On their way back Sam stops at the deserted1 town pump. The usual crowds are dispersed2 tonight, leaving only the squeak3 of the handle. The gush4 of water. The hiss5 between Sam’s teeth as Sam puts a fist in the stream. As the dark stain on Sam’s knuckles6 begins to wash free.
That color—impossible to see it true in the dark. Lucy touches a smaller stain high on Sam’s sleeve. She puts her wet fingers to her nose and smells a jangling.
It’s blood.
“It ain’t mine,” Sam reassures7 her. “I only bloodied8 his nose.”
“You said you chattedwith Charles.”
“He said things about you. I was protecting you.” Sam’s chin lifts. “I did right.”
“You can’t—” Lucy begins. But Sam did. Sam who doesn’t bend to the world’s rules but bends them. Sam came to town and became the impossible tiger. “I hope you broke it.”
Sam doesn’t recoil9 from that ugliness. Only says, “She’s not a friend to you, either, you know. However rich or pretty.”
“I know,” Lucy says, in a small voice.
“I hope you picked your other friends smarter.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.” Lucy sits down, exhausted10, right there on the wet flagstones. Damp creeps up her shift. She stretches her legs out, lies all the way back with a hand pressed to her eyes. She feels rather than sees Sam bending, hovering11, lying down too. For a while, there is quiet.
“Don’t you ever get bored in this place?” Sam says. Lucy stiffens12. The sting goes out of the question as Sam adds, “Don’t you ever get lonely?”
All day it’s been stifling13 hot. Now Lucy perceives a faint breath of wind. A Westerly wind, the kind native to the hills and born at the coast. They might be laid out in the long yellow grass and looking at the stars. The best thing about stars is that you can see in them any shape you want. Make any story. Better, even, when the person beside you doesn’t see them the same way.
Lucy sits up. “Take me on your next adventure.”
“It’ll be hard going.”
“I’ve been resting for five years.”
“Your feet look awful soft.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you tried wearing boots three inches high.”
“If you do . . . it won’t be easy to turn back.”
“Why not?”
And Sam says, “I aim to go across the ocean.”
—
When they arrive at the boardinghouse to collect Lucy’s belongings14, a man in black is pacing the porch.
Ignore them, Anna said of her hired men the first time Lucy saw one and stopped dead. Papa and his friends keep them as a precaution, but they mean you no harm. They don’t mean anyone harm—not good people, at least—I’ve never seen my men do worse than push a drunk aside or ask a debtor15 for money. They’re glorified16 errand boys. Here, watch this. I’ll ask him to pass the tea.And because Anna laughed, Lucy laughed too.
These silent men grew as invisible to Lucy as their purported17 guns. It’s true she never saw one do more than menace. But there’s something different about this man—and then it comes to her. She’s never seen a hired man without Anna to command him. He’s eerie18 as a shadow without its caster.
The man turns. Sam drags Lucy back around the corner, a firm hand over her mouth.
“It must be a misunderstanding,” Lucy whispers, humoring Sam. “Anna wouldn’t—it’s a mistake. Likely she sent him with a message.” Errand boys.“I’ll talk to him.”
Sam lets loose a string of hushed, unfamiliar19 words. Lucy recognizes only the last cuss. “Ben dan. Anna didn’t send him.”
Lucy opens her mouth to correct Sam. Then she hears it. The man’s pacing—an unerring, pitiless tempo20. A long-buried part of her, stirring awake, says, Hunting. She looks at the blood on Sam’s sleeve that wouldn’t wash out. “You mean Charles sent him?”
Sam cuts Lucy a look she knows. In another life she aimed that same look at Sam—the look given to an exasperating21 child.
“This isn’t some lovers’ quarrel,” Sam says. “He’s here for me.”
Fear strums Lucy in earnest now. Blown in on the wind is a part of her old world. The dangerous part.
“But why—”
“He thinks I owe some money.”
Anna has spoken of how the hired men are sometimes sent to collect on debts. Lucy relaxes. “Is that all? So pay him back. I have some savings—”
“No,”Sam snarls22, and Lucy flinches23. A coiled violence in that voice, like a pulled-back fist. For the first time she truly believes the stories Sam told at dinner. She can see in Sam the cowboy, the mountaineer, the miner. The hardened man unknown to her. “I don’t owe anything. Never mind that. You’ll be safe enough if I leave town alone.”
“But why?” Lucy can ask, and ask, but the question is futile24. That old stubbornness firms Sam’s jaw25. The years make no difference—even young and pudgy, Sam never broke a silence.
Lucy’s gaze falls instead to Sam’s swollen26 knuckles. They mark Sam’s courage. Some things shifted tonight and can’t be taken back: the cut on Sam’s hand, the blood on Charles’s nose, Anna. Where, the wind seems to ask, is Lucy’s courage?
Her heart thuds, but Sam can’t hear that. Lucy smiles a practiced smile. Tosses her head as if she has curls to bounce. “What do I care about safe? This town is safe, and just look at it. I’m coming.”
“You don’t understand. It won’t be fun. It—”
“It’ll be an adventure. Besides, if you get hauled off into some debtors’ prison, you’ll need someone to break you out.”
She intended it as a jest, but Sam’s gaze remains27 distant, following the hired man, whose pattern brings him closer and closer to the corner. Sam looks ready to bolt.
“Please,” Lucy says. “I don’t care about some stupid debt—I won’t ask about it if you insist. Let’s go.”
“What about your things?”
“They’re only things.” As Lucy says it, she realizes it’s true. She thinks of the thirty pearl buttons scattered28 across Anna’s rug. How the ping of them against the door was like claws, gently clicking. “What makes a family a family?”
She thought that, at least, would make Sam smile.
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1
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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3
squeak
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| n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密 | |
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4
gush
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| v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发 | |
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5
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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6
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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7
reassures
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| v.消除恐惧或疑虑，恢复信心( reassure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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8
bloodied
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| v.血污的( bloody的过去式和过去分词 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的 | |
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9
recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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10
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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11
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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12
stiffens
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| （使）变硬，（使）强硬( stiffen的第三人称单数 ) | |
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13
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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14
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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15
debtor
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| n.借方，债务人 | |
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glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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17
purported
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| adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
eerie
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| adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的 | |
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19
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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tempo
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| n.(音乐的)速度；节奏，行进速度 | |
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21
exasperating
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| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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22
snarls
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| n.（动物的）龇牙低吼( snarl的名词复数 )；愤怒叫嚷（声）；咆哮（声）；疼痛叫声v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的第三人称单数 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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23
flinches
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| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的第三人称单数 ) | |
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24
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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25
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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26
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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27
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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