Her expression suddenly changed, she swung on me-and I thought the top of my head was coming off. "And that," she said in a tense, hoarse whisper, "pays you back the one I got from your girlfriend!"
My ears were ringing and my eyes did not want to focus. If I had not seen her bare palm, I would have sworn that she had used at least a two-by-four.
She looked at me, wary and defiant, not the least apologetic-angry, rather, if dilated nostrils meant anything. I raised a hand and she tensed-but I just wanted to touch my stinging cheek. It was very sore. "She's not my girlfriend," I said lamely.
We eyed each other and simultaneously burst out laughing. She put both her hands on my shoulders and let her head collapse on my right one, still laughing. "Sam," she managed to say, "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done it-not to you, Sam. At least I shouldn't have slapped you so hard."
"The devil you're sorry," I growled, "but you shouldn't have put English on it. You damn near took the hide off."
"Poor Sam!" She reached up and touched it; it hurt. "She's really not your girlfriend?"
"No, worse luck. But not from lack of my trying."
"I'm sure it wasn't. Who is your girlfriend, Sam?" The words seem coquettish; she did not make them so.
"You are, you vixen!"
"Yes," she said comfortably, "I am-if you'll have me. I told you that before. And I meant it. Bought and paid for."
She was waiting to be kissed; I pushed her away. "Confound it, woman, I don't want you 'bought and paid for'."
It did not faze her. "I put it badly. Paid for-but not bought. I'm here because I want to be here. Now will you kiss me, please?"
So help me, up to that moment she had not turned on the sex, not really. When she saw that the answer was yes, she did so and it was like summer sun coming out from a cloud. That is inadequate but it will have to do.
She had kissed me once before; this time she kissed me. The French are smart; they have two words for it . . . this was the other one. I felt myself sinking into a warm golden haze and I did not ever want to come up.
Finally I had to break and gasped. "I think I'll sit down for a minute."
She said, "Thank you, Sam," and let me.
"Mary," I said presently, "Mary, my dear, there is something you possibly could do for me."
"Yes?" she said eagerly.
"Tell me how in the name of Ned a person gets anything to eat around here? I'm starved. No breakfast."
She looked startled; I suppose she had expected something else. But she answered, "Why, certainly!"
I don't know where she went nor how she did it. She may have butted into the White House pantry and helped herself. But she returned in a few minutes with a tray of sandwiches and two bottles of beer. Corned beef and rye put the roses back in my cheeks. I was cleaning up my third when I said, "Mary, how long do you figure that meeting will last?"
"Let me see," she answered, "fourteen people, including the Old Man. I give it a minimum of two hours. Why?"
"In that case," I said, swallowing the last bite, "we have time to duck out of here, find a registry office, get married, and get back before the Old Man misses us."
She did not answer and she did not look at me. Instead she stared at the bubbles in her beer. "Well?" I insisted.
She raised her eyes. "I'll do it if you say so. I'm not welshing. But I'm not going to start out by lying to you. I would rather we didn't."
"You don't want to marry me?"
"Sam, I don't think you are ready to get married."
"Speak for yourself!"
"Don't be angry, my dear. I'm not holding out-honest. You can have me with or without a contract, anywhere, anywhen, anyway. But you don't know me yet. Get acquainted with me; you might change your mind."
"I'm not in the habit of changing my mind." She glanced up without answering, then looked away sadly. I felt my face get hot. "That was a very special circumstance," I protested. "It could not happen to us again in a hundred years. That wasn't really me talking; it was-"
She stopped me. "I know, Sam. And now you want to prove to me that it didn't really happen or at least that you are sure of your own mind now. But you don't have to prove anything. I won't run out on you and I don't mistrust you. Take me away on a weekend; better yet, move into my apartment. If you find that I wear well, there's always time to make me what great grandmother called an 'honest woman', heaven knows why."
I must have looked sullen; I felt so. She put a hand on mine and said seriously, "Take a look at the map, Sam."
I turned my head and looked. Red as ever, or more so-it seemed to me that the danger zone around El Paso had increased. She went on, "Let's get this mess cleaned up first, dear. Then, if you still want to, ask me again. In the meantime, you can have the privileges without the responsibilities."
What could be fairer than that? The only trouble was that it was not the way I wanted it. Why will a man who has been avoiding marriage like the plague suddenly decide that nothing less will suit him? I had seen it happen a hundred times and never understood it; now I was doing it myself.
Mary had to go back on duty as soon as the meeting was over. The Old Man collared me and took me for a walk. Yes, a walk, though we went only as far as the Baruch Memorial Bench. There he sat down, fiddled with his pipe, and stared into space. The day was as muggy as only Washington can get, but the park was almost deserted. People were not yet used to Schedule Bare Back.
He said, "Schedule Counter Blast starts at midnight."
I said nothing; questioning him was useless.
Presently he added, "We swoop down on every relay station, broadcast station, newspaper office, and Western Union office in 'Zone Red'."
"Sounds good," I answered. "How many men does it take?"
He did not answer; instead he said, "I don't like it. I don't like it a little bit."
"Huh?"
"See here, bub-the President went on the channels and told everybody to peel off their shirts. We find that the message did not get through into infected territory. What's the next logical development?"
I shrugged. "Schedule Counter Blast, I suppose."
"That hasn't happened yet. Think, it has been more than twenty-four hours: what should have happened and hasn't?"
"Should I know?"
"You should, if you are ever going to amount to anything on your own. Here-" He handed me a combo key. "Scoot out to Kansas City and take a looksee. Stay away from comm stations, cops, and-shucks, you know their attack points better than I do. Stay away from them. Take a look at anything else. And don't get caught." He looked at his finger and added, "Be back here a half hour before midnight, or sooner. Get going."
"A lot of time you allow me to case a whole city," I complained. "It will take nearly three hours just to drive to Kansas City."
"More than three hours," he answered. "Don't attract attention by picking up a ticket."
"You know dam well I'm a careful driver."
"Move."
So I moved, stopping by the White House to pick up my kit. I wasted ten minutes convincing a new guard that I really had been there overnight and actually had possessions to pick up.
The combo was to the car we had come down in; I picked it up at Rock Creek Park platform. Traffic was light and I commented on it to the dispatcher as I handed in the combo. "Freight and commercial carriers are grounded," he answered. "The emergency-you got a military clearance?"