Myra nodded. "I asked for a pound of hamburger and Art put that much on
the scale. In fact not even that much. It said a pound. I saw it. But
there was such a little bit that he felt guilty and put some more on."
Jim turned away. "I'm not hungry anyhow," he said.
* * * * *
At ten that night, after they were in bed, a knock sounded on the door.
They had been in bed three hours, because all they could think of as
soon as they had eaten was getting into bed and staying there until the
last possible minute on the following morning.
But the knock came and Jim went down. He called back upstairs with more
life than he'd shown in a long time, "Myra--come down. It's Hugh. Hugh's
come to see us."
And Myra came down quickly--something she hadn't done for a long time
either.
Hugh seemed weary and drawn, but his smile was the same. Hugh hadn't
changed a great deal from the gangling kid who never studied mathematics
in school but always had the answers. It came natural to him.
During the coffee that Myra made, Hugh said, "Had quite a time getting
here. Trains disrupted. All air lines grounded. But I wanted to see you
again before--"
"Then there _is_ a war," Jim said. "We've been kind of wondering out
here. With the censorship we don't get any news and the people
hereabouts have almost forgotten the bombs I guess."
Hugh stared into his coffee cup for a long time. "No--there isn't any
war." Hugh grinned wryly. "I don't think anybody in the world has got
enough energy left to fight one."
"There _was_ one then? One that's over?" Jim felt suddenly like a fool,
sitting here on a world that might have gone through a war stretching
from pole to pole, and asking if it had happened as though he lived on
Mars somewhere--out of touch. But that's the way it was.
"No there wasn't any war."
"You mean our government shot off those bombs themselves? You know I
thought it was funny. Landing out in the desert that way like they did.
"Old Joe would have hit for Chicago or Detroit or New York. It was silly
to say bombs dropped on the desert came from an enemy."
"No--the government didn't fire them."
Myra set her cup down. "Jim, stop asking Hugh so many questions. He's
tired. He's come a long way. The questions can wait."
"Yes--I guess they can. We'll show you where your room is, Hugh."
As she opened the window of the spare bedroom, Myra stood for a moment
looking out. "Moon's certainly pretty tonight. So big and yellow. Wish I
wasn't too tired to enjoy it."
They went to bed then, in the quiet home under the big yellow moon over
the quiet town. A moon over a quiet country--over a weary, waiting,
world.
Jim didn't go to work the next day. He hadn't planned to stay away from
work, but he and Myra awoke very late and it was then that he made up
his mind. For a long time, they lay in bed, not even the thought of Hugh
being around and all the things they wanted to talk about, could bring
them out of bed until they felt guilty about not getting up.
Hugh was sitting on the front porch watching the still trees in the
yard. There was a breeze blowing, but it wasn't enough to move the
leaves. Every leaf hung straight down, not stirring, and the grass
seemed matted and bent toward the earth.
Myra got breakfast. She dropped the skillet while transferring the eggs
to a platter but she got her foot out of the way so no harm was done.
After breakfast the men went back outside. Jim moved automatically
toward a chair.
Then he stopped and frowned. He straightened deliberately. He turned and
looked at his brother. He said, "Hugh. You're a man that knows. What's
wrong? What did those bombs do to us? Tell me. I've got to know."