Trudy can’t believe he is going away again. It seems like everybody in the whole world can just come and go as they please, and she has to stay in Preston Mills and sew pillowcases. What is she doing wrong?
“I don’t know why they want to see me, Trudy. Sammy says the network wants to renegotiate. Maybe set a new date for the jump.” He is not going to tell her what date they have in mind. Not until he knows for sure.
“Stupid jump.”
“I won’t be gone long.”
“I’ve heard that one before.” They are sitting in his car in her driveway. His gym bag is packed and sitting on the back seat. She doesn’t want to get out and watch him drive away. She doesn’t want to hear any more about the jump. It’ll never happen anyway, she is sure of it. Nobody could possibly believe that car could fly. And the ramp is ridiculous. It all seems like a morbid joke now. “Don’t go. Let’s just go somewhere else. Let’s just go get Mercy from school and run away.”
He smiles over at her. She is stalling and he knows it. “Yeah? Where?”
“Anywhere.”
“And how would we live? Do they have factories and rocket cars there?”
“They have those everywhere.”
“Really?”
“No, not really. They have rocket cars everywhere. Factories are harder to come by. We could try something new. Circus? Freak show? Mercy’s small and you’re crazy. That must be worth something.”
“Get out of my car, lady.”
Trudy leans over and gives him a deafening smack of a kiss on his right ear. “If you’re not back on Wednesday, I will never forgive you. Don’t put me through that again.”
“I won’t.”
She gets out of the car, heads for the house, goes inside.
She doesn’t need to see him go to know he is gone.