Free Holland Suggestions by John Dunning Page A

could go without disturbing her, leaned against my door, and closed my eyes. My right leg cramped at once. I moved it quickly and kicked her leg. She sat up, looked around, and said something to me in a heavy, sleepy voice.
    “It’s okay,” I told her. “I’ve just stopped for a rest.”
    If she heard that, or comprehended it, there was no change in her idiot expression. She fumbled with her seatbelt, unhooked it, shifted her position, and lay back across the seat. Her head dropped against my chest. She draped her arm over my shoulder and slept that way for the rest of the night
    For me, that meant little more than four hours. I was very much aware of her body pressed against mine, and increasingly bothered by the cramps in my lower legs, so I slept irregularly. Once I awoke fully aroused, my arm across her breast, and I was at least thirty minutes getting over that and getting to sleep again. Through it all she never stirred.
    At three-thirty I sat up and looked at my watch. Both my legs were fuzzy from lack of circulation. I pushed Amy into a sitting position and let her down gently against her door. Again she said something senseless; I folded my blanket and put it behind her head. I pushed the button locking her door, got out to walk around, and relieved myself on the left rear tire. By that time I was fully awake, and I knew there was no use trying for any more sleep.
    I was well past Kansas City before Amy woke. I had beaten the rush hour and, as I suspected, ended up in the same place that the interstate might have brought me hours earlier. No matter now. Route 50 petered out for a while but picked up again where Interstate 35 left off. The highway struck into Kansas from the southwest edge of town, and the land changed almost immediately. Gone was the rocky brown hill country, and in its place came the endless miles of prairie. The road straightened and stretched to the west in long sections unbroken by towns or crossroads. I had just reached the town of Emporia when Amy yawned and stretched and looked me over, her eyes still glazed with sleep.
    “God almighty.” Her voice was full of sand. “Jesus, I slept like a ton of bricks. Where are we?”
    “Somewhere in eastern Kansas. Hungry?”
    “Sure. What’d you do, drive all night?”
    “I pulled under a tree and got about four hours.”
    “I don’t remember; Jesus, I must have been out of it.” We found a restaurant near Emporia. After a trip to the ladies’ room Amy began to function. While we were waiting for our orders, I went out to the car for the map and saw that she was using the telephone. I went to the men’s room and splashed some water in my face and thought about it. She would know I had seen her when she returned to the table and found me gone. It might all be very innocent, her frequent use of the phone; she might be checking on a sick aunt, for all I knew. In that case she would feel no need to justify any of it to me, but I was betting otherwise. I came out into the dining room and saw her sitting alone in our booth; the waitress was just leaving our food. She looked up at me as I came toward her and her eyes never faltered.
    “These goddamn country phones,” she said; “you never can get anything out of a stupid country operator.”
    “You trying to make a call? I didn’t know you had anybody around here.”
    “Long distance,” she said. “Just try to get long distance from here.” She shrugged. “Yeah, I thought I’d better call my friends in L.A., at least warn them I’m coming. Yesterday I couldn’t get through and now today I can’t get through either.”
    “You’re just impatient. I’ve always found it the other way around; it’s the city operators who don’t know anything.”
    But her point was established and she let that pass. I paid and she didn’t protest; we were on the road again. I drove all day, averaging better than sixty including stops for gas. Now I could feel the end; I could almost taste it, and my