“Great little girl. She always says yes, but I guess you know who wears the pants in this family, huh, Mr. Cramer? I mean trousers. Trousers!” Sam Griffin threw his hands up to guard against an imaginary attack, and laughed. “Got to watch my mouth.”

Breakfast arrived and the stocky man suddenly fell silent, directing his energies to the task of eating. It seemed to take most of his concentration.

Adam waited for the proper moment, then let his eyes travel openly over Vy Griffin’s face, over her breasts, up again to her face.

She looked away quickly, touched her lips with the napkin and rose. “Excuse me,” she said.

“I guess we might do that.”

She turned and walked to the back of the restaurant.

“Really something, huh?” Sam Griffin said. He clucked his tongue and shook his head. “Boy. And crazy over old Sam, can you beat that! I mean, how lucky can a fellow get?” He removed a cigar from his shirt pocket. “Boy.”

Adam suppressed a smile and finished off his coffee.

“I see you’re a single man, Mr. Cramer.”

“Afraid so.”

“Well, don’t give up the ghost. I thought I wasn’t ever going to find a woman, a real woman, you know? I mean, let’s face it—I’m kind of a slob. I make my living off gullible people. I talk loud. And I know there are maybe a couple of handsomer men around in the woods. But, the good Lord didn’t forget Sam. So keep looking, you hear me?”

“I will.”

Vy Griffin returned to the table. Her walk was graceful, the sway of her hips an entirely natural, unconscious thing.

“I was just telling Mr. Cramer here that he shouldn’t give up trying to find a woman.”

“Oh? Have you had trouble in that direction, Mr. Cramer?”

Adam smiled at her. “Well,” he said, “let’s say I haven’t been as fortunate as Mr. Griffin.”

“Sam! Sam! I hate all this ‘Mister’ stuff.”

The waitress came over and refilled the coffee cups. Adam watched Vy move closer to her husband, watched her light the cigarette, nervously.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to get to work,” Adam said. “It’s been very pleasant.”

“Yeah. Lousy food, but it fills the gut. If I didn’t have a type philosophy like that, we’d starve, in some of the places we been; ain’t that right, Vy?”

“That’s right, honey.”

They got up to leave. Adam reached for his pocket with deliberate awkwardness, put up a weak struggle for the check, gave in at last.

“Heck, we got plenty of money,” Griffin said. “Pushing a real nice line now; really raking it in. Keep this to yourself, but we been averaging four hundred a day in the dime store at Farragut!”