Part 5 (1/2)

Those d.a.m.n fool men teased her, presuming that she was suffering from a hangover. Allison took their teasing good-naturedly, but I wanted to kill them. After what they had done to her the night before this was the last straw.

Allison could hardly speak by the time we got to the doctor so I had to do all the talking. He was an old country doctor who had known the Broadmans for years. It was quite a job convincing him that it would be better for all concerned if he never breathed a word of our visit. He finally agreed.

I waited for him to complete his examination in an agony of suspense. If something were wrong with Allison I'd never forgive myself. I knew it was irrational, that I had done everything I could but still I felt that I could have done more. I've got that kind of mind. I've got to question my motives about everything. Was it possible that I hadn't done all I could because I resented Allison's holding out on me s.e.xually?

No, that was ridiculous. Allison would be mine in the near future and I knew it. I wasn't that childish that I couldn't wait. Nothing that had happened the night before was my fault.

What if Allison were pregnant? That would be the ultimate irony. But of course we wouldn't be able to find out about that for a little while.

The doctor called me in to talk to him while Allison was getting dressed. He said there was nothing physically wrong with her beyond some superficial bruises. But emotionally she was in a bad state. She needed rest and quiet.

Well, that was a hot one. Rest and quiet at Happy Broadman's? She might as well recuperate in a boiler factory.

”You're not going back there,” I announced to Allison as we were leaving the doctor's office. ”We're going back to New York. Right away, as soon as we can get a train. I'll call Karen and tell her your grandmother died and that you have to go to her funeral. I'll say that you're very upset and I'm going with you so you won't have to be alone.” I stopped talking for a moment. Allison didn't say anything. ”Is that o.k. with you?”

”Fine,” she said.

”All right then, I'll ask Judy to bring our luggage back to New York with her on Monday.”

I steered Allison into a drugstore, seated her at the counter, ordered a cup of coffee for her, and left her to make the call. Oh, I was great at taking overa”after the crisis had pa.s.sed.

The poor baby sat at the counter staring at the mirror in front of her. She didn't even touch her coffee. I watched her while I was talking to Karen and she didn't move an inch the whole time.

I didn't feel so hot but compared with Allison I was ready to run in the Olympics. I hadn't taken as much of a beating as she had. Besides, I was a lot tougher inside. I'd seen too many very unpretty things during that year when I had b.u.mmed around New York.

We took the afternoon train to New York. Allison slept through the trip. I stared out the window and hated. Everybody and anything that had ever or ever could hurt Allison was my enemy. Especially that fat slob Marv Banner. And to think that a few days before I had been feeling sorry for the way Happy was taking advantage of him. Now I hoped that Happy would screw him blind.

I had to wake Allison up when we reached Grand Central. ”Should we go to your apartment or mine?” I asked her.

”It doesn't matter. Your place, I guess,” she answered.

All the way to my apartment in the cab Allison fought a losing battle to stay awake. She kept falling asleep and then jolting awake whenever we'd stop for a light.

I had to help Allison up the stairs to my flat. Once inside, she fell down on the couch in utter exhaustion. I took her clothes off and carried her into the bedroom. She seemed heavier than she had the night before. I must have been in quite a state myself to have been able to pick her up so easily. This time I staggered under her weight but I made it. I dumped her on the bed and went into the bathroom to draw a bath.

When I came back, Allison was lying just as I had left her with her eyes closed.

”Is that bath for me?” she murmured, her eyes still closed.

”If you want it.”

”Yes. I want to wash myself until there's no trace of those beasts left on me.”

I stayed with her while she bathed. She asked me to wash her back.

I knelt by the side of the tub and rubbed Allison's back vigorously. Her lovely body was covered with bruises but she kept asking me to rub harder. As if I could scrub away the bruises on her soul.

After her bath, Allison went back to her bed. She was asleep in minutes.

I puttered around the apartment cleaning up as quietly as I could. The place was a mess. I had let it go because there was no one to see the clutter but myself. Now Allison would be staying here and I wanted the place to be immaculate for her.

I checked on Allison before making dinner. She was still asleep. It would be silly to wake her up so I made fried chicken. The chicken would keep until she was hungry and then she could eat it cold.

I bathed before going to bed. I looked at myself in the door mirror. I had some pretty ugly black and blue marks myself. But inside I still felt clean. Those brutes hadn't touched me inside as they had Allison.

Allison was lying in a diagonal across the bed. I took a blanket and settled down on the living room couch.

I had been sleeping for several hours when I heard Allison calling for me. I ran into the bedroom.

Allison was sitting up in bed, her eyes wide with fright. ”Stay with me, darling. Please. I'm afraid to be alone.”

I tried to get her to eat something but she said that she was too tired. All she wanted to do was sleep in my arms.

I got into bed and put my arms around her gently. Allison sighed like a contented child. ”Stay with me, Sloane,” she said. And then she was asleep again.

I awoke late in the morning. Sunday morning noises were coming up from the street. You can always tell Sunday in New York City. The very air seems to smell different. There's a peace about the city.

”Awake?”

I jumped. I had thought that Allison was still sleeping.

”Yes. How do you feel this morning?”

”Better. Still tired though,” she giggled.

I was so happy to hear that giggle that I almost kissed her. But I remembered her swollen lips in time.

”Some guest you've got, my love. Bet you thought you had a regular Rip Van Winkle on your hands.”

”I was glad you could sleep,” I said. ”Hungry?”

”And how. I haven't eaten since the day before yesterday.”

”Stay here. I'll make breakfast and bring it in to you,” I said.

”Divine. Utterly and completely divine. I've been waiting all my life for someone to bring me breakfast in bed.”

”Let's hope you don't have to go through the same sort of thing again in order to get breakfast in bed. The goal is worthy but is it worth the trouble?” I ran out of the room in time to escape the pillow Allison flung at my head.

After breakfast Allison slept for a few more hours. Then she got up and stumbled into the living room where I was lying on the couch reading.

”Hi,” she said, flopping down on top of me. ”I'm alive. For the moment, anyway.”

We watched television. There was a good movie on. Allison lay in my arms on the couch. She was more asleep than awake. Putting the television set on was a gimmick on my part. If I hadn't Allison would have felt it necessary to make conversation and she was just too worn out.

We spent the rest of the day that way. Allison ate a little but she couldn't hold down much. Most of the time she slept or looked at television blankly.