The Axman Cometh by John Farris Read Free Book Online Page A

reminds her. She escapes down the walk with her hand in Robert's, ducking as Chap, competing for attention, tosses a mealy handful of grass clippings in her direction.
    "I thought it might be best not to tell them we're going to fly over to Colorado to see the mountains," Robert says with a smile.
    "You did the right thing," Shannon assures him, her heart beginning to thud agreeably from anticipation. She feels so daring. Just flying around the country with somebody she only met two days ago. Bernice and Maryleen are going to flip out when they hear about it—but she'd better get something straight with Rob right away. "Are you sure we have enough time—I mean, seriously, I can't come in at like three in the morning, because Emerson is dead after midnight. You know what they'd think."
    "Don't worry, I won't disgrace you. It's about eight hundred miles round trip. If we leave by seven-thirty, we'll be back around midnight. Is that for me?" He is looking at the oversize envelope Shannon has under her other arm.
    "Uh-huh. The one and only Madge Mayhew. 'Ugly as a tattooed lip.' That's what Dab always says."
    The football gets away from Duffy and takes some erratic bounces in their direction; Robert times a bounce, then scoops the ball up one-handed (he has large, strong hands, larger than her father's, which seemed to surprise Dab when they came to grips on the porch). He fires a lofty spiral down the block to Allen Ray, who catches it in full stride over his shoulder.
    "I like your family."
    "I'm sure they're not a bit like yours," Shannon says with a nervous laugh.
    "I hope not." The change in his mood is like a drop in voltage that causes a lamp to grow dim.
    In the car as they are driving away Shannon says, "My brother's going to be drafted next month. He doesn't seem to care; but it scares me."
    Robert takes a quick look back at Allen Ray. "I didn't do any service. Bad knee. I fell down some stairs when I was eight, and it took three operations before I could walk without a brace."
    "Do you know how to get to the airport from here?"
    "I know every major street in Emerson by heart, even though I've only been here three days. My photographic memory. I would never need to carry your picture. I'll always remember you perfectly: your eyes are more hazel than blue, although they change to green sometimes."
    "All of me is fickle, not just my eyes." "Your lips sort of squinch up at one corner when you don't believe what I'm saying, like now. And I love the way the lobe of your right ear is bent out just a little—"
    "I usually say I slept on it wrong," Shannon replies, touching the faulty lobe self-consciously.
    "There's a little fish-shaped scar under your chin—"
    "Oh, honestly. Nobody ever notices that any more. Now I feel like I'm all scars and bent earlobes. And you won't remember me always. I'll bet you won't even remember me this time next year. Maybe you'll be saying to yourself—" Shannon pitches her voice deeper, "—what was the name of that little girl in Whatchamacallit, Kansas?"
    "You don't know me. I'll remember. I'll be right back here on this same day one year from now, and take you away in my plane. Only I'm going to have a Leaijet by then, one of the first off the line."
    "I think we're going too fast already," Shannon murmurs, and with a glance gives him the opportunity to deny it. Robert just shakes his head complacently.
    "I keep my promises. I'm very good about that."
    The sun has set but the sky is still mildly alight, gold out over the prairie, by the time they reach the airport. Which is no great shakes, consisting of a 3,500-foot paved, lighted runway, a VOR-TACAN cone in a field surrounded by barbed wire, two quonset -type hangers and a small flight service base.
    "Okay, you're going to learn a lot about flying tonight," Robert says, eagerly pulling her along to where his red-and-white Piper Aztec is parked and secured by ground cable.
    "I have a confession to make. I haven't been up in one of these