He answered with a cough and she jammed her open hand between his legs, grabbing him by the testicles. She squeezed and Gus howled, doubled over and let go of her wrist. She turned to run away from him and slammed into Willy’s stubby chest.
“ Not gonna get away. Not gonna get away.” Willy wrapped his arms around her and holding her in a bear hug. She punched him in the stomach, but he held on. She kneed him in the groin, but he held on. She bit him in the neck, but he held on.
“ Let her go, son.” John Coffee’s voice came from the parking lot and Willy released her.
Sarah ran toward Coffee as the heavy set man with the knife got his wind.
“ Behind me,” he said, and she obeyed, sliding between Willy and the Chevy pickup.
“ You’re gonna be one sorry son of a bitch,” Gus said.
“ Please don’t kill these men,” Sarah said. “The short one is retarded. It’s not his fault.”
“ Am not, am not,” Willy said.
“ Take your friend, go back into the bar and you can live,” Coffee said.
The man was big. He had a knife, and he’d been drinking, but not that much, and he wasn’t that stupid. “Come on, Willy, let’s go get another beer.”
“ Fine by me, Gus. Fine by me, Gus,” Willy said.
The big man put away the knife and lead his stubby friend back into the bar. When Gus opened the door that voice rang out loud into the night. Bob Dylan was still singing that song on the juke box and she was beginning to know what it felt like to be like a rolling stone.
“ We gotta go.” He turned toward her, but she didn’t move. She just stood there in the middle of the parking lot, nude, with her feet apart, hands on her hips, breasts jutting forward, long hair blowing in the wind, her skin changing color with the reflection of the neon sign. Pink, white, pink, white. She was drop dead beautiful.
“ It was you,” she said.
He didn’t answer her.
“ On the beach last week? You saved me from those men?”
“ We gotta go. I got a car.”
“ Not till you tell me.”
“ Sarah, you’re naked.”
“ So, you’ve seen me naked before, haven’t you?”
“ Sarah, any minute another redneck is gonna come out that door and get an eyeful.”
“ Tell me, dammit.”
“ It was me.”
“ We can go now,” she said and he led her across the parking lot to a blue station wagon.
“ 1965 Chevy Impala station wagon,” he said as he opened the passenger door for her. “Three hundred and twenty-seven cubic inches, Powerglide automatic transmission,” he continued, after he got in. “This baby is virtually trouble free and will probably run forever.” He put the key in the ignition and started the car.
“ How’d you get the keys?”
“ I went into the bar and asked to see the manager.”
“ And.”
“ And I told him what a wonderful bar he had.” Coffee eased the car out of the parking lot and back toward Highway 1.
“ And he just happened to loan you his car?”
“ Not exactly.”
“ Well?”
“ I picked his pocket.”
“ Of course.”
“ Now, if he just stays behind the bar till closing, we’ll be back in Palma before he notices the car’s gone.”
“ No gas,” she said.
“ What?”
“ No gas. You stole a car without any gas in it.”
“ Damn.” He stepped on the brakes. “And I almost passed the station.” He turned into the Shell station and pulled up to the pump. The gas island was lit by flood lights and the kid that came out to the car got an eyeful, before Sarah covered her breasts.
“ Lady’s got no clothes on,” the kid said, standing outside the driver’s window and looking past Coffee. He was about sixteen and hadn’t seen many naked ladies in his young life.
“ Fill her up,” Coffee said.
“ This is Jack’s car,” the kid said.
“ He loaned it to me.”
“ Really?” the kid said. Coffee noted the skepticism in the kid’s voice.
“ Loaned me the lady too.” Coffee winked at the kid.
“ Really?” the kid’s tone changed.
“ Poker bet,” Coffee said.
“ That Jack,” the kid said, shaking his head and going to the pump, “he’s always doing something wild. Wait till the guys hear about this.”
Coffee got out of the car and walked up to the kid. “Here,” he said, handing the kid a hundred dollar bill. “Keep the change.”
“ Thanks, mister,” the kid said as he put the nozzle into the tank.
“ But don’t tell the gang till tomorrow, okay?” He winked again. “Wouldn’t want her husband to find out and spoil my night. Know what I mean?”
“ Sure thing, mister. Not a word out of me.”
Coffee got back in the car, greeted by an angry glare from Sarah. He turned away from her. The kid slapped the roof and Coffee pulled out of the station, with his eyes on the road.
“ Cute,” she said, biting back her anger. “Wouldn’t want her husband to find out and spoil the fun. Won her in a poker game.”
“ He was just a kid.”
“ I’m a human being, Coffee. Not some piece of meat.”
“ You’re naked, Sarah. I had to think of something.”
“ That’s the best you could do?”
“ It’s not my fault you’re naked.”
“ You said you were going to get me something to wear.”
“ Sorry.”
“ I’ll bet,” she said, then she shut up and stared at the road. At least he was driving like a sane man, holding to the speed limit. She watched him as he drove. It started to rain and he turned on the wipers. She liked the sound they made, steady, hypnotic. She was no longer self conscious about her nakedness in front of him. Somehow it seemed natural. He was special. He was crazy, but he was special.
“ Why don’t you get some sleep,” he said.
“ I think I’ll stay awake,” she said, closing her eyes. She was exhausted and for a short while she drifted around in that magical place between sleep and not sleep, then she couldn’t fight it anymore.
She woke with cool, cold air drifting across her breasts. He’d rolled his window down. The rain had stopped. She yawned and looked over at him.
“ Where are we?”
“ We’re almost back.”
“ What was this all about, John? The maniac ride out of town. My house. The whole thing?”
“ Tried to fool it into thinking I’ve left. I’m hoping she’ll find the car and hunt around down there, while I try and get back what I stole. Then maybe I can make a deal.”
“ Okay, John Coffee, I’m just along for the ride.” Just when she was starting to like him, too. He’d saved her from being raped and probably murdered last week and again tonight, twice in the same month, plenty enough for any girl, she thought, and he was plenty enough man for any girl, but he was a walking, driving fruitcake.
