Chapter 8

When Bernie came out of the bathroom, Mike had returned and was sitting on the couch next to Sarah. The big man was talking.

"Sarah has probably told you her daddy here is a policeman. Ah been on the force of the department of law and order for the city of Macon, Georgia, for twenty-two years. Ten of those years Ah been a captain on that force and the last two years Ah been a private investigator for the citizens' patrol of that city. So when Ah talk about laws and what's legal, you can be sure Ah know what the hell Ah'm talkin' about."

Bernie wasn't listening. He was busy watching Mike. He studied the boy's face, the liquid eyes that were alive as though they actually saw things. He looked at the boy's mouth that grinned so easily. There's so muck you don't know, he thought, and so much I wanted to tell you.

"What are you saying?" Rose said suddenly, and Bernie snapped back to reality.

"Ah ain't sayin' nothing, Rose," Cy said, raising a hand in a magnanimous gesture. "Ah ain't sayin' nothing about signing papers with false ages on them or anything like that. Ah'm only sayin' that Ah'm stayin' at the Bel-Plaines Motel for one more day. Ah'm sayin' that at three-thirty A.M. of that day Ah'll be checkin' out of the Bel-Plaines Motel and stepping onto a direct flight to Macon, Georgia. And Ah'm sayin' that this little gal here will be on that plane also in a direct flight to Macon, Georgia. That is the statement of fact Ah'm making!"

"Daddy you can't!" Sarah said.

"You just sit there and be quiet, Sarah baby. Ah know what Ah can do."

"I won't go!"

"Ah believe you will."

"You can't make me go!"

"Ah don't make statements unless Ah know what Ah'm talkin' about," Cy said, suddenly angered. "There ain't no marriage here. There ain't nothin' legal here. And there ain't no reason why we couldn't get a nice simple annulment-even if we needed it."

"Yes, there is!"

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean we gotta stay married," Sarah shouted. " 'Cause I'm gonna have a baby. That's what I mean!"

Bernie winced. Suddenly the game was over. Woman's troubles! That's what Mike had called it and Bernie remembered what he had said in return. Why couldn't you confide in me, he thought. There's so much you wanted to tell me. Why didn't you tell me? Bernie knew why, and he felt ashamed.

"Honey," Rose said, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Are you sure about that, girl?"

"Honey, why didn't you tell me? They don't tell me anything!"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Sarah had stopped playing too. She sat rigid, oblivious of her mother's arms holding her and her mother's hand stroking her long honey-colored hair. She was the goddess of fertility, carved of stone, smug, obese with life, and she smiled in the knowledge of this weapon inside her-a weapon they had planted together, she and Mike, while the plump partridge cackled to her radio parts and the child-man Bernie sat in his kitchen watching the world go by.

"Mike took me to the doctor and he said I was pregnant," Sarah said. "And I was happy about it. And Mike was, too! And the doctor shook hands with Mike and he said he was happy for us."

"Well now," Cy said finally, "Ain't that nice? Ain't that real nice and simple!" He chuckled. "Gonna have a baby. Don't seem like they been married hardly long enough. What is it, three weeks now? 'Course, Ah ain't much good at figuring-" He turned to Mike. "You ain't been doin' a little playing around, maybe? Kinda warmin' up for the honeymoon, like they say?"

"Ah don't think that's necessary," Rose said.

"'Course, it's necessary!" His eyes suddenly seared her. "Ah like to know the facts, that's all!" He turned his attention back to Mike. "Ain't that right? Hey, I'm talkin' to you!" He pointed to Mike who only stared back at him from the couch. "That boy don't say much, but he sure is eloquent in other ways!"

"Cy!"

"Not that Ah blame him. Hell, that's the nicest little piece a man could find in a month of Sundays." He grinned hard at Mike. "Ain't that right, Son?"

"Ah won't stand-"

"And where were you when all this punchin' was going on, huh?" Cy suddenly spat the words at Rose, cutting her off. "Huh? With your hair all painted the color it used to be and that fancy garage with the fancy lamps, what kinda mother-daughter act you been runnin' in this town? Huh?"

Rose choked off a cry with her hands that covered her face and shrank back on the couch. But Bernie heard the cry. It went through him and made him shake with fury. Suddenly his fists doubled and his knuckles went white.

"That's enough!" Bernie said and his voice was a command. "Enough!"

The big man looked at Bernie's fists, then his eyes moved up Bernie's arms and over his chest and up over the cords in his throat that strained against his skin and into his eyes-and he grinned. Then his mouth formed a single word and Bernie was horrified. The man turned from him, still grinning.

"Ah swear," the man said and suddenly he was laughing, pointing at Rose who huddled on the couch, her hands pressed against her face. "Boys, it's been a long time since Ah seen that woman so riled up. Ah swear, it takes nothin' but ole Cy to get that Georgia blood poundin'!"

He threw up his arms. "Hell, you know me, honey, Ah'm just blowin' off steam. Ain't Ah?" He laughed. "But Ah know when Ah'm licked. Don't Ah always? And Ah'll tell you what we're gonna do. Yes, sir, before Ah get on that plane and leave this old town, we're gonna go out on this town and have ourselves a big feed! How's that sound?"

Bernie shook his head, horrified. His fists suddenly felt ridiculous and he couldn't keep them tight.

"Yes, sir, we're gonna have that feed right now." Cy turned to Mike. "Now, come on, boy, stop that little woman from cryin' before she shakes that baby out before it's due!"

Mike grinned at this, feeling the tension break. He glanced at Bernie, who stared at him in silent warning, but it was lost.

"And how about you, gal?" Cy said to Rose. "You got all that poison squeezed outta you? Huh?" He laughed.

"Oh!" Rose gasped, beginning to melt.

"Then suppose you turn that energy to motion, Rose honey, and pile those two kids in the car while Ah shake the hand of this gentleman here."

Bernie backed away, still frowning. He looked past the big man. They were leaving. He thought of calling out to them. He thought of giving his warning even though he didn't know what the hell he wanted to warn them about. He thought of shouting, but even while he thought of it they were gone. He reached out instead and accepted the hand that demanded his.

"Ah'm doing this now because I may not be seeing you again," Cy said. "But it's been a pleasure meetin' and talkin' with you."

Bernie nodded.

At the doorway, the man turned back. He was grinning. "Ah hope the next time we meet it'll be under different circumstances. Ah believe you can count on that to be a fact."

Bernie nodded because he believed it. When his doorway was finally free, he moved to it and snapped the lock. He looked around the room, feeling the panic that had started from the man's single unspoken word to him.

Finally he dared leave the door and found the bottle in his cupboard. He poured some liquor into the glass and drank it quickly. He poured another and stared into the glass and suddenly he was talking to Madge. It was a long time ago, but it was now and he stared into the glass and he was horrified.

"It's not true," Bernie said desperately. "It can't be!"