14
PARTISAN REVIEW
"They're coming around the other way," the bespectacled figure
said as he came up to the car. He held an umbrella high above his
head. "Where's my patient?" he asked.
"Back in the woods. Take you right back," the Chief said,
opening the door and climbing out. "Come on, Mister," he said
over his shoulder.
Charlie held the door open for the man in the front seat. He
got out, walked straight to the Doctor, and stretched forth his hand.
"Doctor Bentley," he said, "my wife and I were out for a walk
and we just happened to stumble on this thing."
"Oh?" the Doctor said. He was a slight man, with a smooth,
pale face, and nets of wrinkles at his throat. "Didn't catch the name?"
"Lives up Shady Oak Hill, Doc," the Chief said.
"Glad to meet you," the Doctor said mildly. "I'm deaf as
that," he explained, rapping bony fingers on the fender.
"You want to watch you don't take cold, Doc," Charlie said
solicitously.
The Doctor smiled at him. "Let's go make my rounds," he
said.
The Chief led the way and although it was not yet dark, he
kept the bright beam of his torch turned upon the path behind him
for the Doctor. The spongy grass gushed under their feet; it was
swept forward between the axle-deep tracks of the car. Ahead, a
wire fence was rooted up, the poles overturned; the top wire had
burst
in
two. They climbed over the wires and then before them,
a few yards into the sparse birch grove, they could see the rear of
the car, and beneath it, the body lying nearly supine.
One leg was drawn up slightly from the grass so that the
white-clad knee touched and was soiled by the universal joint of the
car above it. The left leg, hips, trunk, and neck pressed evenly into
the grass that was growing through the iron spokes of the rear wheels
of the car; the grass bent slightly under the great weight that had
been lowered upon the axles as the tires, deflating slowly, sagged
and split open upon the piercing rims.
The head was hidden from them. It rested upon an upended,
misshapen cardboard packing box that was tilted toward them so
that they could see the round hole in the upper flap. The box had
