She got up and put the towels back into the car. Then she took the larger gun from the front seat and threw a beer bottle into the pond, but at first the gun wouldn’t go off. She tried again, firing at the beer bottle twice and missing both times. Well, she wasn’t a marksman like Ragen.

“We’d better get going,” Adalana said.

As they drove off, Adalana rolled down the car window and Tred twice at a telephone pole. Then she reached over and bearched the young woman’s handbag. “I need to get some jnoney for someone,” she said. “About two hundred dollars.” She held up the check-cashing card. “We’ll go into Kroger’s md cash a check.”

At the Kroger office, Polly was able to cash a check for one mndred and fifty dollars. Then they went to the State Savings Sank on North High Street, which refused to cash her checks, finally, after a few other futile attempts at drive-in bank vindows, Adalana suggested they use her father’s Union Company card and try to cash a check with the card as a backup. The Union store at Graceland Shopping Center permitted her o cash a fifty-dollar check. “We could cash another check,” adalana suggested, “and you could keep the money yourself.”

In a sudden change of mood, Adalana tore a check out of the checkbook to write Polly a poem, but when she was done, she said, “I can’t give it to you because the police might be able to match my handwriting.” She destroyed the check and then ripped a page out of Polly’s address book.

“I’m going to keep this page,” Adalana said. “If you notify the police about me or give them the right description, I’ll send the page to the Weathermen group, and they’ll come to Columbus and kill your family.”

Just then Adalana saw a police car passing on her left. Startled, she slipped away …

Philip found himself looking out the window of a moving car. He turned and saw a strange young blond woman at the wheel.

“What da fuck am I doin’ here?” he said aloud. “Where y’at, Phil?”

“Is that your name, ‘Bill’?”

“Nah. Phil.” He looked around. “What da fuck is goin’ on? Jesus Christ, just a few minutes ago I wuz …”

Then Tommy was there, looking at her, wondering why he was here. Maybe someone was out on a date. He looked at his watch. It was almost noon.

“You hungry?” Tommy asked.

She nodded.

“There’s a Wendy’s over there. Let’s go get a couple of hamburgers and some fries.”

She placed the order and Tommy paid for the food. She talked about herself as they ate, but he didn’t really listen. She wasn’t his date. He’d just have to wait until whoever was out with her came back and took her wherever they were going.

“Is there anyplace in particular you want me to drop you oft?” she asked.

He looked at her. “The campus area’s okay.”