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Show 79 shut up, and when she didn't hear me I began to run. She was down at the edge of the canal. Why? It took me a while to understand that she thought I was drowning. She could not swim, I knew from the pool at Ouray, but she tf had run downstream to where the bank sloped to the water, just before the willows, and now she stood at the edge in the grass, holding on to a willow and leaning out over the cold black water, water up over her shoes, ready to dive in after me if I should surface. When she heard me yell from above her, she turned and struggled up the slope on all fours and threw herself into my arms. I was soaked, she wore one of her only two dresses, but she hugged me as if for her life. Thank God, thank God, she said over and over in a hoarse voice, crying and trembling with relief. I didn't know what to do. Then I began to shake and my teeth to chatter so loudly that she noticed and pulled me toward the car. You'll get pneumonia, she said, she was certain I would get pneumonia, but in wet clothes how could I « on practically new mohair seats without ruining them? She didn't know how to drive, so she got the blanket from the back seat, called by my mother a lap robe and intended by me for lascivious purposes, covered the seat and told me to get going. I was shaking so hard I could hardly drive. She opened and closed the gate, and I drove first to her house where she ran inside and returned with towels, thin and sour-smelling but clean. I wiped my hands and face, rubbed my hair dry, and then she put one towel about my shoulders and held me to stop my shivering. Gradually her warmth penetrated me and, enclosed by her concern, feeling her body pressing against me, for the first time I felt a rise of desire for her. But what could I do, smelling like a wet dog? I managed to get those clothes dry and into the washing machine without my mother noticing, though she sniffed i suspiciously at that blanket and wondered what was wrong with it. By then I'd had enough of lying and sneaking around and I gave up on Avis, avoiding her as much as possible. I |