we’re on the parkway heading toward the next state, and you’re driving much too fast. Ben, would you please slow down?”
“No,” he said. “Why’d you marry him?”
“Because I love him. Does that answer you?”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Believe me. Please believe me.”
“I don’t. How can you be in love with him? A bank clerk! For the love of God, Angela, he’s a bank clerk!”
“I love him.”
“What can he offer you? What’s he ever going to give you?”
“He doesn’t have to give me anything,” Angela said. “I love him.”
“I’m better looking than he is,” Ben said.
“Maybe you are.”
“I’m going to be a dentist.”
“Yes.”
“Why’d you marry him?”
“Ben, please, please slow down. I’m—” Her eyes widened. “Ben! Look out!”
The Buick came hurtling onto Ben’s side of the parkway suddenly, passing a slower car ahead of it. It came like a steam locomotive, unable to cut back because of the car ahead, committed to the pass, determined to reach the safety of its own lane by a new burst of speed. Ben recognized the impossibility of the situation. He swung the wheel sharply to the right, heading for the grass at the side of the parkway. The Buick whooshed past with the roar of a diving jet as the small MG cleared the vented fender of the bigger car by no more than a foot, climbing onto the steeply sloping bank of grass, and then executing a small sharp turn to the left as Ben yanked the wheel over again. For a moment, Angela thought the car would roll over. Tires squealed as it hit the concrete again, going into a skid, and then straightening to face the dead center arrow of the parkway. Ben slammed his foot onto the accelerator. The speed indicator rose to ninety.
Angela could not speak. She sat beside him gasping for breath. And finally she closed her eyes. She would not watch. She could not watch.
“It’s still not too late,” Ben said.
His voice droned in her ears over the rush of air in the open cockpit of the sports car. Her eyes were closed, and his voice sounded strange, low and meaningful, droning on monotonously.
“It’s still not too late. You can still get out of it. You can have it annulled. He’s wrong for you, Angela. You’d find that out, anyway. Get rid of him, Angela. Angela, I love you. You can have it annulled.”
She shook her head, her eyes closed tightly.
“Don’t go on the honeymoon, Angela. Don’t go with him. Tell him you’ve made a mistake. It’s not too late. You’d be doing the right thing. Otherwise…”
She shook her head again. Weakly, she murmured, “Ben, take me back.”
“I’ll be waiting for you, Angela. Get rid of him. He’s no good for you. Do it yourself, Angela. Tell him, tell him.”
“Ben, take me back,” she mumbled. “Please take me back. Please. Please. Please please please please please—”
“Will you tell him? Will you tell him you want it annulled?”
“Ben, please please—”
“Will you?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’ll tell him.” She did not care that she was lying. She only wanted the nightmare of this ride to end, wanted to get away from the man beside her. “Yes,” she lied again, and then she gave the lie strength and conviction. “Yes, take me back and I’ll tell him. Take me back, Ben.”
“I don’t believe you. You’re not really going to tell him.”
“I am!”
“Do you love me?”
She could not answer.
“Do you love me?”
“No,” she said, and she began weeping bitterly. “I love Tommy, I love Tommy! Why are you doing this to me, Ben? Why are you torturing me like this? If you ever cared anything for me, take me back! Please take me back!”
“All right,” he snapped suddenly. He slowed the car, and then executed a screeching U-turn. His foot pressed against the accelerator once more. Angela did not look at the speedometer.
Tommy was waiting at the curb when the MG pulled up before the Carella house. Angela leaped from the car and rushed into his arms, and he held her for a moment and then said, “What the hell’s the idea, Ben?”
“It was just a wedding gag,” Ben said, grinning feebly. “Kidnapping the bride, you know? Just a gag.”
“You’ve got one hell of a sense of humor. You’re lucky I don’t knock you flat on your ass. You had us all going nuts here until we noticed your car was gone. Goddamnit, Ben, I don’t think this is the least bit funny. I don’t think it’s funny at all. Goddamnit, I think I