half-baked. You arenât finished like us old dumb ones that God made.â
âI didnât say the scientists hadnât got that far,â she said. âI just said I hadnât got that far.â
âItâs a funny thing to me how all those dinosaurs came up here to die in the mountains and none of them died in the farmland,â he said. âIt sure would have made it a lot easier on us miners if theyâd died down there on the flat.â
While she was groping around for an answer he went right on. âTell me this, Sister,â he said. âAre any of your monkey ancestors in there with the dinosaurs, or is it just plain dinosaurs? Iâd like to know who all Iâm digging upâ¦Iâd like to give creditâ¦â
The jeep had come to a stop and Joe was coming towards them, hurrying out of the small tin-roofed office with a worried look on his face. âMr. D, you better call up to Jellico. Bebâs been looking everywhere for you. They had a run-in with a teamster organizer. You got to call him right away.â
âWhatâs wrong?â Rhoda said. âWhat happened?â
âNothing you need to worry about, Sister,â her father said. He turned to Joe. âGo find Preacher and tell him to drive Rhoda back to your house. You go on now, honey. Iâve got work to do.â He gave her a kiss on the cheek and disappeared into the office. A small shriveled-looking man came limping out of a building and climbed into the driverâs seat. âIâm Preacher,â he said. âMr. Joe told me to drive you up to his place.â
âAll right,â Rhoda said. âI guess thatâs okay with me.â Preacher put the jeep in gear and drove it slowly down the winding rutted road. By the time they got to the bottom Rhoda had thought of a better plan. âIâll drive now,â she said. âIâll drive myself to Maudâs. Itâs all right with my father. He lets me drive all the time. You can walk back, canât you?â Preacher didnât know what to say to that. He was an old drunk that Dudley and Joe kept around to run errands. He was so used to taking orders that finally he climbed down out of the jeep and did as he was told. âShow me the way to town,â Rhoda said. âDraw me a map. I have to go by town on my way to Maudâs.â Preacher scratched his head, then bent over and drew her a little map in the dust on the hood. Rhoda studied the map, put the jeep into the first forward gear she could find and drove off down the road to the little town of Manchester, Kentucky, studying the diagram on the gearshift as she drove.
She parked beside a boardwalk that led through the main street of town and started off looking for a store that sold cigarettes. One of the stores had dresses in the window. In the center was a red strapless sundress with a white jacket. $6.95, the price tag said. I hate the way I look, she decided. I hate these tacky pants. Iâve got sixty dollars. I donât have to look like this if I donât want to. I can buy anything I want.
She went inside, asked the clerk to take the dress out of the window and in a few minutes she emerged from the store wearing the dress and a pair of leather sandals with two-inch heels. The jacket was thrown carelessly over her shoulder like Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven . I look great in red, she was thinking, catching a glimpse of herself in a store window. It isnât true that redheaded people canât wear red. She walked on down the boardwalk, admiring herself in every window.
She walked for two blocks looking for a place to try her luck getting cigarettes. She was almost to the end of the boardwalk when she came to a pool hall. She stood in the door looking in, smelling the dark smell of tobacco and beer. The room was deserted except for a man leaning on a cue stick beside a table and a boy with black hair seated behind a
Brauna E. Pouns, Donald Wrye