Under the Apple Tree
Page 28
“You want the Purple Heart, too, or something?”
“I want you. I need you. And you need me even worse.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, baby.”
“I don’t. I’m a coward, too. But I’m a loner. I can make it by myself. I have. I don’t think you can. Not very well, anyway.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“I’m sorry if the truth hurts.”
“So what if it’s true? So what if I’m not a loner? You think you’re the only fish in the sea?”
“No. But I’m the best one for you.”
“You have really got some gall, sister.”
“I hope so. Anyway, you don’t want a girl who’s like you. I’m your opposite. That’s what you need.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Yes, it does. We fit together.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, let me tell you something. I been with a lot of women. ‘All cats are alike in the dark.’”
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“Us. We could have a life together.”
“Like I said before. There’s plenty of fish in the sea.”
“You’re afraid. You know that, don’t you?”
“Get off my back.”
“There’s plenty of fish in the sea for me, too.”
“So why don’t you go fishing? Hell, you’ll be up at Urbana in a couple of months, you can hook a real world-beater. Some Whiz Kid who’ll make a mint. Restore the family fortunes, make your folks happy.”
“I want you.”
“Why? Is it a challenge or something? Save the no-good kid who has no future?”
“See? You’re afraid. You’re not just afraid of me, either. You’re afraid of just about everything but bullets. And death. Those are easy. Am I right?”
“You bitch. You goddamn bitch.”
Roy started crying. It was soft at first, like a baby, and then it grew into sobs, and then yelps, like a wounded animal. Then it died down, then stopped.
“I love you, Roy.”
Artie held his breath in the silence that followed, praying without any words. Then Roy’s voice came, different now, low but clear, with a steady, simple calmness to it.
“Help me,” he said.
It was quiet again, and Artie started to crawl up to where he could peek, but then he remembered he was not a kid anymore. With stern determination he turned away, stealthily crawling on all fours, moving as quietly as possible over the matted leaves till he came to the path. Then he stood up and breathed deeply, filling his lungs with the fresh, bracing air, and ran toward home, leaping and bounding, stretching his arms to the limitless sky. He did not look back.
About the Author
Dan Wakefield (b. 1932) is the author of the bestselling novels Going All the Way and Starting Over, which were both adapted into feature films. His memoirs include New York in the Fifties, which was made into a documentary film of the same name, and Returning: A Spiritual Journey, praised by Bill Moyers as “one of the most important memoirs of the spirit I have ever read.” Wakefield created the NBC prime time series James at 15, and wrote the screenplay for Going All the Way, starring Ben Affleck. He edited and wrote the introduction for Kurt Vonnegut Letters as well as If This Isn’t Nice, What Is?: Vonnegut’s Advice to the Young. Visit Wakefield online at www.danwakefield.com and www.vonnegutsoldestlivingfriend.com.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1982 by Dan Wakefield
Cover design by Andy Ross
ISBN: 978-1-5040-2745-8
This edition published in 2016 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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