"The h.e.l.l you did!"
She shrugged. "You pay your dollar and you turn up for two meetings and they leave you alone. It kept my job for another three months. What of it?"
"Uh, wellI"m sorry you did it; that"s all. Forget it.
Meade, the water is over the curbs out there."
"You had better stay here overnight."
"Mmm . . . I don"t like to leave "Entropy" parked out in this stuff all night. Meade?"
"Yes, Potty?"
"We"re both out of jobs. How would you like to duck north into the Mojave and find a dry spot?"
"I"d love it. But look, Pottyis this a proposal, or just a proposition?"
"Don"t pull that "either-or" stuff on me. It"s just a sugges- tion for a vacation. Do you want to take a chaperone?"
XT.
No.
"Then pack a bag."
"Right away. But look, Potipharpack a bag how? Are you trying to tell me it"s time to jumpP"
He faced her, then looked back at the window. "I don"t know," he said slowly, "but this rain might go on quite a while. Don"t take anything you don"t have to havebut don"t leave anything behind you can"t get along without."
He repossessed his clothing from Mrs. Megeath while
Meade was upstairs, She came down dressed in slacks and carrying two large bags; under one arm was a battered and rakish Teddy bear. "This is Winnie."
"Winnie the Pooh?"
"No, Winnie Churchill. When I feel bad he promises me
"blood, toil, tears, and sweat"; then I feel better. You said to bring anything I couldn"t do without?" She looked at him anxiously.
"Right." He took the bags. Mrs. Megeath had seemed satisfied with his explanation that they were going to visit his (mythical) aunt in Bakersfield before looking for jobs; nevertheless she embarra.s.sed him by kissing him good-by and telling him to "take care of my little girl."
Santa Monica Boulevard was blocked off from use. While stalled in traffic in Beverly Hills he fiddled with the car radio, getting squawks and crackling noises, then finally one station nearby: "in effect," a harsh, high, staccato voice was saying, "the Kremlin has given us till sundown to get out of town. This is your New York Reporter, who thinks that in days like these every American must personally keep his powder dry. And now for a word from" Breen switched it off and glanced at her face. "Don"t worry," he said.
"They"ve been talking that way for years,"
"You think they are bluffing?"
"I didn"t say that. I said, "don"t worry." "
But his own packing, with her help, was clearly on a
"Survival Kit" basiscanned goods, all his warm clothing, a sporting rifle he had not fired in over two years, a first-aid kit and the contents of his medicine chest. He dumped the stuff from his desk into a carton, shoved it into the back seat along with cans and books and coats and covered the plunder with all the blankets in the house. They went back up the rickety stairs for a last check.
"Pottywhere"s your chart?"
"Rolled up on the back seat shelf. I guess that"s allhey, wait a minutel" He went to a shelf over his desk and began taking down small, sober-looking magazines. "I dern near left behind my file of The Western Astronomer and of the
Proceedings of the Variable Star a.s.sociation."
"Why take them?"
"Hub? I must be nearly a year behind on both of them.
Now maybe I"ll have time to read."
"Hmm . . . Potty, watching you read professional journals is not my notion of a vacation."
"Quiet, womani You took Winnie; I take these."
She shut up and helped him. He cast a longing eye at his electric calculator but decided it was too much like the
White Knight"s mouse trap. He could get by with his slide rule.
As the car splashed out into the street she said, "Potty, how are you fixed for cash?"
"Hub? Okay, I guess."
"I mean, leaving while the banks are closed and every- thing." She held up her purse. "Here"s my bank. It isn"t much, but we can use it."
He smiled and patted her knee. "Stout fellow! 1m sitting on my bank; I started turning everything to cash about the first of the year."
"Oh. I closed out my bank account right after we met."
"You did? You must have taken my maunderings seri- ously."
"I always take you seriously."
Mint Canyon was a five-mile-an-hour nightmare, with visibility limited to the tail lights of the truck ahead. When they stopped for coffee at Halfway, they confirmed what seemed evident: Cajon Pa.s.s was closed and long-haul traffic for Route 66 was being detoured through the secondary pa.s.s. At long, long last they reached the Victorville cut-off and lost some of the traffica good thing, as the windshield wiper on his side had quit working and they were driving by the committee system. Just short of Lancaster she said suddenly, "Potty, is this buggy equipped with a snorkel?"
"Nope."
"Then we had better stop. But I see a light off the road."
The light was an auto court. Meade settled the matter of economy versus convention by signing the book herself; they were placed in one cabin. He saw that it had twin beds and let the matter ride. Meade went to bed with her
Teddy bear without even asking to be kissed goodnight. It was already gray, wet dawn.
They got up in the late afternoon and decided to stay over one more night, then push north toward Bakersfield.