ma’am?” the driver asked.
She almost said Mobile, but she laughed and said, “Birmingham,” instead, which was where her sister lived. “But I’d like to go to Alistaire first.” Alistaire was just a little town in northern Louisiana where she’d stayed overnight once with her parents when she was a child, and she’d planned on stopping there for a couple of hours on her way to Birmingham. She paid with the 10-dollar bill she’d taken from Clark’s pocket that morning. Besides that, she had nine dollars saved out of grocery money when Clark had used to let her go with the Trelawneys to Etienne Station.
The bus was so crowded, there were three or four people standing, but when she walked up the aisle, a young man in blue overalls got right up and gave her his seat. “Thank you, sir,” she said.
“You’re welcome, ma’am,” the young man said, and stood in the aisle beside her.
The woman next to her had a little boy asleep in her lap. His head pressed roundly against Geraldine’s thigh. In a moment, she thought, she would ask the woman a question about her child, she didn’t know what as yet. Loosening the imitation sable furpiece around her neck—she’d just realized from the dark blue splotch under the arm of the young man that it was really quite hot today—Geraldine settled back to enjoy the ride. She smiled up at the young man and he smiled back, and she thought: how nice everybody is on the bus and they know by looking at her she’s just as nice as they are. And what a relief it was, too, not to have Clark along, accusing her of wanting to sleep with the young man in blue overalls, just because she’d accepted his seat! She shook her head deploringly, felt a curl come undone over her ear, and casually tucked it back. And accusing her of flirting with Mr. Trelawney, when everybody knew Mrs. Trelawney was her best friend and always was along when they drove to town, which was the only time she ever saw him.
“ Women that sleep with ten men at a time never get pregnant! ” Clark’s voice boomed out from the privy before he banged the door to, and fidgeting, Geraldine leaned toward the woman beside her and asked, “Do you have many children?” and the woman gave her such a long, funny stare that Geraldine almost laughed out loud despite herself before the woman answered:
“Four. That’s enough.”
Geraldine nodded, and glanced up at the young man standing beside her who shifted and smiled down at her, showing pink gums and big white teeth with one upper molar missing. Young and shy and lonely, Geraldine thought, almost as fine as the young sailors in Mobile, only not so handsome as most, but she edged away fromhim nevertheless, because the blue overalls seemed to be rubbing against her shoulder in a way she didn’t like, or was she getting just as prudish as Clark? Oh yes, if they asked her any questions, she’d tell them what a prudish old maid Clark really was, not even fulfilling his marital duties, not that she cared, but she’d heard of a lot of women suing for divorce just for that. Then accusing her of not being able to have children! Everyone in Etienne Parish knew Clark was strange. He’d served a jail sentence for swindling a business partner when he was young, and not so long ago people couldn’t remember had been clapped in jail for preaching religion, but preaching like a maniac and nearly killing a man who had disagreed with him. Geraldine crossed her legs and pulled her skirt down.
The bus made her feel safe and powerful, as if she were in the center of a mountain, or awake in the center of a rather heavy, pleasant dream that would just keep on and on. She might stay on until her money gave out, then stop off and take a job somewhere. She’d go back to her own name, Geraldine Ann Lewis, plain and simple, and rent a little furnished apartment and potter around every evening cooking things, going to a movie maybe once a week and to church Sunday mornings, and be very
She almost said Mobile, but she laughed and said, “Birmingham,” instead, which was where her sister lived. “But I’d like to go to Alistaire first.” Alistaire was just a little town in northern Louisiana where she’d stayed overnight once with her parents when she was a child, and she’d planned on stopping there for a couple of hours on her way to Birmingham. She paid with the 10-dollar bill she’d taken from Clark’s pocket that morning. Besides that, she had nine dollars saved out of grocery money when Clark had used to let her go with the Trelawneys to Etienne Station.
The bus was so crowded, there were three or four people standing, but when she walked up the aisle, a young man in blue overalls got right up and gave her his seat. “Thank you, sir,” she said.
“You’re welcome, ma’am,” the young man said, and stood in the aisle beside her.
The woman next to her had a little boy asleep in her lap. His head pressed roundly against Geraldine’s thigh. In a moment, she thought, she would ask the woman a question about her child, she didn’t know what as yet. Loosening the imitation sable furpiece around her neck—she’d just realized from the dark blue splotch under the arm of the young man that it was really quite hot today—Geraldine settled back to enjoy the ride. She smiled up at the young man and he smiled back, and she thought: how nice everybody is on the bus and they know by looking at her she’s just as nice as they are. And what a relief it was, too, not to have Clark along, accusing her of wanting to sleep with the young man in blue overalls, just because she’d accepted his seat! She shook her head deploringly, felt a curl come undone over her ear, and casually tucked it back. And accusing her of flirting with Mr. Trelawney, when everybody knew Mrs. Trelawney was her best friend and always was along when they drove to town, which was the only time she ever saw him.
“ Women that sleep with ten men at a time never get pregnant! ” Clark’s voice boomed out from the privy before he banged the door to, and fidgeting, Geraldine leaned toward the woman beside her and asked, “Do you have many children?” and the woman gave her such a long, funny stare that Geraldine almost laughed out loud despite herself before the woman answered:
“Four. That’s enough.”
Geraldine nodded, and glanced up at the young man standing beside her who shifted and smiled down at her, showing pink gums and big white teeth with one upper molar missing. Young and shy and lonely, Geraldine thought, almost as fine as the young sailors in Mobile, only not so handsome as most, but she edged away fromhim nevertheless, because the blue overalls seemed to be rubbing against her shoulder in a way she didn’t like, or was she getting just as prudish as Clark? Oh yes, if they asked her any questions, she’d tell them what a prudish old maid Clark really was, not even fulfilling his marital duties, not that she cared, but she’d heard of a lot of women suing for divorce just for that. Then accusing her of not being able to have children! Everyone in Etienne Parish knew Clark was strange. He’d served a jail sentence for swindling a business partner when he was young, and not so long ago people couldn’t remember had been clapped in jail for preaching religion, but preaching like a maniac and nearly killing a man who had disagreed with him. Geraldine crossed her legs and pulled her skirt down.
The bus made her feel safe and powerful, as if she were in the center of a mountain, or awake in the center of a rather heavy, pleasant dream that would just keep on and on. She might stay on until her money gave out, then stop off and take a job somewhere. She’d go back to her own name, Geraldine Ann Lewis, plain and simple, and rent a little furnished apartment and potter around every evening cooking things, going to a movie maybe once a week and to church Sunday mornings, and be very
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