Chapter 9
Late the next morning she was awakened by the sound of a car pulling up in front of the house. She did not bother to see who it was and let herself come to full wakefulness slowly, savoring the last moments of sleep until she heard Mrs. Cartison climbing the stairs with heavy steps. Then she knew it was for her and she came awake quickly, wondering if it was Clem.
She knew it was not he when she saw the expression on Mrs. Cartison's face and she guessed it was Earl.
"There's a man to see you," Mrs. Cartison said.
"Man" was an expression of disapproval in Mrs. Cartison's language and Amy knew it was Earl.
"Let him wait," she said. "Tell him I'll be down soon."
Mrs. Cartison smiled a smile of pleased malice, nodded briskly and went out. At the door she halted and turned back.
"There's no rush," she said quietly. "I'm in no hurry."
Amy giggled and for the first time since her arrival in Millersville she thought she detected a hint of humor in Mrs. Cartison's cold eyes. Amy guessed that she must have liked the idea of Earl cooling his heels under her watchful eye. She took her time getting washed and dressed and it was more than half an hour before she got downstairs. Earl looked angry.
Amy faced him with a sneer. She wasn't having any of that this morning.
"What took you so long?" he demanded.
Her eyes raked him coldly.
"Maybe you better go outside and come in again," she snapped. "Try to see if you left your manners out on the porch."
Earl's mouth turned hard, but he looked around uncertainly to see if Mrs. Cartison was there. She was, though he couldn't tell if she had heard anything. "I want to talk to you," he said. She smiled coolly.
"Not before breakfast," she said with an infuriating smile. "I don't know if Mrs. Cartison will invite you to coffee."
Mrs. Cartison took the hint.
"I can't be serving anyone but my boarders," she said in her cold voice.
Amy enjoyed Earl's scowl, but as she went in she told him he could wait for her up in her room. Without saying anything he went up. Amy took her time with breakfast and she was amused by Mrs. Cartison's enjoyment of her cavalier treatment of Earl.
"He was around here last night looking for you," Mrs. Cartison confided in her. "What time?"
"About half an hour after you left with that officer."
Amy didn't want to give Mrs. Cartison the satisfaction of asking whether Earl knew if she had gone out with Clem, but she would have liked to know. She guessed that he did know and she felt a little nervous that he should know. Mrs. Cartison was watching her with a calculating look on her face and Amy tried carefully not to show her feelings about the matter. She knew that her landlady would love to know just what her relations were with Earl and Amy did not quite know what might happen if she should know. Since Mrs. Cartison volunteered no information, she was still not sure when she went up to her room to see Earl.
He was angry and he lost no time in showing it to her.
"What's the idea of the grandstand play in front of that dame?" he demanded.
She did not answer him and waited for him to come to the point.
"She was lapping it up," he continued, fuming. He glared at her as she shrugged her shoulders indifferently. Amy caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and was pleased that she did not show her feelings.
"I heard you had a date last night," Earl said, coming to a stop directly in front of her.
She looked up into his face and smiled placatingly.
"I had dinner," she said.
"I heard it was a soldier," he accused.
"The lieutenant," she explained. "The one who was in charge of the Military Police when they broke up the fight."
"He didn't waste any time getting around here."
She wondered if he was really jealous or just asserting his prior rights.
"He came yesterday morning," she continued, a little annoyed with herself for explaining so timidly. "He wanted a statement on that soldier who started the battle. I had to go out to camp with him and when he came back he asked me for a date for dinner. That's all."
He looked at her suspiciously. "I know those GIs," he said insultingly. "I don't have to take that from you," she said angrily.
He tried to stare her down, but Amy wasn't letting any of that happen now. She was glad to be angry, wanting to forget the past few moments when she had tried to placate him.
"Don't think you can play around," he said.
She got up and stood directly in front of him. Her blue eyes glittered hotly and her breath came fast, forcing her breasts hard against her flimsy dress.
"I don't want to hear any more about it," she hissed.
"Don't give me any of that," he said sharply. "Don't think you can double-cross me. I can't stand a two-timing dame. I got you everything and I'm playing square with you. I'll bet you were wearing one of the dresses I bought you when you went out with this punk of a lobie."
"You want it back?"
