RED NIGHTS
571
with "Danbury Times" written in elaborate lettering. I caught some
movement out of the comer of my eye. The blinds were raised on one
of the ground floor windows and a girl stood combing her hair with
long, even strokes. She saw the lights of the car and smiled. Half her
teeth were gone. I looked away quickly.
My mother rang the bell and stood close to the door to be out of
the wind. Almost immediately it swung open, spilling a long bar of
yellow light across the snow. She lifted her hand in a signal that
could just as easily have meant we should wait a moment as to wave
goodbye, and was gone.
We drove slowly across the hill towards the boy's side of the
school. In the bad weather the roads were empty.
"It looks deserted," I said.
"It isn't. Wait till you get inside."
The tires spun on a patch of ice as we climbed the driveway to
cottage eight. We stopped next to a black Chevy, the only car in the
parking area. Its windshield was coated with snow.
"That's Olsen's car, He has the shift before mine."
"It's brand new."
"Some of these guys work two shifts. They make a lot of money."
"Why don't you?"
He laughed. We sat for a moment, watching the building. Guy
took out a cigarette. "The smell is pretty bad at first but after a couple
of hours you don't notice it."
I could see small ways in which the building differed from the
one my mother had entered. There was no box for the newspaper,
no potted evergreens at the edge of the drive. Even in the darkness
one could see that the front door needed painting. Some of the shut–
ters were closed.
"None of these people are dangerous, are they?"
Guy finished his cigarette. "They're just feebleminded. They
can't take care of themselves."
We stepped out of the car. The air was cold and gusts of wind
seemed to pass uninterrupted through my clothes. After a few steps
the smell began, like a tangible line in space. (Smells are hard to
describe. This was a combination of pine, vomit, licorice, old urine,
sweat, soap and wet hair- a compound of smells all the more un–
pleasant for its unspecific nature. ) Guy rang the bell and after a few
moments the door opened.
