Free Wild Swans by Patricia Snodgrass Page B

just beyond the door. She leaned against the dusty brick wall and calmed herself. Hank, thankfully, was nowhere in sight. Where he went she had no idea, nor did she particularly care. All that she knew for sure was that he seemed to disappear just as they got to the lobby, which was just as well; she needed to be alone with her thoughts.
    True, Hank was a handsome enough boy, but his head was filled with sawdust as far as she could tell. He certainly didn’t stand up to that lecherous old man of his, or that hateful racist old bitch of a mother.
    Where have all the real men gone? She wondered. What happened to all the heroes, the knights in shining armor? For once, just once, I’d like to see a man make a stand for something. Clearly Hank has less guts than Jake.
    Althea wandered away from the lighted parking lot and walked down a narrow path leading away from the restaurant. It was dark, lushly forested and quiet, just the thing she yearned for. It was cool beneath the trees, which was a relief from the oppressive heat and humidity. She paused, listening. Althea heard the trickling of water somewhere off to her right. Probably a stream, she thought. A stream glistening in the moonlight would be lovely right now. She moved deeper into the woods in search of it.
    The tree line gave way and Althea found herself standing in a clearing just behind the tree line, moonlight glistening off heavy drops of dew as if someone had tossed jewels onto the grass. The effect dazzled her. I could stay here forever , she thought. It’s so beautiful, so safe. Like a fairytale world
    A brief flutter of cloth caught her attention. Althea’s heart skipped a beat when a shadow detached from the forest and moved towards her.
    Is it one of those things I saw this morning ? She wondered. Her pulse hammered up a notch as the vision of the horrible shadow-creature hovering over the river came to mind. She turned, ready to run, but she tripped in her high heels and fell on her bottom, jarring herself hard enough to knock out her breath.
    The shadow morphed underneath the moonlight, solidified, the golden hair of her fiancé glistened, and his pale skin seemed to glow as he approached her. It’s Hank, she realized. She laughed as she saw him quicken his pace.
    He arrived, as handsome as a prince in a fairytale. He offered her his hand, and she took it shyly, because her heart was hammering even harder now, but not from fright.
    “Thank you,” she said as he pulled Althea to her feet. She laughed as she adjusted her dress. “New shoes,” she explained. “I’m not used to heels.”
    Hank looked down at her feet and said, “I don’t see how you girls walk in those things.”
    Althea laughed. “Sometimes, I don’t either.”
    “What a zoo,” he said. He flipped two cigarettes out of a pack he retrieved from his coat pocket and lit them, handing one to her. “The folks, I mean. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. And you?”
    “ Now Voyager ,” Althea said as she took a drag, stifled a cough, dropped the thing and snuffed it out with her heel.
    “Now what?” Hank laughed.
    “ Now Voyager , with Bette Davis and Claude Rains. He handed her a cigarette just like you did. I thought you knew. Everyone who’s anyone is doing it.”
    “Really? I just thought it was cool.” Hank took a thoughtful drag and said, “You didn’t answer my question.”
    “About the parents? Yes, in spades,” Althea replied. “I don’t mean to offend but your folks are as bad as my mom. My, how loudly they put on airs. I think the whole restaurant overheard. It was embarrassing.”
    “Very...Embarrassing, that is.”
    “I think that was the whole point,” Althea added, after a pause. “Am I wrong?”
    “Not even close.”
    Silence descended on them. The girl in the party dress looking up at the young man with golden hair, French smoking, relaxed in his skin, like Bogart. Althea found herself liking him.
    “People were laughing at them too,” Hank