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Authors: Fredric Brown
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ask one, if she sounded friendly enough and in the mood, that would be time enough to suggest another dinner. Right now the ice was thin, very thin. I walked carefully.
I didn’t even try to talk her into another drink, just then. I called for the check and paid it and we went out into the warm night, bright with stars and a moon that looked low enough to toss pebbles at.
An attendant brought the Linc. He glanced back at it as he got out. “Mister, are you sure you got an engine in that? I couldn’t hear it.” I gave him a dollar bill. We got in the car and Robin sat away from me, over on her side of the wide seat.
I ran down the window on my side of the car as I drove and the rush of air felt cool and good. I drove straight to Robin’s. I got out my side of the car and went around to open the door for Robin, but she was already out of the car and walking toward the door of the building, her heels clicking sharply on the sidewalk in the quiet evening.
I followed and at the door she turned, her hand on the knob. I was a few steps away, still walking toward her. I stopped as though I’d run into a wall for the street light shone on her face and there was fear there, almost terror.
And she was looking at me, not at anything behind or beyond me.
I found my voice and said, “Robin, what on earth—”
Then her face was composed again. Could I possibly have imagined what I’d seen there a second ago? Could it have been a momentary hallucination, a trick my vision had played on me?
“Good night, Rod.” Her voice was cool and firm, her face impassive. “Thank you for the dinner.”
She opened the door and went inside. I stood there.
After a while I got into the car again.
I didn’t head for home; I didn’t want to go there. I just drove, trying to think, trying to tell myself that what I’d seen had been my imagination, only my imagination.
Or had a mask slipped? Was Robin
afraid?
of
me?
In God’s name, what had I been during our marriage?
I drove for a long time through the moonlight, so bright I could have driven with parking lights. I don’t know what time I got home. I set the alarm for eight so I could make my nine-thirty appointment with Arch to see Hennig, but I must have set the hand of the alarm dial without noticing the time hands.
Nor do I know how long I lay awake, but it must have been a long time for the windows were faintly visible gray rectangles the last time I saw them in my twistings and turnings.
CHAPTER 5
A RCH was waiting in a booth in the drugstore when I got there, a cup of coffee already in front of him. He was wearing sport clothes and looked more like a high school sophomore than ever. It was hard to believe that he was older than I, five years older.
He waved at me and grinned as I came across the aisle and slid into a seat across from him. Then his grin faded. He said, “You don’t look so good.”
“I am not so good,” I told him. “I feel like hell.”
“What’s wrong, Rod?”
“Nothing, I guess. I couldn’t sleep, that’s all. So I’m tired.”
“Sorry I asked you to come down here then. It’s not really necessary for you to be here; I just thought it would be better if you were, in case.”
A waitress came over and I ordered coffee and doughnuts and then turned back to Arch. “What’s it about? Your appointment, I mean.”
“Just want to get an advance against the estate. Some money to live on until we get the bulk of it. And—I don’t know—Hennig might want your agreement on that.”
“It’s okay by me, Arch,” I said. “How much are you asking for?”
“A couple of thousand. I can get by on that for sixmonths or so and if the estate isn’t settled by then, it’ll be nearly enough stabilized that I can get another advance. Listen, why don’t you get one? The amount involved is big enough so that old Hennig oughtn’t to quibble on giving each of us a couple of grand.”
“What the hell would I do with a couple of
I didn’t even try to talk her into another drink, just then. I called for the check and paid it and we went out into the warm night, bright with stars and a moon that looked low enough to toss pebbles at.
An attendant brought the Linc. He glanced back at it as he got out. “Mister, are you sure you got an engine in that? I couldn’t hear it.” I gave him a dollar bill. We got in the car and Robin sat away from me, over on her side of the wide seat.
I ran down the window on my side of the car as I drove and the rush of air felt cool and good. I drove straight to Robin’s. I got out my side of the car and went around to open the door for Robin, but she was already out of the car and walking toward the door of the building, her heels clicking sharply on the sidewalk in the quiet evening.
I followed and at the door she turned, her hand on the knob. I was a few steps away, still walking toward her. I stopped as though I’d run into a wall for the street light shone on her face and there was fear there, almost terror.
And she was looking at me, not at anything behind or beyond me.
I found my voice and said, “Robin, what on earth—”
Then her face was composed again. Could I possibly have imagined what I’d seen there a second ago? Could it have been a momentary hallucination, a trick my vision had played on me?
“Good night, Rod.” Her voice was cool and firm, her face impassive. “Thank you for the dinner.”
She opened the door and went inside. I stood there.
After a while I got into the car again.
I didn’t head for home; I didn’t want to go there. I just drove, trying to think, trying to tell myself that what I’d seen had been my imagination, only my imagination.
Or had a mask slipped? Was Robin
afraid?
of
me?
In God’s name, what had I been during our marriage?
I drove for a long time through the moonlight, so bright I could have driven with parking lights. I don’t know what time I got home. I set the alarm for eight so I could make my nine-thirty appointment with Arch to see Hennig, but I must have set the hand of the alarm dial without noticing the time hands.
Nor do I know how long I lay awake, but it must have been a long time for the windows were faintly visible gray rectangles the last time I saw them in my twistings and turnings.
CHAPTER 5
A RCH was waiting in a booth in the drugstore when I got there, a cup of coffee already in front of him. He was wearing sport clothes and looked more like a high school sophomore than ever. It was hard to believe that he was older than I, five years older.
He waved at me and grinned as I came across the aisle and slid into a seat across from him. Then his grin faded. He said, “You don’t look so good.”
“I am not so good,” I told him. “I feel like hell.”
“What’s wrong, Rod?”
“Nothing, I guess. I couldn’t sleep, that’s all. So I’m tired.”
“Sorry I asked you to come down here then. It’s not really necessary for you to be here; I just thought it would be better if you were, in case.”
A waitress came over and I ordered coffee and doughnuts and then turned back to Arch. “What’s it about? Your appointment, I mean.”
“Just want to get an advance against the estate. Some money to live on until we get the bulk of it. And—I don’t know—Hennig might want your agreement on that.”
“It’s okay by me, Arch,” I said. “How much are you asking for?”
“A couple of thousand. I can get by on that for sixmonths or so and if the estate isn’t settled by then, it’ll be nearly enough stabilized that I can get another advance. Listen, why don’t you get one? The amount involved is big enough so that old Hennig oughtn’t to quibble on giving each of us a couple of grand.”
“What the hell would I do with a couple of
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