They tossed the second mattress up.
“Now—Tom, you jump up there an’ git under. Hurry up.”
Tom climbed quickly, and dropped.
He straightened one mattress and pulled the second on top of him.
Pa bent it upwards, stood it sides up, so that the arch covered Tom.
He could see out between the side-boards of the truck.
Pa and Al and Uncle John loaded quickly, piled the blankets on top of Tom’s cave, stood the buckets against the sides, spread the last mattress behind.
Pots and pans, extra clothes, went in loose, for their boxes had been burned.
They were nearly finished loading when a guard moved near, carrying his shotgun across his crooked arm.
“What’s goin’ on here?” he asked.
“We’re goin’ out,” said Pa.
“What for?”
“Well—we got a job offered—good job.”
“Yeah?
Where’s it at?”
“Why—down by Weedpatch.”
“Let’s have a look at you.” He turned a flashlight in Pa’s face, in Uncle John’s, and in Al’s. “Wasn’t there another fella with you?”
Al said,
“You mean that hitch-hiker?
Little short fella with a pale face?”
“Yeah. I guess that’s what he looked like.”
“We jus’ picked him up on the way in.
He went away this mornin’ when the rate dropped.”
“What did he look like again?”
“Short fella. Pale face.”
“Was he bruised up this mornin’?”
“I didn’ see nothin’,” said Al. “Is the gas pump open?”
“Yeah, till eight.”
“Git in,” Al cried.
“If we’re gonna get to Weedpatch ’fore mornin’ we gotta ram on.
Gettin’ in front, Ma?”
“No, I’ll set in back,” she said. “Pa, you set back here too.
Let Rosasharn set in front with Al an’ Uncle John.”
“Give me the work slip, Pa,” said Al. “I’ll get gas an’ change if I can.”
The guard watched them pull along the street and turn left to the gasoline pumps.
“Put in two,” said Al.
“You ain’t goin’ far.”
“No, not far.
Can I get change on this here work slip?”
“Well—I ain’t supposed to.”
“Look, mister,” Al said. “We got a good job offered if we get there tonight.
If we don’t, we miss out.
Be a good fella.”
“Well, O.K.
You sign her over to me.”
Al got out and walked around the nose of the Hudson.
“Sure I will,” he said. He unscrewed the water cap and filled the radiator.
“Two, you say?”
“Yeah, two.”
“Which way you goin’?”