Hot Springs by Stephen Hunter Read Free Book Online

honey. It’s nothing like a war. It’s for raiding gambling places. This fellow is the new prosecuting attorney down in Garland.”
    “Hot Springs!”
    “Hot Springs. Yes. He’s going to try and clean up the town.”
    “We’re moving to Hot Springs?”
    Well, damn him if he didn’t just let it sit there for a while. He let her enjoy it: the idea of moving out of the vets village at Camp Chaffee, maybe getting a place with a real floor instead of wood slats that were always dirty, and that had walls that went straight up to a ceiling, and didn’t arch inward or rattle and leak when it rained. The refrigerator would be big, so she wouldn’t have to shop every day. The shower would be indoors; there’d even be a tub. The stove would be gas.
    “Maybe so,” he finally said. “Maybe in a bit. We’d get a nice house, out of town, away from the commotion. It can get plenty hectic in that place.”
    “I’m not coming, am I, Earl?”
    “No ma’am. Not at first. I have it worked out, though-You’ll be fine. The paycheck will come straight to you. You can put a certain part of it in a state bank account, and I’ll write checks from that for my spending money. You’ll get a list of the benefits, and it won’t be no time before we can move.”
    Junie didn’t say anything. She stirred, seemed to roll over and face the bunk atop her, and when she finally settled she seemed further away.
    “See, it won’t work out, having you down there,” he said. “Not at first. I’m going to be in Texas for a while, where we’re going to train these kids, then we move up to Garland. But I ain’t even going on the raids. I’m more the trainer and the sergeant. I have to ride herd on the younger fellows, just like in the Corps, that’s all. And there’s a security issue, or so they say, but, you know, it’s just being careful.”
    “I can tell in your voice. You’ll go on the raids. It’s your nature.”
    “That’s not the plan. They don’t want a big fancy hero type like me getting shot.”
    “That may not be the plan, but you have a nature, and you will obey it. It’s to lead other men in battle and help them and prevent them from getting hurt. That is your nature.”
    “They didn’t say a thing about that. The reason we don’t want the women down there is just some precautions. It’s very corrupt in Hot Springs. Has been for years. All the cops are crooked, the newspapers are crooked, the courts and the judges are crooked.”
    “I heard they have gangsters there, and whores. That’s where A1 Capone went and Alvin Karpis and Ma Barker went to relax and take hot baths. They have guns and gangsters. It’s where your father got killed.”
    “My father died in Mount Ida, and he could have died anywhere on earth where there’s men who rob other men, which is everywhere on earth. He didn’t have nothing to do with Hot Springs. All that other stuff, you can’t believe a lick of it. It’s old hillbilly boys with shotguns.”
    “Oh, Earl, you’re such a bad liar. You’re going off to a war, because the war is what you know best and what you love best. And you’re going to leave me up in Fort Smith with no way to get in contact with you and I’ll just have to wait and see if somebody doesn’t come up with a telegram and say, Oh, Mrs. Swagger, the state of Arkansas is so sorry, but your husband, Earl, is dead. But it’s okay, because he was a hero, and this here’s another nice piece of plated gold for your trouble.”
    “Junie, I swear to you nothing will happen to me. And even if it does, well, hell, you got $5,000 and you’re still the most beautiful gal in Fort Smith and you don’t have to stay in the hut, you could probably find an apartment by that time, when this housing mess is all cleared up. It’ll all get better, I swear to you.”
    “And who raises your son?”
    “My— I don’t have a son.”
    “No, maybe it’s a daughter. But whatever it is, it sure is getting big in my