whose place is that?
aren't you sweet!
why don't you leave me alone?u
we going to stay?
you'd rather go?_ bill, after a moment's thought, shrugs.
no. she hands back his sunglasses.
they won't let me. so when am i going to see you again?
i heard you farmers were big and dumb. you aren't so big. where do they learn how to?
i hate you.
you scum. bill slaps her.
you have any talents, chuck?
that's what you'd like. abby, overcome with impatience, throws her food to the dogs. ursula catches a grasshopper and holds it out to chuck.
you give me a quarter to eat this hopper? chuck does not reply. she pops it into her mouth anyway, enjoying his look of shock. bill throws down his fork.
can i have the rabbit?
i want that bunny.
what about that?
her? like somebody that just got hit on the head. she used to pray for me. rosary, the stations, everything. "hey, ma," i tell her, "i ain't crippled." they don't know, though. they say you're in trouble. they don't know. my dad, the same way. thought the world owed him a living. he drowned in lake michigan.
who made you the boss? shag them yourself.
wish i'd said that.
we should have brought a flag.
you know what i'm going to do with this? take it home and put it in vinegar.
i had to let it go. one of them started following me, and i threw a rock at him. i had a bunch stored in my pocket. they take off running after her.
we never hear a thing out here. it's like being on a boat in the middle of a lake. you see things going on, but way far away, with no voices.
why aren't we going with him?
suppose i never fall in love, abby?
throw what away?
that sounded just like bill. don't you miss him?
i've missed you! i thought about you every day. you should've written. did abby show you what she got? abby scowls at ursula. with no choice but to show him, she opens the top button of her blouse and draws out a diamond necklace.
plus a music box. he spoils her. why don't they spoil me, too? you oughta be glad you didn't have to spend the winter. you would've gone crazy.
look at this dog mind me. sit! you've got to say it like hitting a nail.
no. ursula flirts with him, running the shoots along his back. she waits to see what he will do. he gets up and after a short chase catches her. he holds her at arm's length for a moment, then kisses her.
what'd you do that for? bill wonders himself. to get revenge on abby? he touches her breast.
don't.
cause there's nothing there.
then ask first. he kisses her neck.
what makes you think i would?
what's the matter? no reply.
maybe it would be wrong. you still love her, don't you? bill hums a rock off toward the horizon.
listen, i'm going to stay and go back with the laundry wagon. abby looks at bill, then nods okay. ursula runs off. bill opens the door, and she gets in. 233 ext. road outside town they are stopped on the road a hundred yards outside the town. abby smokes as bill checks the radiator. something in his behavior leads us to suspect he may have staged this stop.
where you going?
what's the matter?
i like your hat.
you write me, too! they wave goodbye.
you're here! oh, hug me! they kiss madly, with mystery. the moonlit, midsummer night thrums
aren't we happy? oh, george, has anybody ever been this happy? he rocks her back and forth in his arms. they laugh, thinking what lucky exceptions they are to the world's misery.
hurry. they'll be looking for me.
this doesn't even belong to you. suppose they catch us?