car, you may think I have no problems.”
He started a little as if her voice surprised him. He was probably miles away in his thoughts, she thought bitterly. He had forgotten she was at his side.
“What was that, ma’am?”
She repeated what she had said. 25
“Yeah… everyone has problems.” He nodded. “Ron says problems are sent to us as a challenge.”
She thought: God! How bored I’m getting with Ron!
“It’s not always easy to take up a challenge. I have a husband problem.”
He moved the Mercedes past a Fiat 125 with a gentle touch on the steering wheel, then he said, “Is that right?”
There was no interest in his voice and she felt deflated and defeated.
“He is a cripple.”
“That’s bad, ma’am.” Still no interest in his voice.
“It’s hard on me.”
This time he turned to look at her, then switched his eyes back to the road.
“Yeah… I can see that.”
“It can be lonely.”
“Sure.” He moved the car into the fast lane, overtaking three cars with a rush of speed that set her heart thumping. “But I guess with your looks, ma’am, you needn’t be all that lonely.”
She forced a laugh. “I’m not lonely now, Larry.”
“Yeah.” He nodded frowning. “Still a guy like me can’t be much company for someone like you. I guess you’re used to better talk. I don’t reckon to be much of a talker.”
“I wouldn’t have asked you along if I hadn’t liked you.” She paused, then trying to take the pleading out of her voice, she asked, “I hope you like me too.”
“Who wouldn’t?” The conviction in his voice made her heart-beat quicken. “Sure, I like you.”
If only he wasn’t so young and if only he had a little more education and a little more brain. But he was beautiful, virile and wonderfully male. You can’t expect too much, she told herself… count your blessings.
She began to ask him about himself and she learned his parents had a farm which provided them with a reasonable living and once this tour of Europe was over, he was going back to take over from his father.
“Will you like that Larry?”
He lifted his heavy shoulders.
“I guess. My old man is getting on and he needs me. I’m not good for much else.”
“Do you plan to marry?”
“I guess so, ma’am. You can’t run a farm without a wife… that’s what my old man says and I reckon he’s right.”
“Is there a girl?”
“Not one particular one.”
“But there are girls?”
He shifted uneasily.
“Sure.”
Although she wanted to pursue this subject, she felt he might resent it. She told herself he couldn’t be a virgin, but had he the experience to satisfy her? Regretfully, she switched to finding out his interests.
No, he didn’t read… maybe the comics, but they bored him after a while. No, he didn’t like classical music, but he dug for pop. He thought TV was a ball. No, he didn’t follow politics. Nixon? He hadn’t thought about Nixon. You had to have a President, so okay, you had a President. Sure he went to the movies. Yeah, he liked sexy films. He liked a good tough punch-up. He liked watching the fights on TV.
She listened, realizing the vast gap that lay between them.
Then suddenly, in front of them was a sign that said Basle was only thirty- five kilometres ahead of them.
“Basle? That’s Switzerland, isn’t it?” Larry said and there was a sudden change in his voice that made her look sharply at him.
“Yes.”
That’s the frontier… right?”
“Yes.”
He fingered his cap.
“What is it, Larry?”
“Nothing.” His voice had become curt and he slightly increased the speed of the car.
“But there is something… tell me.”
“Suppose we talk when we get to a parking, ma’am,” he said. The hard note in his voice frightened her. Why this sudden change? she asked herself, but feeling he would be irritated if she pressed for an immediate answer, she sat still, waiting.
Ten kilometres further along the autobahn, they came to a lay-by and he slowed, swung the car off the road and behind a thick hedge, covered with snow that hid a W.C. and stone tables and benches for the summer tourists.
He cut the engine, then half-turning in his seat, he looked directly at her.
“Ma’am, you told me about your problems, now it’s my turn. I also have a problem.”
What was coming? she thought. What was he going to say?
“Well… Tell me,” she said, forcing her voice to sound normal.
“Well, ma’am, I told you I had lost my things and my money. I lost my passport too.”
She stared at him.
“You have no passport?”
“That’s it.”
She tried to think efficiently, but she felt she wasn’t succeeding.
“But have you reported losing it?”
“No, ma’am. Like I told you, I got mixed up in this Hamburg riot. The cops were looking for everyone mixed up in it. I had to get out fast.”
She sat still, trying to think. The German police at the frontier might let them through without checking passports, but the Swiss police on the far side of the barrier were certain to check. She tried to imagine how the Swiss police would react when Larry said he had lost his passport. She would get involved. Of course she could say she was giving him a ride, but that wouldn’t help him. It would mean that she would lose him and this was something she was determined not to do.
“Why didn’t you tell me before, Larry? I would have gone with you to the American Consul at Bonn. We could have fixed it.”
He shook his head.
“It’s not that simple, but it’s okay. It can be fixed if you’ll go along. Have you anything in the boot?”
She stiffened, staring at him.
“In the boot? My luggage… what do you mean?”
“Do you want me to come with you to Switzerland?” he asked. “I could be of help to you… or maybe you don’t want me?”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying… what do you mean?” 29
“Look, ma’am, I have to get to the other side of the frontier. Ron told me where I can get a new passport. There’s lots of ways to cross the frontier. If you don’t want to help me, you say so. I’ll leave you right here. I just thought as you’ve been so good to me, I’d like to stay with you if I can.” The warm brown eyes went over her face. “There’s no problem if you will help.”
She pressed her hand against her forehead.
“I don’t understand.”
“I can go through the frontier in your boot, ma’am. It’s no problem. Ron says they never look in the boot of a car owned by an American. They just wave you through.”
She thought back on the times she had been through the various frontiers. What he said was true. They had
