can safely venture to say that I find her and Clark’s amorous activities even more distasteful than you do, but we have matters far more serious to attend to at present. Agreed?”
Howard had to admit that with all of the incredible happenings they had endured in the past few days, his jealousy was the very least of the problems confronting them. He was suddenly embarrassed by the thought, because, until that moment, it would not have occurred to him to think of himself as jealous of Smith and Glory. It would have been easier to keep his feelings in the realm of anger, but now that the idea had become conscious, he was left with an awkwardness he did not enjoy. “You’re right, HP,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
Lovecraft tapped the inside of the passenger door twice in an odd gesture of triumph. “Good. Then let me welcome you back to the world of the sane. And I assure you, that as far as I am concerned, there is nothing more to be said about this issue.” He grinned and pantomimed a parched throat. “Now, I believe we could all do with a round of Dr Pepper.”
Howard reached for his wallet but Lovecraft waved his hand, gesturing for him to put it away. “Don’t trouble yourself, Bob. If you see to the automobile’s refreshment, I shall see to ours.”
Howard was at first surprised by his penny-pinching friend’s generosity, but then he realized how much more the gas was costing him. As Lovecraft walked over to the ice box full of sodas by the garage, he called after him, “Hey, HP! You sure you ain’t been possessed?”
Lovecraft looked back in mock indignation as he fished through his trouser pockets for change.
WHEN GLORY RETURNED from the rest room and defiantly opened the passenger door to return to her seat, she found Lovecraft and Howard loitering together at the back bumper, enjoying their bottles of Dr Pepper. She sensed that something had passed; the atmosphere was suddenly relaxed once again between the two men. While the attendant was rather ineffectively squeegeeing the dirty windows’ she joined them.
“Here, Glory,” said Howard, holding an open bottle for her as if it were a peace offering. “We saved you one.”
She hesitated, but then decided to take it in good faith. “Why, thank you kindly, Bob.”
Howard glanced back and forth between Glory’s piercing green eyes and Lovecraft’s somewhat smug expression. Lovecraft took it as some sort of signal and walked over to the ice box again to talk to the fat mechanic. It took a moment more for Howard to summon his resolve. “I’m-I want to apologize for my behavior today,” he said finally. “I know it ain’t my place to pass judgment…”
“Well, damned if you aren’t right about that.”
Howard left his sentence incomplete and paid the attendant’
Lovecraft returned with another round of sodas and passed them out. He sensed the remaining tension between Howard and Glory and decided to divert attention from it. “I’m given to understand from that rather loquacious gentleman in overalls that there is an establishment called Tandy’s Diner approximately two miles down the road. He claimed this establishment offers the ‘meanest chili east or west of the Pecos,’ and from his tone, I took it to be a rather meaningful boast.”,