A Rose for Emily Read Free Page B

have I,' said the girl. 'And afterwards they were all so happy.'

    'Well,' the man said, 'if you don't want to you don't have to. I wouldn't have you do it if you didn't want to. But I know it's perfectly simple.'

    'And you really want to?'

    'I think it's the best thing to do. But I don't want you to do it if you don't really want to.'

    'And if I do it you'll be happy and things will be like they were and you'll love me?'

    'I love you now. You know I love you.'

    'I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you'll like it?'

    'I'll love it. I love it now but I just can't think about it. You know how I get when I worry.'

    'If I do it you won't ever worry?'

    'I won't worry about that because it's perfectly simple.'

    'Then I'll do it. Because I don't care about me.'

    'What do you mean?'
    'I don't care about me.'

    'Well, I care about you.'

    'Oh, yes. But I don't care about me. And I'll do it and then everything will be fine.'

    'I don't want you to do it if you feel that way.'

    The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees.

    'And we could have all this,' she said. 'And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible.'

    'What did you say?'

    'I said we could have everything.'

    'No, we can't.'

    'We can have the whole world.'
    'No, we can't.'

    'We can go everywhere.'

    'No, we can't. It isn't ours any more.'

    'It's ours.'

    'No, it isn't. And once they take it away, you never get it back.'
    'But they haven't taken it away.'

    'We'll wait and see.'

    'Come on back in the shade,' he said. 'You mustn't feel that way.'

    'I don't feel any way,' the girl said. 'I just know things.'

    'I don't want you to do anything that you don't want to do -'
    'Nor that isn't good for me,' she said. 'I know. Could we have another beer?'

    'All right. But you've got to realize - '

    'I realize,' the girl said. 'Can't we maybe stop talking?'

    They sat down at the table and the girl looked across at the hills on the dry side of the valley and the man looked at her and at the table.
    'You've got to realize,' he said, ' that I don't want you to do it if you don't want to. I'm perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you.'

    'Doesn't it mean anything to you? We could get along.'

    'Of course it does. But I don't want anybody but you. I don't want anyone else. And I know it's perfectly simple.'

    'Yes, you know it's perfectly simple.'

    'It's all right for you to say that, but I do know it.'

    'Would you do something for me now?'
    'I'd do anything for you.'

    'Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?'

    He did not say anything but looked at the bags against the wall of the station. There were labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights.

    'But I don't want you to,' he said, 'I don't care anything about it.'
    'I'll scream,' the girl siad.

    The woman came out through the curtains with two glasses of beer and put them down on the damp felt pads. 'The train comes in five minutes,'
    she said.

    'What did she say?' asked the girl.

    'That the train is coming in five minutes.'
    The girl smiled brightly at the woman, to thank her.

    'I'd better take the bags over to the other side of the station,' the man said. She smiled at him.

    'All right. Then come back and we'll finish the beer.'

    He picked up the two heavy bags and carried them around the station to the other tracks. He looked up the tracks but could not see the train.
    Coming back, he walked through the bar-room, where people waiting for the train were drinking. He drank an Anis at the bar and looked at the people. They were all waiting reasonably for the train. He went out through the bead curtain. She was sitting at