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But the rabbit repeated softly over and over, “He go
Le
George came quietly out of the brush and the rabbit scuttled back into Le
George said quietly, “What the hell you yellin’ about?”
Le
George came stiffly near and sat down beside him. “No.”
“I knowed it,” Le
George was silent.
Le
“Yeah?”
“I done another bad thing.”
“It don’t make no difference,” George said, and he fell silent again.
Only the topmost ridges were in the sun now. The shadow in the valley was blue and soft. From the distance came the sound of men shouting to one another. George turned his head and listened to the shouts.
Le
“Yeah?”
“Ain’t you go
“Give ya hell?”
“Sure, like you always done before. Like, ‘If I di’n’t have you I’d take my fifty bucks—’”
“Jesus Christ, Le
“Well, ain’t you go
George shook himself. He said woodenly, “If I was alone I could live so easy.” His voice was monotonous, had no emphasis. “I could get a job an’ not have no mess.” He stopped.
“Go on,” said Le
“An’ when the end of the month came I could take my fifty bucks an’ go to a.... cat house—” He stopped again.
Le
“No,” said George.
“Well, I can go away,” said Le
George shook himself again. “No,” he said. “I want you to stay with me here.”
Le
“Tell you what?”
“’Bout the other guys an’ about us.”
George said, “Guys like us got no fambly. They make a little stake an’ then they blow it in. They ain’t got nobody in the worl’ that gives a hoot in hell about ‘em—”
“But not us,” Le
George was quiet for a moment. “But not us,” he said.
“Because—”
“Because I got you an’—”
“An’ I got you. We got each other, that’s what, that gives a hoot in hell about us,” Le
The little evening breeze blew over the clearing and the leaves rustled and the wind waves flowed up the green pool. And the shouts of men sounded again, this time much closer than before.
George took off his hat. He said shakily, “Take off your hat, Le
Le
Le
George had been listening to the distant sounds. For a moment he was businesslike. “Look acrost the river, Le
Le
A man’s voice called from up the river, and another man answered.
“Go on,” said Le
George raised the gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again.
“Go on,” said Le
“We’ll have a cow,” said George. “An’ we’ll have maybe a pig an’ chickens.... an’ down the flat we’ll have a.... little piece alfalfa—”
“For the rabbits,” Le
“For the rabbits,” George repeated.
“And I get to tend the rabbits.”
“An’ you get to tend the rabbits.”
Le
“Yes.”
Le
“No, Le
Le
There were crashing footsteps in the brush now. George turned and looked toward them.
“Go on, George. When we go
“Go
“Me an’ you.”
“You.... an’ me. Ever’body go
Le
“No,” said George. “No, Le
The voices came close now. George raised the gun and listened to the voices.
Le
“Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta.”
And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Le
George shivered and looked at the gun, and then he threw it from him, back up on the bank, near the pile of old ashes.
The brush seemed filled with cries and with the sound of ru
But George sat stiffly on the bank and looked at his right hand that had thrown the gun away. The group burst into the clearing, and Curley was ahead. He saw Le
Slim came directly to George and sat down beside him, sat very close to him. “Never you mind,” said Slim. “A guy got to sometimes.”
But Carlson was standing over George. “How’d you do it?” he asked.
“I just done it,” George said tiredly.
“Did he have my gun?”
“Yeah. He had your gun.”
“An’ you got it away from him and you took it an’ you killed him?”
“Yeah. Tha’s how.” George’s voice was almost a whisper. He looked steadily at his right hand that had held the gun.
Slim twitched George’s elbow. “Come on, George. Me an’ you’ll go in an’ get a drink.”
George let himself be helped to his feet. “Yeah, a drink.”
Slim said, “You hadda, George. I swear you hadda. Come on with me.” He led George into the entrance of the trail and up toward the highway.
Curley and Carlson looked after them. And Carlson said, “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?”