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taking in a movie. She asked what I was going to see and I said there was a Chaplin playing a few blocks away. Say, I said—as if the idea had just come to me—would she like to go to the flicker with me when she got off work?
    She gave me a strange look, then said no, which I never expected. And which surprised me with how much it irked. Then she smiled and for a second I thought she’d seen the disappointment on my face, but she said what she’d really like to do was go to the carnival over at the river fairgrounds. She guessed I wasn’t really dressed for a carnival, though, in my nice suit and all.
    I told her my clothes were no problem. What time did she get off work. I said I’d already asked Earl if he minded if I took her out and he said no.
    She said it was a good thing Earl didn’t mind, because even though he was her big brother and she liked him a lot he wasn’t her keeper and did not tell her what she could and could not do. She gave me that funny look again and said How old are you, anyway? You never said.
    Twenty-one, I said—that too risky for you?
    She laughed and said Oh brother, you really think I’m a sap for a dare?
    Actually, I said, Earl told me your momma might not like the idea of you going out with an older guy.
    Actually, she said, she wouldn’t.
    I said it seemed to me that anybody who worked at a grown-up job and was helping to support her family like she was doing was entitled to make her own decisions.
    She said men were always encouraging girls to make their own decisions as long as the decision might involve taking off clothes.
    Nice talk, I said. What kind of a guy you take me for?
    She waggled her brow and said she wasn’t sure. Then said there was no need to worry about her mother because she was working nights at the tire factory and didn’t have to know about me. As forher little sister Margo, the girl was devoted to her and knew how to keep her mouth shut.
    And so, when she got off work an hour later, we went to the carnival.
    I hadn’t realized how short she was until we were walking out to the car—the top of her head didn’t reach my shoulder. It was a cool clear night, perfect for being outdoors. She was crazy for the rides, the wilder the better. She claimed she’d been on scarier roller coasters than this one, but she was pleased with the Whip, which had arms that bobbed up and down even as they swung round and round and the seats at the end of them spun constantly. Her favorite was the Bullet, which looked like two rocket ships, one at either end of a long whirling arm that first wheeled in one direction and then in the other, while the rocket you were belted into spun like a top. The first time we went on the Bullet all the change fell out of my pockets and went pinging all over the rocket. It was all I could do to keep from heaving up my supper, but she loved every minute of it, ya-hooing and laughing and clutching tight to my arm. Her stomach was a bottomless cast-iron wonder. I didn’t see how somebody so small could eat so much. She put away a spool of cotton candy and a bag of popcorn, a foot-long hot dog with the works, a candied apple as big as a softball—and never showed a sign of queasiness, not even after our third ride on the Bullet. I was feeling green around the gills by then and close to losing my supper. She must’ve noticed and taken pity on me because when I asked if she wanted to go on the Bullet again she said no, she’d had enough of whirling upside down. I was silently thankful when she suggested the Ferris wheel. We gently rode it round and round, rising high above the blaze of fairway lights and seeing way off into the shadowy countryside under the pale bright moon. I held her close and she snuggled against me and we were at the very top of the turn when the wheel made its first stop to begin letting off passengers. She said This is really nice, and put her hand to my face and kissed me. In a minute we got our tongues into it.When I put