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. He may come out shooting, Andy said pessimistically. He doesn t have a gun, Diana pointed out. He doesn t have that gun.It wouldn t surprise me tolearn he was carrying a spare.He isn t going to be in ahappy frame of mind after roughing it for several days.Andit s supposed to rain tonight. It is? Damn. Walt got to his feet. Got to get those tarpsready.Andy, will you collect Mary Jo? She should be get-ting out of work soon.Stubborn broad, he added.The rain began shortly after Andy had left not a storm,but a drizzle that gradually increased to a moderate down-pour.Walt kept the men at work until the darkening skiesforced a halt.When he came in he was drenched and grum- Vanish with the Rose 221bling. I wanted to lay the foundations of the gazebo tomor-row.If this keeps up all night Quit worrying about the goddamn landscaping, Andysaid irritably. Ma will understand that we ve had a fewother things on our mind. Diana nodded. Especially after she finds out her sup-posed expert was a fraud. Mary Jo was at the sink, peeling potatoes. She won t bemad, Di.She s the most tenderhearted woman alive. Andy chuckled evilly. Charlie isn t.I don t envy you, Di-ana.He ll have the hide off you.Metaphorically, of course. Shut up, Andy, Mary Jo ordered. And Walt, you get outof those wet clothes.You re dripping all over the floor. Walt started to object.Then, with a glance at the others,he obeyed.Stripped to his shorts, his lean body was as func-tional and sleek as that of a classic statue, undistorted by theexaggerated muscles of modern body-builders.Mary Jo wasnot impressed; she gave him a stony stare and Andy mut-tered something rude under his breath.Diana laughed at the reactions of the other two, not atWalt but he misinterpreted her amusement.Reddening, hegathered up his wet clothes and left the room.One explanation for Walt s annoyance at further delay wasapparent when they went to the library after dinner.He hadtaken some of his men off the job to repair the broken windowand install a row of floodlights.The glare was hard on the eyes,but it illuminated a wide stretch of lawn.Basking in the com-pliments of the others, Walt explained, I told Charles monthsago he ought to let me install outdoor lights.Especially herethese doors are practically an invitation to burglars. Assisted by Miss Matilda, Diana began to read Brad s let-ters.She passed each one on to Mary Jo and Walt as shefinished it.Andy, who had already read them, wandered tothe fireplace and began picking at the edges of the hole inthe wall.If he hoped his activities would go unnoticed, hewas disappointed. At least spread some newspapers on the floor, Mary Josnapped. 222 Barbara MichaelsAfter doing so, Andy went on tapping at the plaster.Hisactivities didn t distract Diana.It was an odd sensation toreread those brief letters, with part of her mind writhing inguilt for having failed to notice their reticence, and anotherpart coolly analyzing their meaning.When she had finishedthe last of them there were several dozen in all she handedit to Mary Jo and sat with her hands limp in her lap.Mary Jo was a fast reader.She shook her head in disgustas she gave the final letter to Walt. Maybe I missed it, but Icouldn t find anything. He had some nice things to say about you. Walt put theletter atop the pile. He said nice things about almost everybody, Mary Joretorted. Even you. Honest, hard-working, loyal. Makes me sound like agoddamn Boy Scout. Walt sorted through the letters. Heeven had a good word for Miss Musser.I think.Who s this Miss Havisham he compares her to? A tighter-lipped,part-time Miss Havisham. She s a character in a Dickens novel, you ignorant red-neck, Mary Jo replied. Didn t you have to read Great Ex-pectations in high school? It was a dumb, long-winded book.I read Cliff Notes.Was Miss Havisham the crazy old lady? That s pretty good.Miss Musser was only part-time crazy, up to pretty near theend.She d mumble away, making no sense, and then sud-denly come out with some sharp comment or criticism.Caught you off-guard.I wondered sometimes whether shewas playing senile on purpose. Mary Jo searched through the pile. There was one inter-esting comment about the old lady s lawyer.Yes, here it is [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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. He may come out shooting, Andy said pessimistically. He doesn t have a gun, Diana pointed out. He doesn t have that gun.It wouldn t surprise me tolearn he was carrying a spare.He isn t going to be in ahappy frame of mind after roughing it for several days.Andit s supposed to rain tonight. It is? Damn. Walt got to his feet. Got to get those tarpsready.Andy, will you collect Mary Jo? She should be get-ting out of work soon.Stubborn broad, he added.The rain began shortly after Andy had left not a storm,but a drizzle that gradually increased to a moderate down-pour.Walt kept the men at work until the darkening skiesforced a halt.When he came in he was drenched and grum- Vanish with the Rose 221bling. I wanted to lay the foundations of the gazebo tomor-row.If this keeps up all night Quit worrying about the goddamn landscaping, Andysaid irritably. Ma will understand that we ve had a fewother things on our mind. Diana nodded. Especially after she finds out her sup-posed expert was a fraud. Mary Jo was at the sink, peeling potatoes. She won t bemad, Di.She s the most tenderhearted woman alive. Andy chuckled evilly. Charlie isn t.I don t envy you, Di-ana.He ll have the hide off you.Metaphorically, of course. Shut up, Andy, Mary Jo ordered. And Walt, you get outof those wet clothes.You re dripping all over the floor. Walt started to object.Then, with a glance at the others,he obeyed.Stripped to his shorts, his lean body was as func-tional and sleek as that of a classic statue, undistorted by theexaggerated muscles of modern body-builders.Mary Jo wasnot impressed; she gave him a stony stare and Andy mut-tered something rude under his breath.Diana laughed at the reactions of the other two, not atWalt but he misinterpreted her amusement.Reddening, hegathered up his wet clothes and left the room.One explanation for Walt s annoyance at further delay wasapparent when they went to the library after dinner.He hadtaken some of his men off the job to repair the broken windowand install a row of floodlights.The glare was hard on the eyes,but it illuminated a wide stretch of lawn.Basking in the com-pliments of the others, Walt explained, I told Charles monthsago he ought to let me install outdoor lights.Especially herethese doors are practically an invitation to burglars. Assisted by Miss Matilda, Diana began to read Brad s let-ters.She passed each one on to Mary Jo and Walt as shefinished it.Andy, who had already read them, wandered tothe fireplace and began picking at the edges of the hole inthe wall.If he hoped his activities would go unnoticed, hewas disappointed. At least spread some newspapers on the floor, Mary Josnapped. 222 Barbara MichaelsAfter doing so, Andy went on tapping at the plaster.Hisactivities didn t distract Diana.It was an odd sensation toreread those brief letters, with part of her mind writhing inguilt for having failed to notice their reticence, and anotherpart coolly analyzing their meaning.When she had finishedthe last of them there were several dozen in all she handedit to Mary Jo and sat with her hands limp in her lap.Mary Jo was a fast reader.She shook her head in disgustas she gave the final letter to Walt. Maybe I missed it, but Icouldn t find anything. He had some nice things to say about you. Walt put theletter atop the pile. He said nice things about almost everybody, Mary Joretorted. Even you. Honest, hard-working, loyal. Makes me sound like agoddamn Boy Scout. Walt sorted through the letters. Heeven had a good word for Miss Musser.I think.Who s this Miss Havisham he compares her to? A tighter-lipped,part-time Miss Havisham. She s a character in a Dickens novel, you ignorant red-neck, Mary Jo replied. Didn t you have to read Great Ex-pectations in high school? It was a dumb, long-winded book.I read Cliff Notes.Was Miss Havisham the crazy old lady? That s pretty good.Miss Musser was only part-time crazy, up to pretty near theend.She d mumble away, making no sense, and then sud-denly come out with some sharp comment or criticism.Caught you off-guard.I wondered sometimes whether shewas playing senile on purpose. Mary Jo searched through the pile. There was one inter-esting comment about the old lady s lawyer.Yes, here it is [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]