“You wouldn’t have to do anything.”

“But I do do something. I am a mathematician, and I work at a certain level. Besides the Hill, there is no such place here for me to work. Could I work with you? You wouldn’t know what I was saying. This is not insulting. I’m not asking you to leave your music, to live in Chicago and erase blackboards for me.”

“Then the hell with the club. I’ll go with you, once I’m out of the Army.”

“Now that I know that the club is what you want most in life? Oh, no.”

“I love you. There’ll always be another Casa Mañana.”

“I don’t think so. I think this is your chance. For you to give it up and follow me, that would be a small version of Joe Peña. You know, the first time I saw you at the Christmas dance, Klaus Fuchs pointed to you and said, ‘There is the Chief, stupid and dangerous and larger than life.’ You aren’t stupid, but you are the other two, and I don’t want you to change. I don’t want you any smaller than Chief Joe Peña.”

“It’s beginning to sound as if I’ve been some sort of conquest for you. Entertainment. Part of your tour of Indian country.”

“That’s not true.”

“It’s simple. I love you and I’m willing to go. If you loved me, you’d stay.”

She reached out for him. “I do love you. We can make love right now.”

He wanted to. The water was getting colder and colder. She hovered in it like a flame.

“Then stay.” He could stand her silence only so long before he turned. “Then go. Let’s get you out of here. Let’s get you packed and gone.”

She followed him out of the water, so he was the first to see the two figures squatting on the sand.

“Hello, Joe.”

24

In the quarter moon, Roberto and Ben Reyes showed the fatigue of a chase. Their hair was loose, their necks limp. Sophie Reyes hung back behind a log.

Joe picked up Anna’s skirt for her. “One’s blind. The other’s so old it doesn’t matter.”

“They need your help,” Sophie said.

“Do they?” Joe asked. He stepped into his pants. “Well, the lady’s in a big hurry. So excuse us, but we’re going.”

“It was the Indian Service. They came at sunset,” Roberto said. “It was lucky they came from the east. Ben saw them.”

“A buckle shined,” Ben said.

Joe snatched his shirt from the ground. “Really? And you desperadoes slipped away? How many were there?”

“Just two,” Ben said. “Those Service riders.”

“No one riding drag? You sure are lucky. Two cowboys came straight into the sun. You flush and nobody follows. You came back here to your house?”