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Show RIVER cut loose the barrel, emptied it of water, secured the barrel's plug, and mounted the barrel again. The raft was as good as new. Our relationships were not so easy to patch up. The weather didn't help much, staying gray and cold through the next few days. The countryside grew more southern by the hour, increasing the paranoia we'd acquired in St. Louis after watching "Easy Rider." Between New Madrid and Caruthersville night caught us on an open stretch of channel with no good protected place to tie up. A beautiful afternoon had been capped with a spectacular sunset that painted the long streaks of high clouds fire red while the reflecting river turned to blood. We pulled up hard against the revetment on the Tennessee shore and secured the raft. I decided I'd try to make peace with Vince. We climbed into the plastic house on the foredeck. We got a little high and the barriers that had come up between us since Cairo seemed to fall down. I leveled with Vince. "Look," I said. "I've been convinced for a long time that you weren't going to make it, that you and Julia would leave Rosie and me to finish the trip." "What about Rick?" "Screw Rick. I hope he keeps his promise and leaves at Memphis." "You think we can finish the trip without him?" "Well, it won't be easy, but it won't be impossible, either." "I don't know about that. You think you could fix the motor when it breaks down?" "I think I could find a way. But screw Rick: what about yourself? You got plans to jump ship?" -87- |