Arkansas State press., 1942-06-19

ton, | know she will" -,
There was another long silence,
Bigger wondered if Mrs. Dalton
was on her way to his room. He
went back to the bed and lay
down, lIssening, There were no
sounds. lie lay long time,
hearing nothing; then he heard
footsteps in the kitchen again,
He hurried into the closet. "Peg-
Cyl" eyes, Mrs. Dalton"
"Listen, just felt around in
Marys room. Something's wrong,
She didn't finish packing her
trunk, At least half of her things
are still there. She said she was
planning to go to some dances in
Detroit and she didn't take the
new things she bought. MAYBE
she didn't go to Detroit" "But
where is she?"
Bigger stopped listening, feel
ing fear for the first time. He
had not thought that the trunk
was not fully packed. How could
he explain that she had told him
to take a half-packed trunk to
the station? Oh, shueks The girl
was drunk. That was it Mary
was so drunk that size didn't know
what she was doing. He would
say that she had told him TO take
it and he had just taken it; that's
ALL If someone asked him why
he had taken a half-packed trunk
to the station, he would tell them
that that was no different from
all the other foolish things that
Mary had told him to do that
night. Had not people seen him
eating with her and Jan in En-
MES He would say that both of
them were drunk and that he had
done what they told him because
it was his job. He listened again
to the voices.
90. and after a while send
that boy to me. | want to talk
to him."
Eyes, Mrs. Dalton
Again he lay on the bed. He
would have to go over his story
and make it fool-proof Maybe
he had done wrong in taking that
trunk? Maybe it would havr
been better to have carried Mary
down in his arms and burnt her?
But he had put her in the trunk
because of the fear of someone's
seeing her in his arms. That
was the only way he could have
gotten her down out of the room /
Oh, hell, what had happened had |
happened and he would stick to
his story. He went over the story
again fastening every detail firm
ly in his mind. He would say
that she had been drunk, sloppy
drunk. He lay on the soft bed in
the warm room listening to the
steam hiss in the radiator and
thinking drowsily and lazily of
how drunk ska had been and of
how he had lugged her up the
steps and Of how he had pushed
the pillows over her face and Of
how he had put her in the trunk
and of how he had struggled with
the trunk on tie dark stairs ard
of how his fingers had burned
while he had stumbled down the
stairs with tie heavy trunk going
mp-bump-bump SO loud that
surely all the world must have
heard it. =.
He jumped awake, hearing
knock at the door. His heart raced
He sat up and started sleepily
around the room. Had someone
knocked? He looked at his watch,
it was three o'clock, Gee! He
must have slept through the bell
that was to ring at two. The
knock came again.
20 K" he mumbled.
"This is Mrs. Dalton!" eyes
sum. Just a minute"
He reached the door in two long
] steps, then stood a moment try
ing to collect himself. He blink
ed his eyes and wet his lips. He
opened the door and saw Mrs.
Dalton smiling before him, dress
ed in white, her face held as 1t
had been when she was standing
in the darkness while he had
smothered Mary on the bed
"Y-y-yes, man." he stammered
"l-1 was asleep,
"You didn't get much sleep last
night, did your"
NOM he drawled, afraid of
what she might mean.
Peggy rang for you three
times, and you didn't answer"
I'm sorry, nam. :"
"That's all right. | wanted to
ask you about last night Oh,
you took the trunk to the station.
didn't you? she asked.
"Yessum This morning" he
said, detecting hesitancy and con-
fusion in her voice.
81 See" said Mrs. Dalton. She
stood with her face tilted upward
in the semi darkness Of the hall