looks like a big storm coming on, mister. i would not try to get through to porterville tonight if i was you.
mort miller smiled, i thank you for your advice, my friend, but i have to make this sale tomorrow.
suit yourself. i know these parts, and if you don’t want to take my advice…. the man behind the counter of the general store shrugged. it s only four hours to porterville. if you stay here overnight and get an early start in the morning, you should get to porterville no later than ten o’clock. you can’t make your sale then?
no, not if my rival gets there at seven or eight o’clock, and has already made his sale and gone when i get there.
oh, so that is the way of it, eh? and is this rival of yours coming down this same road? he will face the same storm as you.
no, he is coming from the south, from his company’s headquarters in wilson city.
from wilson city. eh? the man behind the counter thoughtfully scratched his head. well, then, he might get a ways before running into the storm, might miss it altogether.
so you see my situation, mort said.
the man behind the counter shook his head. well, it’s up to you, my friend. i guess it depends on how bad you want to make this sale of yours.
i don’t want to make the sale, mort answered. i need to make the sale. his voice was light, but there was a steely glint in his eye.
well, i wish you luck.
thank you. mort picked the package wrapped in brown paper up off the counter and turned and left the store.
it was dark outside the store. there were no other stores or houses in sight, snd the country road was not lit up in any way.
but there were two people sitting on the store’s porch. no one had been there when mort had entered the store.
a skinny man wearing faded blue coveralls and a straw hat.
and a small young woman, maybe a child. she and the man sat apart and did not seem to be together. the young woman was in the shadows of the porch, and mort could not get a good look at her.
friendliness was a major part of mort’s stock in trade, i am headed to porterville, he announced, either of you folks looking for a lift?
thankee kindly, mister the man in the blue coveralls said, but i don’t care to brave the storm headed this way, and i would advise you to do likewise, though i do not mean to tell you your bidness.
but you just did, didn’t you, came a young girl’s perky voice from the shadows of the porch, and besides, if the storm is coming, you are just sitting out here in the open ready to get blown away like a baby lamb.
if it is all the same to you. miss, i have a proper hole in the ground i aim to crawl into as soon as i can get my old bones moving.
girlish laughter came from the shadows. now i don’t suppose you want to invite me to share that hole in the ground, do you?
well, in that case i will take up this kind gentleman’s offer of a ride on the road to porterville, as it just so happens to be on my way. is the offer still good , mister?
is it ever, thought mort, entranced by the silvery tones of the maiden’s voice. it surely is, miss, he replied. he took his car keys out of his pocket and waved them in her direction, come along, if you are coming.
the man in the blue coveralls looked up at mort with sad bleary eyes.
she’s trouble, mister, he whispered.
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