A Book of Dreams Read Online Free PDF Page B

for you.’ He gave me a big grin and a slap on the back.
    In the mirror, Daddy looked at me and smiled. Then he nodded to the organ man and the organ man nodded back. I went back to the table and started eating ice cream and the organ man started playing ‘She Wore a Yellow Ribbon’.
    The ice cream was good. As I ate it I listened to the song and watched the organ lights spin through different colours onto the organ man. I thought about Toreano, my scout, and our cavalry fort at Orgonon. I had decided to leave Toreano in charge because it was too far for him to come to Arizona. It was fall and Toreano would be out riding his pony across the rainy fields, guarding Orgonon.
    The waitress came and sat down next to me in the booth. She put her arm around me and squeezed her breast into my shoulder. It felt good but I didn’t know what to do.
    ‘Do you like this song?’ she asked, squeezing.
    I nodded and scooped the last of the ice cream out of the dish. Daddy was watching us and smiling.
    ‘I bet you’re a good cowboy,’ she said. ‘And I bet you’re fast on the draw, aren’t you?’
    I nodded and she laughed, squeezing me again.
    ‘Well, if you ever need a good cowgirl, just let me know.’ She smiled at Daddy and slipped out of the booth, picking up the money Daddy had put on the check. Smiling at both of us, she said, ‘Thanks, now, and you come again,’ and went away. On the way out of the restaurant, we waved at the organist and as we got into the car, Daddy chuckled.
    ‘Do you know why that waitress was flirting with you?’ he asked.
    ‘Is it because she likes me?’
    ‘Well, of course she likes you,’ said Daddy, ‘but the real reason is that she wants to make love to me and she doesn’t know how to come out and say it. So she lets her love out on you.’
    ‘Oh.’ Daddy always knew what people were doing and what they were thinking. Once we were sitting in a restaurant and all of a sudden Daddy poked me in the ribs. He nodded to a couple sitting a few tables away with their backs to us. ‘In a minute,’ said Daddy, ‘that man will turn around and stare at me.’ Daddy looked back at his plate but I kept looking around the room as if I were not looking at anyone in particular and sure enough in a few seconds the man turned around very slowly and gave Daddy a long, mean look. When he turned back around, I whispered to Daddy, ‘How come you knew he would do that?’ And Daddy smiled. ‘A few minutes ago his wife was flirting with me, looking at me and smiling. As soon as I smiled back, she turned and said something to her husband. I am sure she said, “Turn around and look at that strange man who is staring at us,” because he did.’
    But I couldn’t figure out why the waitress was flirting with me, unless it was because she liked me.
     
    When we got home, I started to do some long division but it was hard and I felt like there might be an EA or something in the air, so I went outside and up on the observation platform.
    I stood there for a long time, switching from telescope to binoculars, looking for flying saucers. On really dark nights we could see the rings around Saturn and Jupiter’s moons and it was funny to watch them and then hear a coyote in the hills or a long train rumbling along towards Tucson. Sometimes we saw an EA to the southwest of Tucson. It was a pulsating red-and-green ball hovering in the sky. It came so regularly that we called it the ‘Southern Belle’. Sometimes it went back and forth, sometimes it got brighter and dimmer and sometimes it moved fast across the sky, dodging the draw of the cloudbuster.
    I was just about to go back downstairs to my long division when I saw it, hovering in the south. I watched it for a minute. It pulsated and glowed. Then I ran down to get Daddy.
    He was sitting in his workroom at a long desk, writing in one of his big red ledger books. It felt like a cavalry movie walking in and reporting.
    ‘Daddy, I spotted one. In the east. It