She walked to the closet, yanked the suit off the hanger and threw it at him. It landed across his chest and crumpled down to the floor. Earl didn't make a move, letting it fall.
"I know you and your dinner dates," he said sneeringly.
Amy went white.
"You're cheap," she said almost in a whisper. "I didn't think anyone could be so cheap. I won't take that kind of talk from you and you can get out right now."
That brough him up suddenly and Amy could see him hesitate. His quick change in attitude, however, far from mollifying her, roused her anger to a new pitch.
"Cheap," she shrilled. "That's all you are but a cheap small-town angle-worker. Do you think I'm one of those honkytonk girls you have out at your place? I don't go up to back rooms with soldiers or with anybody else. Take your damned stuff and get yourself out of here with it."
She flung open the closet door, stripped the clothes from the hangers and threw them at him. When she had cleaned out the closet she started with the shoes, throwing them at him. One hit him in the chest and fell to the floor amid the pile of clothes. He was dumbfounded by her fury and his bluster collapsed in the face of it. But Amy, wrapped in her wild anger, saw nothing of this. Her body was taut with fury and her eyes shone; her skin was flushed and her breasts were heaving rapidly.
"Cut it out," Earl said. "I guess I made a mistake."
"Made a mistake," she went at him. "You're right you made a mistake. We're through. Finished. Right now. I don't want to listen to you and I don't want to see you again. Get out, get out, get out!"
He tried to take her by the shoulders and calm her down, but she flung off his grip and pushed him away. Then she slapped his face and kicked at him.
"Get out, get out!" she hissed.
Her very anger roused desire in him. Amy was never more beautiful to him than at this moment. He caught her and held her tightly; then he yanked her toward him and tried to kiss her. She twisted her head wildly to evade him and struggled in his grip. They fought silently for a while until she managed to work herself into position so that she could kick him. She caught him sharply on the shin, causing him to let go with a curse. He hopped up and down on one leg.
It was suddenly very funny and the anger drained out of Amy. Watching him hopping and cursing she started to laugh, softly first, and then uncontrollably so that tears rolled out of her eyes. Then he started to laugh also.
"Don't ever do that again," she warned him when they had subsided.
"I got sore."
She was irritated anew by his trying to pass it off as something unimportant.
"You heard me," she said. "Don't ever do that again."
"Okay." He gave in grudgingly. "I apologize."
"You were jealous," she said. "Just like a kid." He grinned sheepishly. "Yeah," he said. "I guess I was."
"You were a damned fool, you know."
"You can't blame me for it," he said. "You ought to know better," she said. "After all, what more could I do to prove it to you?"
His eyes licked hungrily over her at that and he took a step toward her. She shook her head warningly but she pushed him off gently this time. She could not stand the idea of kissing him now, let alone making love.
"Not, not here and not now," she said flatly.
"I'm crazy about you, honey," he breathed huskily.
"I know," she said, "but not here, Earl."
He stopped and she felt relieved that she would not have to struggle again. He was all right, she thought, but she knew now that whatever she felt with him when she was in his arms was not love. It was something that was akin to love, but it was not love. It was the same as she had felt with Bull, she realized, and that had not been love either.
"Help me pick this stuff up," she ordered him.
He stared at her for a moment and then grinned amiably and went to work.
"You sure looked funny, throwing clothes and shoes and everything," he said.
"Not as funny as you looked hopping on one leg and cursing like an old-time sailor."
"You're quite a scrapper. I ought to put you in the ring."
"I'll lick my weight in men," she said. "How about women?"
"They're tougher. Look at my landlady."
"She don't like me."
"She has to like you too? I'm not enough? Go on after her and get her, Earl. I'll bet she says yes."
"That's a hot one," he laughed. "Can you just picture it!"
"You're too hungry, Earl. You've got me and you want her. I think I'll tell her and maybe she'll quit her snooping."
"Yeah," he said, "I guess she was just jealous and trying to steam me up."
"I wonder if she was listening all through it," Amy said.
He looked at her and they both started to laugh. He walked to the door and yanked it open suddenly, but the corridor was empty.
"She missed an earful," he said.
"Both ears."
"I don't want to fight with you no more, Amy. I'm too crazy about you."
"And I'm too tough."
They had the stuff all picked up by now and put away.
