by Tom Epperson
I wasn’t sitting any longer on a red leather stool, but on Cloud Number Nine.
I ordered a cup of coffee from Ruthana.
Half a chocolate cake sat on the counter under a glass cover. A fly landed on the cover, crawled around on it for a while, then just settled down to stare at the cake.
Several minutes passed. Neither Darla nor Sophie came back. I got a check from Ruthana, paid up, and went into the trading post.
Immediately, Sophie came running up to me with a can in her hand.
“Could I get this?”
I looked at the label.
“Rattlesnake eggs? What do you need rattlesnake eggs for?”
She rolled her eyes as if the answer was obvious.
“Please?”
“Okay.” I looked around. Didn’t see Darla anywhere. “Do me a favor? I think Darla’s in the ladies’ room. Would you go in there and check on her? Just make sure she’s all right? In the meantime, I’ll pay for…this.”
“Okay.”
Sophie took off. I gave the can to the pimply girl at the cash register.
“That’ll be fifty-nine cents.”
I dug in my pocket for some change.
“The last place I got rattlesnake eggs, it wasn’t nearly that much.”
“Oh really?” and then she saw I was kidding and she laughed. She took my money and gave me a penny back.
“That lady you was with?”
“Yeah?”
“She asked me to give you this.”
She handed me a postcard. On it was a picture of the Petrified Forest. I stared at it, mystified, then turned it over.
Dear Danny—
The best thing I can do for you is just get out of your hair. I mean it. I’m bad news for you. Take care of the kid. She’s swell. And the cat too.
I can’t believe what you did for me. I’ll always remember you. But I hope you forget me.
Love,
Darla
“Did you see where she went?” I asked the girl.
“Yeah.” She motioned toward the window. Toward the road. “She went off with that fella that had the Zephyr.”
“What fella?”
“He was in here earlier. When you was over there looking at the mummy, he was looking at it too. Nearly standing right next to you. You didn’t see him?”
I shook my head. Sophie came back. “I can’t find her anywhere,” she said.
“I know.” I handed her the rattlesnake eggs. “Let’s go.”
We walked outside. The spot where the Zephyr had been parked was empty. I looked at Route 66. I wondered which way they had gone. I could have asked the girl. But I decided not to.
“Darla’s gone, Sophie. She’s not coming back.”
“Gone? What do you mean?”
“She got a ride with somebody. She’s decided to go off on her own. So it’s just you and me now.”
Sophie stood there, and thought about it, and then said: “And Tinker.”
“Right. And Tinker.”
She was looking up at me very solemnly. I reached down, mussed up her hair a little. “Ready?”
She nodded. We got in the car, and pulled back on the road. We drove in silence. Sophie unwrapped some bubble gum.
It was late in the day, and the sun was low and behind us now. We passed through a magical, mysterious landscape of vast vistas, of mesas and buttes and faraway mountains. There were all kinds of colors in the land and the sky, pinks and yellows and blues and browns and grays and violets and greens, and the land seemed to reflect the sky and the sky, the land.
Sophie had been letting Dulwich’s cat out of her cage and she had the run of the car. Now she curled up between Sophie and me, and began to doze off.
After a while we saw dark clouds off to the north. Pretty soon they produced gray dragging curtains of rain, and then a spectacular lightning bolt that went all the way down to the ground. But here it was still bright sunshine. It was like the desert was putting on a show just for us.
I thought about Darla, and thought and thought about her, and decided it was okay. After all, it was Gwynnie, whoever she was, that I really loved. And when I got to New York I’d find her and try to win her back from my best friend, whoever he was. Or maybe I wouldn’t bother. Maybe I didn’t love anybody anymore, except Dulwich, who was dead, and Sophie, who was blowing enormous pink bubbles of gum right beside me.
But suddenly Sophie was covering her face with her hands, and making sobbing, sniffling noises. I was appalled.
“Sophie! Sophie, what’s the matter?”
“I miss my mummy!” she wailed. Then her hands dropped, and I saw her dry eyes and sly grin.
“Fooled you.”
“Hey,” I said. “Don’t get wise, BB eyes.”
She giggled. The road stretched out before us. And that’s about all I’ve got to say.
Permissions
“The Carioca.” Words and Music by Gus Kahn, Edward Eliscu and Vincent Youmans. © 1933 (Renewed) T.B. Harms Co.; © 1933 (Renewed) LSQ Music Company (used by permission). Rights for the Extended Renewal Term in the United States controlled by WB Music Corp., Gilbert Keyes Music and LSQ Music Co. Rights outside the United States controlled by WB Music Corp. and Polygram International Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission of Alfred Publishing Co., Inc.
“Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries” (From George White’s Scandals). Words by Lew Brown. Music by Ray Henderson. © 1931 (Renewed) by Desylva, Brown and Henderson, Inc. Rights for the Extended Renewal Term in the U.S. controlled by Ray Henderson Music Company and Chappell & Co. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission of Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. Used by Permission of Redwood Music Ltd. (Carlin) London NW1 8BD for the Commonwealth of Nations, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Africa and Spain.
“Forty Second Street” (from 42nd Street). Words by Al Dubin. Music by Harry Warren. © 1932 (Renewed) Warner Bros., Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission of Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. Reproduced by permission of B. Feldman and Co. Ltd, London, W8 5SW. Used by permission of Albert Music for Australia and New Zealand.
“I Saw Stars.” Words and music by Al Goodhart, Al Hoffman and Maurice Sigler. © 1934 (Renewed) Robbins Catalogue Inc. and Al Hoffman Songs, Inc. Rights for EMI Robbins Catalogue Inc. assigned to EMI Catalogue Partnership. All Rights Controlled and Administered by EMI Robbins Catalogue Inc. and Al Hoffman Songs, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights for Al Hoffman Songs, Inc., administered by Music Sales Corporation. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted by Permission.
“Stardust.” Music by Hoagy Carmichael. Words by Mitchell Parish. French translation by Yvette Baruch. © 1929 (Renewed) EMI Mills Music Inc. and Hoagy Publishing Company in the USA. All rights outside the USA controlled by EMI Mills Music, Inc. (Publishing) and Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. (Print) All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. “Stardust” by Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish. © 1929, 1930 by Songs of Peer, Ltd. Copyright Renewed. Used by Permission. For Australia and New Zealand: EMI Davis Music Australia Pty Limited (ABN 37 000 006 799) PO Box 35, Pyrmont, NSW 2009, Australia. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
“One Night of Love.” Words by Gus Kahn. Music by Victor Schertzinger. Copyright © 1934 by Bourne Co. Copyright Renewed. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured ASCAP.
“Fight On” by Milo Sweet and Glen Grant. © 1928 (Renewed) Edwin H. Morris & Company, A Division of MPL Music Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
«——THE END——»
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