He turned on his heel and strolled through the store in a leisurely manner as if they had discussed nothing more important than the weather. Ray stared after the retreating figure, his fists clenched unconsciously, until Blodgett passed through the front door. Then he reached for the bottle of whiskey, poured a double shot into his coke, tilted his head back and drank.

He was thankful for the sound of the faltering piano notes that could be faintly heard from upstairs… Sally had a pupil… he could postpone giving her the news at least for a little while. He didn't have to tell her at all today, of course, but he knew that he would. As much as he loved Sally, he wondered if it would have been better to wait a few years before marrying. A man had no business getting married before he was making a good income and could provide the things girls had come to expect. Why should Sally be penalized… not able to have a modern house with nice furniture and the latest appliances… or pretty new clothes? They'd never even had a real honeymoon, a thing which Ray bitterly regretted most of all. Because maybe their sex life would have gotten off to a better start if he had been able to take his inexperienced young bride to some romantic, relaxing spot for the first few nights. Instead of staying in some plush hotel or motel with a pool, they'd moved directly into a grubby little campus apartment that was as bad as the one they lived in now. Her folks had been very upset … they'd wanted the couple to wait at least until graduation… they hadn't given Sally any presents or any financial help at all except paying her college fees for the rest of the year. No, they hadn't wanted their daughter to throw herself away on some no-account southerner!

It seemed ironic now that the quality about Sally which had first attracted him to her was a sort of coolness about her… something that said "don't touch me." He was sure that Sally was one of the very few virgins on the campus, which had indeed proved to be the case.