Impossible Places Read Online Free PDF Page B

you round, maybe.”
    “See you too, Dave.”
    That’s what did it. She didn’t so much say my name as sort of pucker her lips and let it ooze out, like a little hot cloud. She wore no lipstick. She didn’t have to.
    White crosses. White crosses and bennies and snow. Damn it all for a clear head for two lousy minutes!
    I tried to think of something to say, knowing that I had to glue my eyes to the blacktop real soon or forget about driving any more at night altogether. I couldn’t afford that. Nobody pays a bonus for brown lettuce and soft tomatoes.
    “I thought you were dead,” I finally blurted out. I said it easy, matter-of-fact, not wanting to startle her or me. Maybe the crosses made me do it; I don’t know. She started to back away, but my country calm reassured her.
    “I knew I shouldn’t have talked to you this long. I try not to talk to anyone I don’t know for very long. I thought by now . . .” She shrugged sadly. “I’ve done pretty well, hiding everything.”
    “Real well.” I smiled reassuringly. “Hey, chill out. What you’ve done is no skin off my nose. Personally I think it’s great. Let ’em all think you’re dead. Serves ’em all right, you ask me. Bunch of phonies, the lot of ’em.”
    She still looked as if she wanted to run. Then she smiled afresh and nodded. “That’s right. Bunch of phonies. They all just wanted one thing. I spent all my time torn up inside and confused, and nobody tried to help. Nobody cared as long as they were making money or getting what they wanted. I was just a machine to them, a thing. I didn’t know what to do. I got in real deep with some bad people, and that’s when I knew that one way or another, I had to get out, get away.
    “Up here nobody cares where you come from or what you did before you got here. Nice people. And I like doing my carvings. I got out of it with a little money nobody could trace. I’m doing okay.”
    “Glad to hear it. I always did think you were it, you know.”
    “That wasn’t me, Dave. That was never me. It was just something that I made up. That was always the problem. I’m happy now, and that’s what counts. If you live long enough, you come to know what’s really important.”
    “That’s what me and Elaine always say.”
    She glanced at the sky, and the light from the cafe fully illuminated her face. “You’d better get going.”
    “How’d you work it, anyway? How’d you fool everybody?”
    “Like I said, I had some friends. True friends. Not many, but enough. They understood. They helped me get out. Once in a while they come up here and we laugh about how we fooled everyone. We go fishing. I always did like to fish. You’d better get moving.”
    “Reckon I’d better. You keep doing those carvings. I really liked your bobcat.”
    “Thanks. That one was a lot of work. Merry Christmas, Dave.”
    “Yeah. You too—Jill.”
    She turned away from me, knowing that I’d keep her secret. Hell, what did I have to gain from giving her away? I knew how she must feel, or thought I did. About the best thing you can do in this too often sad, mean world is not step on somebody else’s happiness, and I wasn’t about to step on hers. It’s too damn hard to come by, and you might need somebody else to do you a similar favor sometime. It doesn’t hurt to establish a line of credit with the Almighty.
    I watched her walk away in the falling snow, all bundled up and hidden inside that big Western jacket, and I felt real good with myself. I’d still make Reno in plenty of time, then pop over to Tahoe, maybe get lucky and pick up a return load. My eyes followed her through the dark and white wet, and she seemed to wink in and out of my sight, dreamlike.
    White crosses. Damn, I thought. Was she real or wasn’t she? Not that it really mattered. I still felt good. I sucked in the stinging, damp air and made ready to get back to business.
    That’s when she sort of hesitated, stopped, and glanced back at me. Or at least,