A block outside town Lee shook her head. "I'm not going in there," she said. "They'll stare. The questions…"
It took the rest of the day to reach the other side, check into a motel with the money they pooled. They slept. They heard the news on the radio-electrical fires and the Screamer. A number of questions and the promise of investigations. They heard the cars filled with families who had fled on Thursday, and more filled with sightseers passing on the highway.
On the third day Hugh displayed a credit card. "This," he said, "is going to get me away from this goddamned morgue."
"What about Lilla?" he wanted to know.
"She's dead," he said simply. And he hitchhiked to the next town, rented a car, and returned for Lee. There were no good-byes, no tears. They checked out and drove west as fast as Hugh dared.
That night he and Peg sat in his room while Matt slept on the lumpy double bed.
"We have to do something," she said quietly. "We can't stay here forever."
She was pale, her hair without highlights, and she plucked endlessly at her shirtfront. "I'm taking Matt to my mother's for a while," she said in a rush. "I called her as soon as the news hit." She wouldn't look at him. "I had to. I couldn't let her think I was dead."
"Sure, of course." But why didn't you tell me?
She did look then. "I want you to come with us," she said. "I really do. But I can't let you just now." She shook her head. "These things are supposed to bring people closer together."
"Disasters do," he said. "I'm not sure about nightmares."
"I don't dream."
"Neither do I."
"Don't be mad."
"I won't be. This isn't like a plane crash, or a flood, or something like that. I'm…I'm trying to figure out how I feel, and I don't know. But, Peg, I
"That's stupid," she said angrily. "It's done, for God's sake. It's done and I want to get away."
"Then do take the boy to your mother's," he said reasonably. "Take him, and I'll keep in touch."
They rose, embraced and kissed, and he still loved her. But he didn't try to change her mind. He only helped her get on a bus, watched as she climbed aboard and disappeared into the polarized dark. Matt stood beside him, holding his hand.
"You aren't going to forget me?"