Then she laughed. Her laughter caught him from a distance, then it stopped while he tried to find the place from which it came. It came from down below. He saw her bolting up the escalator, coming in long jumps till she stood beside him, breathing hard and laughing. “Surprised, ha? Did you buy me a dress? A cheap one?”
“Slow down, Pat. They’re over here. I haven’t looked at them yet. I was waiting for you.”
She flitted along the racks of clothes, pulling some off the hangers, throwing some of them back. When a saleswoman came Pat had an armful.
“Where can I try these on?” she asked. “It’ll make it so much easier to see just what we want. Benny, doesn’t that make it so much easier?”
“Sure, Pat. Follow the lady.”
When the two women had disappeared, he found a chair where the aisles ended in an oval space and sat down. He took a deep breath and took out his cigarettes, but before he had a chance to light up, Pat came back.
“This?” she said. “Is this the kind you want?”
It fitted her well, a light summer thing with little sleeves and cut deep front and back. He had hardly taken it in when she turned and ran back to the dressing room. “There are more,” she called. “Lots more.”
It didn’t take her long to get back, this time with the same kind of thing, only in a different color. She stood, turned before him, and flounced the skirt Again she was gone before he could give any opinion of it. He had caught on by this time, and when she came back he was ready. He got to his feet and said, “Honey, that’s the one. That one is a real knockout and just exactly what we want!”
Her eyes lit up with an unnatural sparkle, and judging by her face the whole world was a dream, a big beautiful dream. “I knew this was it,” she said. “I knew it! And now we’ll see if it works.” She grabbed the front of the dress and ripped.
It ripped good.
The whole thing came apart in the front and Pat stood in the middle of the oval, laughing.
Benny turned her around by the shoulders and pushed her toward the dressing room. The stunned saleslady revived herself in time to open the door for them, but when they had Pat inside the trouble had only started. Outside the dressing room the saleslady turned, a withering look on her face, but Benny couldn’t hear what she was saying to him because Pat had started to pound on the door. He didn’t have to hear the words; he could tell by the woman’s face, which was getting more and more livid, that things were getting out of hand fast Suddenly the pounding stopped and at the same time the saleslady turned on her heel and hurried down the aisle. At least one of the mad women was out of his hair. When he tried the door to the dressing room he found it was locked. “Pat? Open up, Pat, it’s me.” No answer. “Honey, will you open up, for chrissakes?”
The door opened. She was wearing nothing but bra and panties and there was no mistaking the look she gave him. With a strange smile on her face she reached out and pulled at his lapel. That’s when they heard the feet pounding down the aisle. Pat stepped out of the cubicle and started to jump up and down. “Run, run, run!” she yelled. “Run, run, run!”
It hadn’t taken them very long. One of the cops said, “You’re under arrest,” and the other one grabbed Benny by the arm.
They should have grabbed Pat instead. She crouched like a sprinter and was off among the clothes racks, one of the cops after her.
“Was I exaggerating, Officer?” The saleslady gave the cop who was holding Benny a haughty look. “Was I exaggerating?”
“Whatever she told you, she’s wrong.” Benny started to talk fast “She’s sick, Officer. My wife’s sick. A malaria attack. They come sudden and bad, real bad. She goes out of her head, for a while that is, just for a while.”
“You ain’t kidding.” The cop kept holding onto Benny’s arm.
“Don’t you get it, copper? She’s got to have a doctor and fast. She’s got to be in bed, rest up, and then everything will be O.K. I know how it goes, I’ve had experience, don’t you hear?”
“I saw it” The cop kept his grip on Benny’s arm.
“Look, lady, we got to do something. Wrap me up two of those dresses, like she was wearing. I want to be ready to go when they get back. Wrap up two and have another one ready for her to wear.”
“You realize she tore one of them. You-”
“I’ll pay for it Now get a move on. And wrap up some underthings, too. We got to be ready when-”
“Underthings, sir?”
“Like she’s wearing. Now move!”
The saleslady blushed, but she didn’t say anything.
When she had left, the cop let go of Benny’s arm. “Might as well sit down. Real problem you got there, ain’tcha?”
They sat down on a frilly-looking love seat and Benny pulled out a smoke. “You said it, Officer. This doesn’t happen often, but seeing how you’ve been co-operating-”
“Real problem, I’d say.” The cop rubbed his hand over the gray stubbles on his chin. His eyes looked sleepy. “I can feel for you, bud. We got one mean judge in this town.”
“Look, Officer, you’ve been co-operating swell-”
“Shame, you know, bud? Real shame to have a little thing like this get blown up all over creation.”
“You said it, Officer. You hit it right on the head.” Benny started to pull some bills out of his pocket. “You’ve been a real square guy about this thing.” Benny pushed a folded wad into the man’s pants pocket.
The cop had been looking the other way, but now he took the bills out of his pocket and counted them. Then he put them back. “Like I was telling you, bud, you never seen such a mean judge like we got in this town.” He yawned, making three fat bulges out of the skin under his jaw. “And what’s worse, bud, the only co-operation that shyster ever gives is to the press. Got a regular pipeline to the press.”
Benny had started to sweat. He rubbed his hands together, trying to kill the itch in his palms, and there was a hard line down one side of his mouth.
“So I guess we might as well get ready,” said the cop. “Might as well make a call to the station and get everything ready.” But he didn’t move. He kept sitting there on the love seat.
Benny went through his act again, and then the cop went through his. When his hand was out of the pocket he got up and looked at Benny. “You know, bud, we’ll just forget this happened. No reason why you shouldn’t get a break once in a while.” He looked around, yawning. “Now, where’s that Paul gone to? Shoulda been back, don’t you figure, bud?”
He should have been. He should have found Pat quite a while ago, and he should have been back. If he hadn’t found her yet, the store would have been in an uproar by now, with a half-naked maniac chasing down the aisles and an armed cop clomping after her. Benny took a drag on his butt and burned his mouth. He dropped the stub and ground it into the carpet with a sharp twist of his foot.
Then he saw them. Pat was wearing an overcoat that had a price tag dangling from a button in front and she was walking with demure little steps, eyes cast down. The young cop behind her looked as if he didn’t know what to do with his hands. He pulled at his tie, yanked his cartridge belt around, and once he stumbled. When Pat walked past him she winked. Then she closed the door of the dressing room behind her, and the two cops wandered off.
When Pat came out of the dressing room, she looked sweet and cool in a new dress. She came and stood by Benny, waiting patiently while he paid the bill. Then they left.
When Benny pulled the car into the traffic, he saw the two cops standing on the sidewalk, looking after them.
After half an hour Malcotte showed behind a bend. At the motor court Benny turned down the gravel lane and pulled up to the cottage. Brakes squealed behind and the two cops were there again. But Benny ignored them. He tried to keep his mind on Pat, who sat pushed back in the seat, her eyes dull, her hands curled in her lap.
“Pat,” he said, “end of the line. Get up, Pat.”
She yawned. He walked to her side of the car, pulled the door open, and almost made her tumble off the seat.
“Pull yourself together, for chrissakes.”
She yawned and got out of the car. He led her into the cabin, turned the bedcovers down, and pulled the new dress over her head. Pat flopped down on her back. She seemed to fall suddenly into a deep sleep and looked as
