As the train pulled into Fargo, Wood Mountain wanted Patrice to write down the two addresses.
âWhy?â
âBecause youâre a baby. I mean, not streetwise. This way I have a trail in case you get lost.â
âI can find my way.â
âIn the bush, sure. You and your cramp bark.â
âI have been in town.â
âA city, Pixie.â
âWhat do you know about it?â
âMore than you. Once, I visited my sister. And Iâve had fights down there.â
âDid you win any?â
âNo.â
âWell. You should have. Okay, here is where Iâm going.â
PixieâPatriceâwrote the addresses on a scrap of newspaper. She didnât tell him about the emergency address. Bernadette was his half sister. Wood Mountain pocketed the bit of paper. As he rose, he looked down at her. Without thinking, like it was natural, he tried out the smile he practiced in the shaving mirror. Oh, and she responded, didnât she? Looked at him wonderingly. He felt her eyes on him as he turned around. Watching as he walked down the aisle of the train and out the door. . . .
And she was thinking, What was that? That smile? Like he saw it on some cheap movie poster. A smile like the dough in her lunch bucketâsad and raw. Not even half baked. Patrice settled back into her seat and took out the syrup bucket. She ate several pinches of the pemmican, looking out the window into downtown Fargo. The Empire Tavern. She saw Wood Mountain walking along. Swinging his duffel bag. If he walked into the bar sheâd never speak to him again. He walked past.
Okay, maybe sometime, she thought as the train pulled out.
She slept so hard the pattern on the seatâs upholstery bit into her cheek. When she woke, and put her fingers to her face, she could feel the dimples from the harsh cloth. They had come a long way and were passing through St. Cloud. In no time at all now they would be in Minneapolis. The wiry lady had claimed the seat beside Patrice. Now she was using narrow silver needles to knit a white froth of yarn into a weblike blanket for a baby. The delicate folds streamed down and puddled in her lap. Patrice looked away from her, but the lady noticed that her seatmate was awake and introduced herself.
âBitty.â
âPatrice.â
âWhat takes you to the Cities?â
âIâm looking for my sister, and her baby.â
âOhhh?â Bittyâs face quivered as she talked. She was a flat emaciated woman. Her scalp showed through colorless wisps of hair. Her lips were pale and thin. âHow is your sister? And her baby? I supposed youâre going to visit the new baby.â
The woman anxiously pursed her lips and squinted at her needles.
âNot exactly. Sheâs lost. I mean, we havenât heard from her. And Iâve never met the baby. Iâm worried something has happened.â
âOh my goodness no, no, no! I hope nothing to the baby!â
The womanâs needles continued to switch back and forth. The insectlike clicking intensified. Suddenly the woman turned to her, with an air of delivering a solution to the problem. âIâm going to pray for your sister.â
âThank you,â said Patrice.
The woman closed her eyes but continued on without missing a stitch. Her clay-colored lips moved. A sweetness played across her features. Patrice turned away and shut her eyes to sop up the remnants of sleep. When she turned back, the woman was still praying and knitting. The blanket was even longer. Patrice nearly spoke, but the womanâs lips were still moving, and her murmur was intense, nearly audible. Patrice turned away again and stared out the window. The flat lush fields were left behind and replaced by stands of oak and sandy pastures with milk cows grazing. In the distance, to one side, she could see a clump of tall brown structures. Abruptly, the back lots of tumbled houses and then brick warehouses lined the tracks. The pace slowed to a mild rocking and the size of the buildings increased. Soon taller buildings reared to either side of the tracks. Once, another train blurred past, inches away, like in a dream. At last, they slowed to a creeping pace and entered a structure of shadows and tall pillars where the train hissed to a stop.
âHere,â said the woman, opening her eyes.
She rolled up the filmy blanket and handed it to Patrice.
âThis is for your sisterâs baby.â
The little woman slipped into the aisle.
âThank you!â Patrice called, but the little woman did not turn around. Patrice held the blanket to her face for a moment. It had a null scentâit didnât even smell of yarn. No, wait, there was something. A sort of powdery private sadness. The woman had lost a baby, Patrice thought. But the blanket felt like an insurance that she would find Vera and her baby. She pulled her makeshift suitcase from the rack over her seat and stuffed the good-omen baby blanket inside. Then she followed the other passengers along the aisle.
Patrice stepped down onto the platform and followed a sign to the main ticketing and waiting area. There were benches, like church pews but with intermittent armrests. The wood was solid, warmed and stained by so many people sitting. She sat down too. She remembered her lipstick, and applied a fresh coat with help from her compact mirror. People looked up, as they always do when a woman applies lipstick in public. Sometimes, Patrice did this as a test, or as a way of checking behind her, if she felt threatened. This time she looked into the mirror just to gather her determination. This was bound to happen. She was bound not to have foreseen something. What came next. How was she going to get from the train station to the address? She had supposed she could walk. Miles were nothing to her. But now she had seen enough of the size of the city to know it was more than miles. It was street after confusingly similar street. She needed advice. Maybe one of the women at the ticket window. She put away the lipstick and walked over to the window.
âTake a cab, dear. Just wait outside on one of those benches.â
A taxicab, of course! Like in magazine stories. Patrice went through tall handsome doors, fitted with brass, and sat down on a bench near the curb. A car pulled up. She showed the address to the driver and asked how much it would cost to go there.
âNothing,â said the driver. âIâm going there anyway.â
âNo,â she said. âI will pay you something.â
âWeâll see. Special price for a pretty lady.â
She opened the door to get into the backseat.
âSit up front, why donât you?â said the driver.
âNo, thanks,â she said. She was positive that she remembered the backseat from a magazine story. She would not be fooled. The man got out of the car and put her bag on the carâs backseat. He opened the passenger door for her and ushered her into the car. All of this happened in a matter of seconds. He was a broad brown-haired freckled man with freckled hands. His suit was rumpled and baggy, and he seemed in a hurry. She sat in the front seat. He had that sharp smell, like Barnes, but also different, like heâd had a drink already. She wished that sheâd taken a different cab. And it surprised her a little that he wore a suit and tie. He hadnât let up talking for a moment and was driving forcefully along, taking turns with great swings of his arms, sweating although the day was cool.
âYouâre from where? Never heard of it. Whatâs your friend look like? What was she wearing last time you saw her? Say she has a baby, huh? And youâre from where? Never heard of it. Thereâs lots to do here. Youâll like it here. You want a job? Thereâs jobs. I can get you a job right now. You have to know the right people. I know the right people. A cabdriver? No, Iâm not a cabdriver. I drive people around but Iâm not a cabdriver....