Free Brass Bed by Fletcher Flora

suggest that you go away.”
    “You haven’t even looked at me yet,” she said. “Why don’t you look at me?”
    “Go away, please.”
    “Can you look at me and tell me to go away? If you can do that, I’ll go.”
    “Promise?”
    “Cross my heart and hope to die.”
    It was the old thing that kids say when they’re trying to convince someone that they’ll keep their word about something. At least they used to say it, and I guess they still do, and I’ve said it myself a thousand times. Once I said it and later broke my word and was in a sweat for days about it, and saying it now brought it all back to mind, the kid stuff, and made her sound somehow small and sad and terribly appealing. After bringing in my line, I turned and looked at her, and she was wearing white shorts and a blue-and-white-striped jersey and a pair of blue sandals with flat heels, and the shorts and the jersey were quite snug.
    We stood and looked at each other, and my resolution was all shot to hell, and pretty soon she said, “I promised, and I will keep my promise. Are you going to tell me to go?”
    “No.”
    “I was hoping you wouldn’t.”
    “I think you were damn sure I wouldn’t.”
    “No. That isn’t true. You sounded very determined.”
    “Why in God’s name did you come out here?”
    “Well, Kirby and I were out on the back terrace at home and were quite bored, which is a terrible thing to be so early in the day, and pretty soon Fran and Sid came along and stopped, and we all got to talking about what we might do that would be interesting for a change, and I just happened to remember about Harvey and you being out here fishing, and I mentioned it, and immediately everyone thought it would be a good thing to drive out and see how you were getting along.”
    “We were getting along very well.”
    “And now it’s ruined. Is that what you mean?”
    “Yes,” I said.
    “I’m truly sorry. I never wanted to ruin anything for you. All I want is to make you happy. Is there anything at all I can do to make you happy?”
    “Sure. Let’s go up and join Kirby and be happy all together. We’ll make a nice cozy little triangle, and it will be just like in a God-damn fairy tale or something. We’ll all live happily in a triangle ever after.”
    “You’re bitter, and I wish you wouldn’t be. It makes me miserable when you’re bitter.”
    “I know it’s unreasonable of me.”
    “Kirby has changed. I think his conscience must be bothering him, and he’s decided that he ought to be pals with me. You know what I mean. That we ought to do things together and all like that. He’s being very congenial.”
    “That’s fortunate, isn’t it? Now you need have practically no fear at all of being hit in the eye.”
    She didn’t even wince. “That’s true. Kirby’s quite sorry about hitting me. Quite penitent really. It’s absolutely touching to see how penitent he is.”
    “I’ll bet. Anyhow, now that you and Kirby are being pals, it will no longer be necessary for you to wish he would die.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You and Kirby being reconciled and all. Fine pals and everything.”
    “Well, I don’t see what that has to do with it.”
    “You still consider him an impediment?”
    “Certainly. It is obvious that he is a handicap to you and me.”
    “That’s true, but don’t you think it’s a sort of dirty way to feel about a guy when he’s working so hard at being congenial?”
    “I don’t understand why you keep going over that, as if it would be any different one time from another.” She scowled at me.
    “Honestly? You honestly can’t see that it would be any different?”
    “No, I can’t. I absolutely can’t. I must say, Felix, that you have the strangest way of looking at things. You seem to see everything distorted or something.”
    I started to laugh and couldn’t stop. She stood and looked at me with a tiny crease of puzzlement between her eyes and a small smile on her lips, and it crossed my