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"I'm not getting into anything over my head." "That's what I'm saying to you. They'll see you don't get in trouble."
Charlie said, "The hell are you talking about?" "I have to go," Robert said, and went off to join his Confederates.
Charlie watched him walk off and then turned to De
"If I knew," De
"Well, I gotta go study my script," Charlie said, and headed for the barn.
And now De
23
SHE WASN'T OUTSIDE. She could be in the tent. And Arlen could be in there with her, but he doubted it. De
"Loretta?"
"Who is it?" Her voice close.
He said, "De
The flap opened and there was her face, no makeup, her features clean-scrubbed, shiny. She didn't give him much of a smile, but her eyes were calm and didn't leave his face.
"I need to get my stripes cut off."
"For leaving your post last night, huh? And you didn't even get any pie."
"I wasn't thinking of pie. But listen, all I need is a pair of scissors." He heard his voice taking on a soft accent to match hers.
"Well, come on in, take your jacket off."
De
"You coming?"
He said, "What're you doing?" opening the tent and stepping into light that had lost its brightness, filtered through the canvas. She was wearing nothing above her long skirt but a thin, flimsy bra he could see through and holding a washcloth in her hand. Loretta didn't act surprised or self-conscious; or seductive, for that matter. She made it seem natural for him to see her this way, soaping her arm.
"Going to fight the battle?"
"I could get shot right here," De
It didn't make her smile. She said, "I'll cut off your stripes," and held the washcloth toward him, "if you'll wash my back." Still natural making the offer.
De
"You have a nice touch," Loretta said.
De
"I can see why those girls look at you as a possible. You always this tender?"
He thought to say, Well, I'm not washing a car.
And scrapped it because he did feel tender moving his hand over her small bones, her white skin-though not as white as Vernice's, Vernice a lot rounder than Loretta, Loretta skin and bones by comparison, more athletic, that wiry type, sometimes a tiger in bed, though Vernice was active for her size.
"I said, are you always this tender?"
"I touched you," De
"Why don't you unhook me?"
He did and she pulled the bra off in front of her. By the time he came around to her breasts, not near the size of Vernice's but a woman's breasts all the same, he could look over her shoulder and see them, Loretta pressing herself against him. They'd be on the cot anytime now and he had to think of what he'd take off. She lifted her skirt, gathering it above her hips, and turned to him bare underneath saying, "Don't take your clothes off. Let's do it right now."
De
And Loretta said, "Oh, honey…"
They made love in the hot tent, De
She said, after, "You have a car?"
"Where do you want to go?"
She said, "Anywhere," and said, "I could a
It stopped him. "You saw my show?"
She said, "Honey, I watched you every night you dove."
The bivouac seemed more military than it did when he left: no clothes hanging from stacked rifles, not as much gear lying around, the Yankee reenactors taking down their tents, getting ready for battle. De
The First Iowan said, "You missed the drill. We marched out there and showed our stuff. The colonel said we didn't look too bad."
De
The First Iowan said, "General Grant showed up and the colonel wasn't too pleased to see him. The first sergeant says he was sore anyways 'cause of the truck still sitting in the bivouac. No keys and nobody'd come to pick it up. The colonel asked General Grant what kind of credentials he had. Who said it was okay for him to be commander in chief of the Union Army? The first sergeant said the general told him, `Abraham Lincoln, who the fuck do you think.' "
Jerry was sitting on the tailgate of the pickup smoking a cigar, Hector and Tonto with him, Hector holding Jerry's sword. De
De
"These guys were about to go find you," Jerry said. "Drag you here if they had to. You understand? You got nothing to say about it."
"He means we need you," Hector said, "as the bait."
"We get 'em where we want 'em," Jerry said, "you stay close. Try to run, one of us'll shoot you."
They were talking about setting up Arlen and his guys, but it didn't make sense. De
Hector said, "Robert didn't tell you, uh? We trade them in, man, for loaded pistols."
"How do we do that?"
"You see it happen."
"You're go
"Man, Robert didn't tell you shit," Hector said.
"All you got to know," Jerry said, "you run, you're dead. By any chance you get picked up 'cause you're stupid and the cops offer you a deal to give us up? You're fuckin dead. You're in it. You understand? You told Robert you're in all the way, right?"
"He means the business part," Hector said.
"Not yet."
Jerry said, "There something wrong with you?" "I'm thinking about it."
"You didn't jump on it right away you're not the guy. We don't need you." He said to Hector and Tonto, "You guys do all the work, you need him?"
"If Robert say he wants him," Hector said, and Tonto agreed, nodding.
"That's why I don't ask your fuckin advice," Jerry said, and looked at De
"You're dead," Hector said.
"What kind of thing would I do," De