Bradbury, Ray - SSC 09 (28 page)

 
          
    Simpson stopped him.
'What's it like? You didn't have much money.'

 
          
    'It's a small house,'
said Odd, 'but it'll do. Some folks built it a while back,
then
moved away East somewhere. It was up for sale for only five hundred, so I got
it. Miss Weldon and I are moving out there tonight, after our marriage. But
don't tell
nobody
, please, until tomorrow.'

 
          
   
'Sure
thing, Odd.
Sure thing.'

 
          
    Odd went away into the
four o'clock
light,
Radney
at his side, and the barber shop men fell down into chairs and grabbed their
ribs and laughed.

 
          
    The sun went down slow
and the snipping of the shears continued, with the buzzing of flies, the clock
ticking, and the men sitting around nodding their heads, showing their teeth,
waving their hands, joking. . .

 
          
    The next morning at
breakfast, little
Radney
Bellows sat thoughtfully
spooning his cereal. Father folded his newspaper across the table and looked at
Mother. 'Everybody in town's talking about the quiet elopement of Odd Martin
and Miss Weldon,' said Father. 'People, looking for them, can't find them.'

 
          
    'Well,' said Mother, 'I
heard he bought her a house.'

 
          
    'I heard that, too,'
admitted Father. 'I phoned Carl Rogers this morning. He says he didn't sell any
house to Odd. And Carl is the only real-estate dealer in town.'

 
          
   
Radney
Bellows swallowed more cereal. He looked at his father. 'Oh, no, he's not the
only
real-estate dealer in town.'

 
          
    'What do you mean?'
demanded Father.

 
          
    'Nothing, except I
looked out the window at
midnight
and
I saw something.'

 
          
    'You saw
what
?'

 
          
    'It was all moonlight.
And you know what I saw? Well, I saw two people walking up the Elm Glade road.
A man and a woman.
A man in a nice new
coat, and a woman in a green dress.
Walking real
slow
.
Holding hands.'
Radney
took
a breath. 'And the two people were Mr. Odd Martin and Miss Weldon. And walking
out the Elm Glade road there
ain't
any houses out
that way at all.
Only the
Trinity
Park
Cemetery
.
And Mr.
Gustavsson
, in town, he sells tombs in the
Trinity
Park
Cemetery
.
He's got an office in town. Like I said, Mr. Carl Rogers
ain't
the only real estate man in town. So
— '

 
          
    'Oh,' snorted Father,
irritably, 'you were dreaming!'

 
          
   
Radney
bent his head over his cereal and looked out from the corners of his eyes.

 
          
    'Yes, sir,' he said,
finally, sighing. 'I was only dreaming.'