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Show n into the distance, people gazed after it, perhaps saw it, a few scratching their heads in perplexity. Trains ruin the property values, said die fat woman. Joan and Roland sighed after their laughter. I sort of hate to go back, she said: it's so hot in there. Marvelous meal, he said. If you do everything as well as you cook . . . Shush. We really should go back. I suppose Bill . . . But just then they heard the train again. Oh nol moaned Joan. Hey, here comes anodier one! said somebody, and Roland and Joan burst again into laughter. And it was even funnier this time because in an access of pride, showing his machine off, Bill had turned the volume up as high as it would go and people were getting worried, moving back into doorways, even inside so as not to get run over. And the sound rose until you would not think it could rise one more decibel, and then it did, and all the while keeping its faithfulness to the original, but growing so loud that Joan and Roland were covering their ears with their hands, still laughing but Joan widi just a touch of fear as the train approached the grade crossing and whistled. She felt as if she was under it, mauled by it; the very eartii was trembling; and just then the house came crashing down. It simply collapsed, all at once, all of it falling in upon itself, and Roland and Joan burst into a last wild peal of laughter. But only for a second. They felt the blast from the collapsed house, were enveloped in dust and instantaneously realized that Bill was in there. Oh! said Joan, and fainted. Roland caught her, and he knew exactly what to do. He picked her up and carried her out of the dust cloud to the next lawn, savoring her in his arms, the weight of her, the warmth of her, the softness of her, the heavy reality of her. On that lawn, out of the dust, he laid her gently down. All about him was an awful quiet. Hey, it collided with that house! said someone in an awed voice, and no one laughed. There's a man in there, said Roland. Help him! Just then Joan awakened and sat up, and they both looked at the pile of rubble with now a small mushroom-shaped dust cloud rising above it. If he's in there he's dead, said someone, and Joan fainted again. 176 |
