'Never said I couldn't use it. But I damn well can't afford it.' He began to eat, his eyes never leaving her. He wouldn't hit her now,
she knew. This was her chance, while he was still relatively sober.
If he was going to hit her, it would be after he came back from Gary Pervier's, sloshing with vodka and filled with wounded male pride.
Charity sat down across from him and said, 'I won the lottery.'
His jaws halted and then began moving again. He forked steak into his mouth. 'Sure,' he said. 'And tomorrow ole Cujo out there's gonna shit a mess of gold buttons.' He pointed his fork at the dog, who was pacing restlessly up and down the porch. Brett didn't like to take him over to the Bergerons' because they had rabbits in a hutch and they drove Cujo wild.
Charity reached into her apron pocket, took out her copy of the prize claim form that the agent had filled out, and handed it across the table to Joe.
Camber flattened the paper out with one blunt-fingered hand and stared it up and down. His eyes centred on the figure. 'Five -' He began, and then shut his mouth with a snap.
Charity watched him, saying nothing. He didn't smile. He didn't come around the table and kiss her. For a man with his rum of mind, she thought bitterly, good fortune only meant that something was lying in wait.
He looked up at last. 'You won five thousand dollars?'
'Less taxes, ayuh.'
'How long you been playing the lottery?'
'I buy a fifty-center every week ... and you don't dare dun me about it, either, Joe Camber, with all the beer you buy.'
'Watch your mouth, Charity,' he said. His eyes were unblinking, brilliant blue. 'Just watch your mouth, or it might swell up on you all at once.' He began to eat his steak again, and behind the set
mask of her face, she relaxed a little. She had thrust the chair in the tiger's face for the first time, and it hadn't bitten her. At least not yet. 'This money. When do we get it?'
'The check will come in two weeks or a little less. I bought the chainfall out of the money that's in our savings account. That claim form is just as good as gold. That's what the agent said.'
'You went out and bought that thing?'
'I asked Brett what he thought you'd want most. It's a present.'
'Thanks.' He went on eating.
'I got you a present,' she said. 'Now you give me one, Joe. Okay?'
He went on eating and he went on looking at her. He didn't say anything. His eyes were totally expressionless. He was eating with his hat on, still pushed back on his head. She spoke to him slowly, deliberately, knowing it would be a mistake to rush. 'I want to go away for a week. With Brett. To see Holly and Jim down in Connecticut.'
'No,' he said, and went on eating.
'We could go on the bus. We'd stay with them. It would he cheap.
There would be plenty of money left over. That found money. It wouldn't cost a third of what that chainfall cost. I called the bus station and asked them about the round-trip fare.'
'No. I need- Brett here to help me.'
She clutched her hands together in a hard, twisting fury under the table, but made her face remain calm and smooth. 'You get along without him in the school year.'
'I said no, Charity,' he said, and she saw with galling, bitter certainty that he was enjoying this. He saw how much she wanted this. How she had planned for it. He was enjoying her pain.
She got up and went to the sink, not because she had anything to do there, but because she needed time to get herself under control.
The evening star peeped in at her, high and remote. She ran water.
The porcelain was a discolored yellowish color. Like Joe, their water was hard.
Maybe disappointed, feeling that she had given up too easily, Camber elaborated. 'The boy's got to learn some responsibility.
Won't hurt him to help me this summer instead of running off to Davy Bergeron's house every day and night.'
She turned off the water. 'I sent him over there.'
'You did? Why?'
'Because I thought it might go like this,' she said, turning back to him. 'But I told him you'd say yes, what with the money and the chainfall.'
'If you knew better, you sinned against the boy,' Joe said. 'Next time I guess you'll think before you throw your tongue in gear.' He smiled at her through a mouthful] of food and reached for the bread.
'You could come with us, if you wanted.'
'Sure. I'll just tell Richie Simms to forget getting in his first cutting this summer. Besides, why do I want to go down and see them two? From what I've seen of them and what you tell of them, I got to think they're a couple of first-class snots. Only reason you like them is because you'd like to be a snot like them.' His voice was gradually rising. He began to spray food. When he got like this he frightened her and she gave in. Most times. She would not do that tonight. 'Mostly you'd like the boy to be a snot like them. That's what I think. You'd like to turn him against me, I guess. Am I wrong?'
'Why don't you ever call him by his name?'
'You want to just shut the craphouse door now, Charity,' he said, looking at her hard. A flush had crept up his cheeks and across his forehead. 'Mind me, now.'
'No,' she said. 'That's not the end.'
