U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [59]
" Geewhiz, Janey, Joe cooked that steak fine."
"When we was kids we used to ketch frogs and broil
'em up in Rock Creek . . . Remember, Alec?"
"Damned if I don't, and Janey she was along once; geewhiz, the fuss you kicked up then, Janey."
"I don't like seeing you skin them."
"We thought we was regular wildwest hunters then. We had packs of fun then."
"I like this better, Alec," said Janey hesitatingly.
-141-"So do I . . ." said Alec. "Dod gast it, I wisht we had a watermelon."
"Maybe we'l see some along the riverbank somewhere goin' home."
" Jiminy crickets, what I couldn't do to a watermelon, Joe."
" Mommer had a watermelon on ice," said Janey;
"maybe there'l be some yet when we get home."
"I don't never want to go home," said Joe, suddenly bitter serious.
" Joe, you oughtn't to talk like that." She felt girlish and frightened.
"I'l talk how I goddam please . . . Kerist, I hate the scrimpy dump."
" Joe, you oughtn't to talk like that." Janey felt she was going to cry.
"Dod gast it," said Alec. "It's time we shoved . . . What you say, ho . . . ? We'l take one more dip and then make tracks for home."
When the boys were through swimming they al went
up to look at the Fal s and then they started off. They went along fast in the swift stream under the steep tree-hung bank. The afternoon was very sultry, they went through layers of hot steamy air. Big cloudheads were piling up in the north. It wasn't fun any more for Janey. She was afraid it was going to rain. Inside she felt sick and drained out. She was afraid her period was coming on. She'd only had the curse a few times yet and the thought of it scared her and took al the strength out of her, made her want to crawl away out of sight like an old sick mangy cat. She didn't want Joe and Alec to notice how she felt. She thought how would it be if she turned the canoe over. The boys could swim ashore al right, and she'd drown and they'd drag the river for her body and everybody'd cry and feel so sorry about it. Purplegray murk rose steadily and drowned the white
-142-summits of the cloudheads. Everything got to be livid white and purple. The boys paddled as hard as they
could. They could hear the advancing rumble of thunder. The bridge was wel in sight when the wind hit them, a hot stormwind ful of dust and dead leaves and bits of chaff and straw, churning the riverwater.
They made the shore just in time. "Dod gast it, this is goin' to be some storm," said Alec;
" Janey, get under the boat." They turned the canoe over on the pebbly shore in the lee of a big bowlder and huddled up under it. Janey sat in the middle with the waterlilies they had picked that morning al shriveled and clammy from the heat in her hand. The boys lay in their damp bathing-suits on either side of her. Alec's towsled black hair was against her cheek. The other side of her Joe lay with his head in the end of the canoe and his lean brown feet and legs in their rol edup pants tucked under her dress. The smel of sweat and riverwater and the warm boysmel of Alec's hair and shoulders made her dizzy. When the rain came drumming on the bottom of the canoe curtaining them in with lashing white spray, she slipped her arm round Alec's neck and let her hand rest timidly on his bare shoulder. He didn't move.
The rain passed after a while. "Gee, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," said Alec. They were pretty wet and chil y but they felt good in the fresh rainwashed air. They put the canoe back in the water and went on down as far as the bridge. Then they carried it back to the house they'd gotten it from, and went to the little shelter to wait for the electric car. They were tired and sunburned and sticky. The car was packed with a damp Sunday afternoon crowd, picnickers caught by the shower at Great Fal s and Glen Echo. Janey thought she'd never stand it til she got home. Her bel y was al knotted up with a cramp. When they got to