[_As the CAPTAIN says_, “And if there’s any chance of bringing one
more back from the dead,” _ALLIE MAYO has appeared outside the wide
door which gives on the dunes, a bleak woman, who at first seems
little more than a part of the sand before which she stands. But
as she listens to this conflict one suspects in her that peculiar
intensity of twisted things which grow in unfavoring places._
MRS. PATRICK
I--I don’t want them here! I must--
[_But suddenly she retreats, and is gone._
BRADFORD
Well, I couldn’t say, Allie Mayo, that you work for any too
kind-hearted a lady. What’s the matter with the woman? Does she want
folks to die? Appears to break her all up to see somebody trying to
save a life. What d’ you work for such a fish for? A crazy fish--that’s
what I call the woman. I’ve seen her--day after day--settin’ over there
where the dunes meet the woods, just sittin’ there, lookin’. [_Suddenly
thinking of it._] I believe she _likes_ to see the sand slippin’ down
on the woods. Pleases her to see somethin’ gettin’ buried, I guess.
[_ALLIE MAYO, who has stepped inside the door and moved half across
the room, toward the corridor at the right, is arrested by this
last--stands a moment as if seeing through something, then slowly
on, and out._
BRADFORD
Some coffee’d taste good. But coffee, in this house? Oh, no. It might
make somebody feel better. [_Opening the door that was slammed shut._]
Want me now, Capt’n?
CAPTAIN
No.
BRADFORD
Oh, that boy’s dead, Capt’n.
CAPTAIN
[_Snarling._] Dannie Sears was dead, too. Shut that door. I don’t want
to hear that woman’s voice again, ever.
[_Closing the door and sitting on a bench built into that corner
between the big sliding door and the room where the CAPTAIN is._
BRADFORD
They’re a cheerful pair of women--livin’ in this cheerful place--a
place that life savers had to turn over to the sand--huh! This Patrick
woman used to be all right. She and her husband was summer folks over
in town. They used to picnic over here on the outside. It was Joe
Dyer--he’s always talkin’ to summer folks--told ’em the government
was goin’ to build the new station and sell this one by sealed bids.
I heard them talkin’ about it. They was sittin’ right down there on
the beach, eatin’ their supper. They was goin’ to put in a fire-place
and they was goin’ to paint it bright colors, and have parties over
here--summer folk notions. Their bid won it--who’d want it?--a buried
house you couldn’t move.
TONY
I see no bright colors.
BRADFORD
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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