Conger half listened. It was going to be easier than he had thought. Clearly, he would know as soon as the Founder appeared. These people, so suspicious of anything different, would be buzzing and gossiping and spreading the story. All he had to do was lie low and listen, down at the general store, perhaps. Or even here, in Mrs. Appleton’s boarding house.
“Can I see the room?” he said.
“Certainly.” Mrs. Appleton went to the stairs. “I’ll be glad to show it to you.”
They went upstairs. It was colder upstairs, but not nearly as cold as outside. Nor as cold as nights on the Martian deserts. For that he was grateful.
He was walking slowly around the store, looking at the cans of vegetables, the frozen packages of fish and meats shining and clean in the open refrigerator counters.
Ed Davies came toward him. “Can I help you?” he said. The man was a little oddly dressed, and with a beard! Ed couldn’t help smiling.
“Nothing,” the man said in a funny voice. “Just looking.”
“Sure,” Ed said. He walked back behind the counter. Mrs. Hacket was wheeling her cart up.
“Who’s he?” she whispered, her sharp face turned, her nose moving, as if it were sniffing. “I never seen him before.”
“I don’t know.”
“Looks funny to me. Why does he wear a beard? No one else wears a beard. Must be something the matter with him.”
“Maybe he likes to wear a beard. I had an uncle who—”
“Wait.” Mrs. Hacket stiffened. “Didn’t that—what was his name? The Red—that old one. Didn’t he have a beard? Marx. He had a beard.”
Ed laughed. “This ain’t Karl Marx. I saw a photograph of him once.”
Mrs. Hacket was staring at him. “You did?”
“Sure.” He flushed a little. “What’s the matter with that?”
“I’d sure like to know more about him,” Mrs. Hacket said. “I think we ought to know more, for our own good.”
“Hey, mister! Want a ride?”
Conger turned quickly, dropping his hand to his belt. He relaxed. Two young kids in a car, a girl and a boy. He smiled at them. “A ride? Sure.”
Conger got into the car and closed the door. Bill Willet pushed the gas and the car roared down the highway.
“I appreciate a ride,” Conger said carefully. “I was taking a walk between towns, but it was farther than I thought.”
“Where are you from?” Lora Hunt asked. She was pretty, small and dark, in her yellow sweater and blue skirt.
“From Cooper Creek.”
“Cooper Creek?” Bill said. He frowned. “That’s funny. I don’t remember seeing you before.”
“Why, do you come from there?”
“I was born there. I know everybody there.”
“I just moved in. From Oregon.”
“From Oregon? I didn’t know Oregon people had accents.”
“Do I have an accent?”
“You use words funny.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. Doesn’t he, Lora?”
“You slur them,” Lora said, smiling. “Talk some more. I’m interested in dialects.” She glanced at him, white-teethed. Conger felt his heart constrict.
“I have a speech impediment.”
“Oh.” Her eyes widened. “I’m sorry.”
They looked at him curiously as the car purred along. Conger for his part was struggling to find some way of asking them questions without seeming curious. “I guess people from out of town don’t come here much,” he said. “Strangers.”
“No.” Bill shook his head. “Not very much.”
“I’ll bet I’m the first outsider for a long time.”
“I guess so.”
Conger hesitated. “A friend of mine—someone I know, might be coming through here. Where do you suppose I might—” He stopped. “Would there be anyone certain to see him? Someone I could ask, make sure I don’t miss him if he comes?”
They were puzzled. “Just keep your eyes open. Cooper Creek isn’t very big.”
“No. That’s right.”
They drove in silence. Conger studied the outline of the girl. Probably she was the boy’s mistress. Perhaps she was his trial wife. Or had they developed trial marriage back so far? He could not remember. But surely such an attractive girl would be someone’s mistress by this time; she would be sixteen or so, by her looks. He might ask her sometime, if they ever met again.
The next day Conger went walking along the one main street of Cooper Creek. He passed the general store, the two filling stations, and then the post office. At the corner was the soda fountain.
He stopped. Lora was sitting inside, talking to the clerk. She was laughing, rocking back and forth.
Conger pushed the door open. Warm air rushed around him. Lora was drinking hot chocolate, with whipped cream. She looked up in surprise as he slid into the seat beside her.
“I beg your pardon,” he said. “Am I intruding?”
“No.” She shook her head. Her eyes were large and dark. “Not at all.”
The clerk came over. “What do you want?”
Conger looked at the chocolate. “Same as she has.”
Lora was watching Conger, her arms folded, elbows on the counter. She smiled at him. “By the way. You don’t know my name. Lora Hunt.”
She was holding out her hand. He took it awkwardly, not knowing what to do with it. “Conger is my name,” he murmured.
“Conger? Is that your last or first name?”
“Last or first?” He hesitated. “Last. Omar Conger.”
“Omar?” She laughed. “That’s like the poet, Omar Khayyam.”
“I don’t know of him. I know very little of poets. We restored very few works of art. Usually only the Church has been interested enough—” He broke off. She was staring. He flushed. “Where I come from,” he finished.
“The Church? Which church do you mean?”
“The Church.” He was confused. The chocolate came and he began to sip it gratefully. Lora was still watching him.
“You’re an unusual person,” she said. “Bill didn’t like you, but he never likes anything different. He’s so—so prosaic. Don’t you think that when a person gets older he should become—broadened in his outlook?”
Conger nodded.
“He says foreign people ought to stay where they belong, not come here. But you’re not so foreign. He means orientals; you know.”
Conger nodded.
The screen door opened behind them. Bill came into the room. He stared at them. “Well,” he said.
Conger turned. “Hello.”
“Well.” Bill sat down. “Hello, Lora.” He was looking at Conger. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Conger tensed. He could feel the hostility of the boy. “Something