Twisted

against the side of the house, listening to the rain and wondering if I’d have the guts to go through with it.”
    “But you did.”
    Manko grinned boyishly and did a decent Pacino gangster impersonation. “I broke in through the basement, snuck up to her room and busted her out of the joint.
    “We didn’t take a suitcase or anything. We just got out of there fast as we could. Nobody heard us. The security guy was in the living room but he’d fallen asleep watching the Tonight Show. Allison and I, we got into my car and we hit the highway.Man, Easy Rider. We were free! On the road, just her and me. We’d escaped. We were on that adventure Allison’d always wanted. At last, we were both happy.
    “I headed for the interstate, driving sixty-two, right on the button, because they don’t arrest you if you’re doing just seven miles over the limit. It’s a state police rule, I heard somewhere. I stayed in the right lane and pointed that old Dodge east-southeast. Didn’t stop for anything. Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina. Once we started crossing borders, I felt better. Her father was sure to come home from his trip right away and call the local cops but whether they’d get the highway patrol in, I had my doubts. I mean, he’d have some explaining to do—about how he kept his daughter a prisoner and everything.” Manko shook his head. “But you know what I did?”
    From the rueful look on his face I could guess. “You underestimated the enemy.”
    Manko shook his head. “Thomas Morgan,” he mused. “I think he must’ve been a godfather or something.”
    “I suppose they have them in Ohio too.”
    “He had friends everywhere. Virginia troopers, Carolina, everywhere! Money is power, we were saying. We were heading south on Route Twenty-one, making for Charlotte, when I ran into ’em. I went into a 7-Eleven to buy some food and beer and what happens but there’re some good ole boys right there, Smoky hats and everything, asking the clerk about a couple on the run from Ohio. I mean, us! I managed to get out without them seeing us and we peeled rubberoutta there, I’ll tell you. We drove for a while but by then it was almost dawn and I figured we better lay low for the day.
    “I pulled into a big forest preserve. We spent the whole day together, lying there, my arms around her, her head on my chest. We just lay in the grass beside the car and I told her stories about places we’d travel to. The Philippines, Thailand, California. And I told her what life’d be like in Florida too.”
    He looked at me with a grave expression on his taut face. “I could’ve had her, Frank. You know what I’m saying? Right there. On the grass. The insects buzzing around us. You could hear this river, a waterfall, nearby.” Manko’s voice fell to a murmur. “But it wouldn’t’ve been right. I wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted us to be in our own place, in Florida, in our bedroom, married. That sounds old-fashioned, I know. You think that was stupid of me? You don’t think so, do you?”
    “No, Manko, it’s not stupid at all.” Awkwardly I looked for something to add. “It was good of you.”
    He looked forlorn for a minute, perhaps regretting, stupid or wise, his choosing to keep their relationship chaste.
    “Then,” he said, smiling devilishly, “things got hairy. At midnight we headed south again. This car passed us then hit the brakes and did a U-ie. Came right after us. Morgan’s men. I turned off the highway and headed east over back roads. Man, what a drive! One-lane bridges, dirt roads. Zipping through small towns. Whoa, Frankie boy, I had four wheels treading air! It was fan- tastic. You should’ve seen it. There must’ve been twenty cars after us. I managedto lose ’em but I knew we couldn’t get very far, the two of us. I figured we better split up.
    “I knew that part of the state pretty good. Had a couple buddies in the service from Winston-Salem. We’d go hunting and stayed in this old, abandoned lodge near China Grove. Took some doing but I finally found the place.
    “I pulled up and made sure it was empty. We sat in the car and I put my arm around her. I pulled her close and told her what I decided—that she should stay here. If her father got his hands on her, it’d be all over. He’d send her away for sure. Maybe even brainwash her. Don’t laugh. Morgan’d do it. Even his own flesh and blood. She’d hide out here and I’d lead ’em off for a ways.