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Show They speak of limited goals. He is painting this house; she is on her way to the University at Vermillion where she has decided to enroll in some business classes, and she had better be on her way now. He walks her to her car where they both smoke cigarettes to postpone her departure, and she is the one who suggests that she return in the evening, to see Dave who just went into town and who she just missed, to have a drink, to talk some more. Morgan notices a pillow with faint yellow stripes in the back seat of her car but says nothing. They say good-bye. After she leaves it is hard for him to get her long black hair out of his eyes. Morgan is concerned about his future because he can't see it. If he could, he suspects, he would not be climbing this ladder. He may have a job in Denver, he can always return to his job in Hartford; it seems appropriate that he should be here in South Dakota awaiting word. And his past, while it is at least certain, is also cloudy. He has done a lot of moving around, forgotten a great deal. He was married before but rarely thinks about it, though he thinks often, and is thinking now, about the state of being unmarried. He is tired of being alone. Dave is luckier, has a wrestler's grip on life. He has this farm, his connection with animals and the land; he has a wife. And not just a wife, any woman, but Carol. Here Morgan will confess his deepest jealousy, will admit that he has imagined himself with her often, and as more than just a friend. For that reason, he is glad |