Nobody's Fool

and that would make him feel even worse, because maybe he wasn’t sure exactly what he was feeling or why he was feeling it, but Rub was sure it was no joke.
    And so the widows who lived along the two-block residential stretch of Upper Main Street and who happened to be looking out their front windows this late afternoon were treated to a strange sight. Mrs. Gruber, for instance, who spent a good deal of her lonely time gazing into the comforting, familiar street from between half-closed blinds, blinked twice to make sure she wasn’t asleep or hallucinating. Across the street a pickup truck was driving on the sidewalk, two of its wheels on the concrete, the other two on her neighbors’ terraces. A few short paces in front of the truck, a short, almost dwarflike man, looking maniacally determined, bent forward into the teeth of the wind which had been making the ancient elms moan all afternoon. Because he was leaning forward into this wind and appeared to take no notice of the pickup truck that was inching along behind him on the sidewalk, Mrs. Gruber concluded at first that the dwarflike man must be yoked to the truck with some sort of invisible tether, for he appeared to be pulling the truck up the street. Mrs. Gruber considered the logic of this and decided she must be mistaken. The truck could not be on the sidewalk. After all, why would a man pull a truck over a bumpy sidewalk when he could just pull it up the smooth blacktop street? The truck, therefore, was not on the sidewalk but merely appeared to be.Mrs. Gruber blinked again and prepared to see something truer to reality. But the truck
was
on the sidewalk. She could tell by the fact that it passed behind, not in front of, the elms. So did the dwarflike man who was towing it. Since the telephone was right there, she picked it up and dialed Miss Beryl. In a minute both man and truck would pass directly in front of her friend’s house, and Miss Beryl would have a better view.
    â€œDad,” said Peter in the front seat of the truck. “Dad.”
    Sully paid him no attention. He was hunched forward over the steering wheel, concentrating on the delicate task of keeping the truck right behind Rub while at the same time avoiding obstacles. In places where hedges grew close to the sidewalk it was a very slender passage, and the truck brushed the hedges noisily on the left even as it climbed up and over the huge, spreading roots of the elms on the right. “Look at him,” Sully said, indicating Rub, who still refused to acknowledge their presence. “Have you ever seen anybody that stubborn?”
    â€œYes,” Peter said. “I have.”
    Sully ignored this. “Look at him,” he repeated, his voice full of wonder. He tooted the horn. Rub jumped but did not turn around. “Amazing,” Sully said.
    â€œHere’s a driveway,” Peter pointed. “Get back on the street.”
    â€œAmazing,” Sully said again. “What would you do if you were him?”
    â€œJesus,” Peter said. Sully had driven past the driveway, had clearly not even considered ending this insanity.
    â€œHe can’t figure it out,” Sully marveled. “All he’s got to do is step behind one of those trees and we’re fucked.”
    â€œOh, I’d have to say we’re fucked anyhow,” Peter observed. “You see what’s coming up the street?”
    â€œNo, what?” Sully said, slowing down for another narrow passage. The right front wheel encountered the base of one of the street’s oldest elms, its giant roots twisted obscenely above ground. The truck strained to climb, got partway, then rolled back. “Shit,” Sully said, giving the engine a little more gas with his right foot, keeping the clutch engaged with his left, as he craned and peered past Peter. “I can’t see. Am I going to make it?”
    â€œI don’t think so,” Peter said, though he was not checking for clearance. What had his attention was the police cruiser he’d seen coming toward them.
    â€œI think I can,” Sully said calmly, as if the question were purely academic. He let up on the clutch and again the truck climbed and tilted.Gaining the top of the gnarled root, the truck slid quickly over, scraping its underbelly before Sully could prevent it.
    The police cruiser had pulled over to the curb, and Officer Raymer got out, looking confused and angry. “Hey!” he called.