"There's this place I know," he said, perching himself on the corner of the desk, "Out past the Bannersburg landfill, near where the sheriff dumped all the confiscated booze from those moonshiners last year, that I visit when I need cheering up."
She looked up him, startled, and then grimaced. "It's that obvious?"
"Yup." He smiled.
She sighed.
His smile vanished. "Or if you'd rather just talk about it..."
She shook her head. "No," she said, "I tried that, with Angie--you know her, my apartment-mate, don't you? Well, anyway, I talked to her, and it didn't do any good."
"So what is it that's bothering you, anyway, if you don't mind my asking?"
"That's the thing--maybe that's why talking didn't work. I don'tknow what it is. I just feel like my life ... I don't know, like it's not going anywhere, or maybe it's ... oh, hell."
He nodded. "Well, this place I mentioned is a lot cheaper than a shrink, and it's safer than drugs; care to give it a shot?"
"Where did you say?"
"Near Bannersburg. It's about half a mile past the landfill."
"What, is it a great view, or something? That's getting up in the hills, right?"
"Kind of. The view--well, there's a view, but it's not just that. It's hard to explain; it just seems like a place where you can dump your problems and worries and forget them."
She eyed him suspiciously. "And I suppose you were figuring you could drive me up there, to this place in the middle of nowhere, just the two of us for a look at this romantic scenery?"
He put a hand on his chest, fingers spread. "Me?" he said, "Would I try something like that?"
"Yes." She nodded emphatically.
He laughed. "True--and if that's what would cheer you up, Suze, I'd be glad to oblige. But honestly, it wasn't what I had in mind. Look, I can give you directions and you can drive up by yourself, or we can bring along a chaperone, or make a party of it."
"Really?" She studied his face, and saw nothing hidden there, no trace of sarcasm or spite or even lechery.
"Why are you telling me this, Paul?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Just trying to help out a fellow human being."
"That's it?"
He smiled crookedly. "Well, maybe I do have an ulterior motive--but I'm not going to tell you what it is until after you've seen the place."
She stared up at him for a moment, then said, "All right, you're on. But we'll bring Angie."
)
