Rainbow's End by James M. Cain Page A

your boat and they don’t even tie it up right.”
    â€œHow do you get it back?”
    â€œYou’ll see.”
    â€œDave, don’t try to wade in or swim to that boat. You can’t. You’ve no idea how cold that water is.”
    â€œWho’s swimming? Come on.”
    We went back to the house and I called Edgren at the sheriff’s office. “Sergeant,” I told him, “I’m sorry to say that you or your men or somebody did such a careless job of beaching my boat that the river took it away. So it’s out in the middle right now, in a place where I can’t get it, on a tree trunk, half tipped over. So could you call your friends in DiVola and ask them to get it for me? Come in their cruiser and—”
    â€œOK, no problem.”
    â€œThe river keeps rising, you know.”
    â€œI said OK. Hold everything.”
    It wasn’t over an hour when here came the sound of the outboard and then there the DiVola men were, the same three guys, still in their firemen’s helmets. They made quick work of the johnboat, first pulling it clear of the snag, then bailing it out, where it was half-filled with water, and then rowing it in. They were friendly, especially to Jill, it being the first time they had seen her. She told them about the locket, and they offered to help. So we all went out to the island. Then one of them called to her: “Open your hand and close your eyes, I’ll give you something to make you wise.” So she did, and in her hand he put the locket. She was so happy she cried, and then kissed him to show her thanks. Then the other two said they wanted to be made wise, so she kissed them too. Then we went back to the house for coffee. It was all friendly and warm and wonderful. None of us had any idea of the horrible meaning that boat being hung on a snag had, though.
    They left, and Jill and I sat on the living room sofa, whispering, going over it once more, and over and over and over it, this news Mom had come up with, as well as stuff that seemed to apply, that I’d remember and come popping out with, from when I was little and we’d lived in the old house, praying for spring to come when we wouldn’t shiver so much. She wanted to go over and see it, but I said we’d better stay there in the new house where we were. People were sure to come for one reason and another, and I’d been asked to stay put.
    Sure enough, around noon a bunch did come, people from upriver, with more stuff to eat. It was Ohio friendliness. It started Jill off crying, but then she started eating, which seemed to cure the tears. Then a man named Douglas came. He had the next place upriver. He came over to see how things were, so he said, but the rest of them kidded him about it, saying it was just his excuse to drop by and meet the hero. “And heroine,” added Jill, and they all gave her a hand.
    They left, and so did Jill, “to pick out some clothes at that shop and be indemnified at the bank so I can draw some cash.”
    â€œIdentified.”
    â€œDave, does this change things at all? Your finding out who she is? That she’s your stepmother, instead of your mother?”
    â€œHow change things?”
    â€œDo you want me to prosecute?”
    â€œWhy would I?”
    â€œWell? She deceived you, didn’t she?”
    â€œListen, that was the deal.”
    â€œI was just asking, Dave.”
    â€œIn spite of last night, if that’s what you’re talking about, I’ve thought of her as my mother for years.”
    â€œOK.”
    â€œIf she should be prosecuted, I’d have to help her out.”
    â€œOK, OK .”

11
    I SAT AROUND FOR a couple of hours, with more people dropping by and then leaving pretty soon and the phone ringing every few minutes. Edgren called to say the inquest had been postponed from that day to the day after next. I said: “Just let me know when. I’ll be