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Show thin shoulders stooped as if to cringe from the world. The facial features that made Jame handsome were slightly off-balance in Mary Margaret, enough to deny her any obvious prettiness. It was no good news to Karl that Mary Margaret was sweet on him, but it distracted him from the terror of his situation. Never looking back, Jame continued to ask trivial questions, and Karl kept answering them, until they'd crossed to the east river-bank and climbed the last angled girder to the surface. Only when they stood once more on firm, solid roadway did Karl's heart slow its frantic hammering. He breathed deeply in the smoky air, wildly relieved that he wasn't fighting for breath beneath the surface of the Monongehela River. "There, see? Two pennies saves is two pennies earned, huh, Karl?" Jame squeezed Karl's arm. "You were kinda scared back there, but you did real good for the first time." "First time!" Karl exclaimed. "There isn't going to be any other time, Jame, not for me. Listen, when we go home tonight, we'll both walk on top of the bridge, all right? My treat." "Sure." Jame laughed as he removed the dinner-pail handle from his belt. "After eleven hours in the rolling mill, you'll be too tired to hang like a monkey, anyhow. Let's get going before the whistle blows." After a five-minute diagonal trot toward the riverbank, they reached the rolling mill, a large building constructed of sheet metal. Karl hung back, suddenly taken with a fresh set of jitters. "What's wrong?" Jame asked. |
