the bridge had washed out between middlevlle and thomasville, and slim decided to go back to a motel he had passed a few miles back, rather than try to find a way around to meet up with wiley, and maybe get lost in some back roads.
and it was a good excuse not to have spend the night with wiley.
slim trusted wiley - as much as he would ever trust anybody - but he was a talker, and slim was not much of a listener.
slim turned the packard around and headed back to the motel, keeping within the speed limit as he had through his trip through the small towns and half-empty counties on his way to hook up with wiley.
he snickered again at the motel sign as he approached it.
“last chance motel”. last chance for what? they were almost two thousand miles from california and about a thousand from anything that could be called a desert.
slim parked in front of the motel’s office, which was lit. there were no other cars parked in the front, and no other lights on that he could see. but the sign, and the part of it lit up to show “vacancy” , were bright and in working order, and the place did not look run down. it wasn’t the hilton, but it wasn’t abandoned or a total dump.
there was nobody at the desk. there was a bell, and slim hit it.
nobody showed up. slim took out his cigarettes and lit one, then looked around for an ashtray.
there was one on the desk, half full. one of the butts in it had a glowing red ember.
slim had almost finished his smoke when the clerk finally showed up. an old man, about fifty, wheezing slightly and snapping his suspenders.
“howdy,” the old man greeted slim, hardly looking at him as he eased himself into the chair behind the desk.
“howdy,” slim replied.
“looking for a room?” the clerk asked, still not looking at slim, but checking the desk drawer for something.
no, i came in to see if your ashtray was full, slim thought, but he just said, “yeah.”
“one night?”
“yeah, just one night.”
“that will be three dollars.” the old man finally looked up at slim. whatever he had been looking for in the desk, it didn’t look like he found it. “all the rooms are the same price. got any preferences?”
“preferences?”
“front or back, first floor or second?”
“it’s all the same to me. i just want a night’s sleep.”
the old man nodded. “i got a room out back on the first floor, right beside the coke machine.”
“that sounds good,” said slim. “everybody likes a nice coke.” he took a 2 dollar bill and a one dollar bill out of his wallet and gave them to the old man.
“sign here.”
slim signed as “richard hawkins” in big handwriting.
“checkout is ten o’clock,” said the clerk. “i know in the big cities it might be eleven or even noon, but here in the wilderness we get up early,” he added with a smile.
“no problem,” slim told him. “i want to get up early myself. i only stopped because the bridge is out up ahead. i hope it’s fixed by the morning.“
“yes, so i heard. where you headed?”
“thomasville.”
“i tell you what, if that bridge isn’t fixed i can give you directions to go around it .”
“thanks. i see you’re a white man.”
the clerk stood up with a key in his hand. “i’ll bring you around. it’s room 14.”
when they stepped outside, the old man said, ”one more thing.”
“what?”
“my wife. if you get up real early, you might see my wife. she gets up before i do, most mornings.”
so? slim thought.
“the thing is, my wife is younger than me. a lot younger.”
slim did not know what to say to that, but the clerk continued with a laugh, “the reason i’m telling you is, people think she’s my daughter, or maybe just a maid. but she’s my wife.”
“oh.”
“it’s always good for people to have right information, don’t you think?” the old man half turned to slim.
“i couldn’t agree more,” slim said.
“here we are, room 14. and there is the coke machine, filled it up just this afternoon.”
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