504
JAMES MERRILL
He held open the screen door for a
girl
in
a black, annless
dress. She was using a cane and watching her feet, in sandals, descend
the porch steps. At the car door she hesitated, then turned upon me
the face of a middle-aged woman, sick-eyed and freckled, but not
by
this
year's sun. I got out to help her. She motioned Sandy into
the rear seat and settled herself awkwardly up front.
I looked back at the house.
"No baggages," said the Princess. "This." She patted a bulging
leather purse. It sprang open. She took out a scarf of milky chiffon
to keep her hair in place. "Everything gets done for us, so we travel
light. You are very kind," she added in the same breath, ridding
herself as neatly of the obligation as of the unwanted suitcases. "We
-I can
say?-anticipate
kindness."
"I think she means," Sandy began.
"He know what I mean," said the Princess grandly. "He under–
stand my English." She gave a formal signal to depart.
Idiotically, I relished my place
in
their little aristocracy. It was
all so effortless! Poor clods (I thought) who had still to rely on
telephones and timetables. I drove with my whole heart, bent on
getting my passengers to their destination.
The airport was thirty miles farther on. Noon had struck; the
plane would leave at half past one. Leaning forward to make
him–
self heard, Sandy pointed out turns. Once on the straight road he
announced as if casually, "This isn't a scheduled flight. A DC-4 picks
us up at this field .and takes us to New Orleans where a connecting
jet to San Diego will be waiting."
I nodded too quickly. We were driving through broad fields.
"Oh, not waiting for
us.
We mean nothing to them. Any delay
will be dismissed in the usual way-a motor check, a confused
weather report. Don't you know what goes
on
at airports? Let me
tell you, it's a scandal. They're debasing something pure and rare.
I have to say this in spite of times like now, when their obtuseness
works to our advantage."
Here Sandy digressed at length on the subject of flying. I was
too much a part of the adventure, by now, to feel the annoyance
his earlier speech about .automobiles had provoked. Instead, I listened
humbly, as ready as not to accept the judgment implicit in
his
words.
I shall not try to reproduce them. The impression he gave was of
intense, disquieting enthusiasm for aircraft, for certain models over
