'But you're going to tell your father the truth,' Jeannie said.
'And my uncles. They'll know what to do.'
'How do you know that?' Jeannie said.
'They always know what to do,' I said.
'They do? My mom never does,' Jeannie said.
Pearl had tired of the woods and was now trotting along the tracks in front of us. Jeannie put her hand on my arm, and we stopped for a moment. She looked straight at me.
'You saved me,' she said.
I nodded.
'You knew what to do,' she said.
'Didn't have a bunch of choices,' I said.
In front of us, Pearl stopped suddenly and raised her head and began to sniff the air. I walked to where she stood and sniffed. There was a smell. I sniffed some more.
Someone was frying bacon. I heard a car horn. The three of us went on down the tracks, around a curve, and there was a town.
Chapter 23
'What did your father say?' Susan asked me.
'Actually it was my uncle Cash that came to get us,' I said. 'We were about twenty miles downriver, and we told him what happened on the ride home.'
'And what did Uncle Cash say?'
'Not much. He never had all that much to say anyway.'
'Did he say anything?'
'He said, a??Sounds like you done pretty good. We'll talk with your father about it.' '
'Your father was the man?' Susan said.
'It was mostly like a house with four equals in it,' I said.
'Including you.'
'Yeah,' I said, 'but in retrospect, I guess my father was a little more equal.'
'And you?' Susan said.
'Maybe a little less, until I was older.'
'They must have been out of their minds with worry,' Susan said.
'Probably, though I gotta say they didn't mention it.'
'So what was your father's reaction when you got home?'
'Mostly like Cash's, Patrick too. They both said it sounded like I'd done what I had to do and done it well.'
'That must have made you feel good.'
I nodded.
'Did,' I said.