"Let's get out of here," he said. "You know, I bought all that stuff, but I forgot one thing."
"What?"
"A bathing suit."
He rolled his eyes and made a low wolf whistle. "This I got to see. How I forgot it, I'll never know."
"It's pretty hot already and I guess there's plenty of swimming around here."
"Let's get one," he said.
"It's too far to drive today, Earl."
"We don't have to go all the way there for a suit."
All right. Let's go."
Amy was relieved that she did not see Mrs. Cartison on her way out because she was sure she must have heard something of what went on between her and Earl.
"When are you opening up again, Earl?"
"It ain't so easy," he complained, a whining note coming into his voice. "The damned Army is making trouble and so are the State cops. But my connection told me it will go through by next week. By the way, baby, you did all right in putting the arm on that bastard that started the rumpus. That's what's keeping me in the clear. The Sheriff is on my side, so I guess it'll be all right."
"I'm glad, Earl."
Things seemed to have settled down between them, but she was not quite satisfied with it. She did not like the idea of accounting her actions to Earl. Lurking in back of her mind, of course, was her desire to be free to pursue whatever course she chose with Clem, although the idea of betraying Earl was not in her mind.
"What about the lieutenant, Earl?" she said softly. "He's going to ask me for a date again."
She was prepared to have a showdown on it, right here in the car, come what may. She felt certain that she would win, but she did not shrink from the possibility of losing. Of one thing she was certain: if Clem asked for a date she would agree and she would not be put in the position of having to do it furtively because of Earl.
"I been thinking about that, baby." He paused reflectively. "I was a sap just before and I've been telling myself plenty. You were doing me a favor and I was too dumb to know it. You're my luck, Amy, my real luck. Sure, I got closed down, but that's nothing. I took in plenty that week you were on the floor, real dough. But I'm always taking a chance of getting closed down. The Army, you know. They throw a lot of weight around when they want to.
"So here I am with a connection right in the Army thrown right at me and I don't see it." He took his hand off the wheel and slapped himself on the forehead. "The looie! That kid of looie. He runs the Army cops on that road. I got him under control, I got the Army sewed up and I got a clear field.
She stared at him, not understanding.
"You can't bribe him," she said slowly.
"Bribe!" He laughed harshly. "Who's talking about money? Why spend money when it comes for nothing? We got what he wants more than dough. Money don't mean nothing to a kid like that. It's just something to throw away."
"I still don't get it."
"For a smart girl, sometimes you're slow." He grinned at her." You. That's what he wants, you!"
"So?"
"So, we give him what he wants."
She went white with anger. He saw her expression and hastened to explain.
"No," he said, "not what you think. What do you think I am?"
"What do you mean?" she asked tensely.
"Play the sucker along," he said shortly. "He wants you, okay he gets on the string with all the other suckers. Only he don't know he's on a string. He thinks he's got the inside track. He asks for a date, you give it to him. He wants to blow his dough on you, you let him. He'll fall for you, baby, real hard. Then we're on easy street. Once he falls for you, he won't do nothing to spoil your setup. And if he's thinking about it, you can always talk him out of it, Simple, ain't it?"
She thought the idea was typical of Earl, treacherous, without pity or morality or pride. Yet it suited what she had in mind for herself. And, of course, the by-product of steady work and steady money was not unpleasant. It would be a dirty trick on Clem, but he probably would not think of it as such. He would have no way of knowing her intentions.
"Maybe," she said.
She wanted Earl to urge her on and he did.
"What do you mean maybe? It's a sure thing. What's the matter, Amy, you feeling sorry for the punk?"
"It does seem like a dirty deal," she said. "What he don't know won't hurt him. He'll be bragging to his pals how he's top dog with you. You'd be doing him a favor, make him a big man in the Army. You might even get him to be a captain." He laughed at his own joke.
"All right," she said hesitantly. "I'll give it a try and see how it shapes up. But if I don't like it I won't go through with it, Earl. I don't like the sound of it, I don't mind telling you."
"Don't be a kid," he said. "You're getting plenty out of it. Play ball with me on this, Amy, and everything will be real nice and cozy."
"Yes," she said slowly. "Real nice and cozy." A slow smile spread on her face and her eyes turned dreamy. "Real nice and cozy."