Denny nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. How did you know?”
The foreman grinned. “Oh, I guess they all go to Miami on vacation,” he said. “The traffic’s mighty heavy this time of year. You’ll have to keep going. There’s a hurricane blowing up, and it wouldn’t do to run into that.”
Denny shrugged. “No hurricane’s goin’ to stop me,” he said. “What do I care about a hurricane?”
The foreman grinned again. “Thought I’d tell you, sir,” he said. And thought to himself: “O.K., sucker, if that’s the way you feel. Maybe you’ll change the record when it starts to blow.”
Denny said: “Well, I guess I’ll go on over and have somethin’ to eat. I’ll be right back.”
The foreman watched him cross the road and disappear behind the discreetly curtained doors of Chesney’s, then he wandered over to the Lincoln and glanced inside. “Nice wagon,” he said to one of the attendants who was cleaning the windscreen. “I guess that guy’s got a heap of jack.”
The attendant spat on the sidewalk. “I bet he tips in dimes,” he said bitterly. “The bigger the car the smaller the tip. I know these guys.”
The foreman agreed. He was watching two girls who had been standing under a shop canopy for some time, just opposite the station. They had stood in the shade for over half an hour watching the cars come in and pull out. He had noticed that they had been intently interested in Denny Merlin when he went into Chesney’s and now they were talking to each other very seriously. They were an odd couple. The little one was a honey, the foreman thought. She was beautifully curved and blonde. She wore a thin red sweater which revealed her figure, and a short, pleated yellow skirt. Her well-shaped legs were bare and her feet were shod in yellow sandals. She was bare-headed and her face was tanned by the sun and wind. Her companion was a good six inches taller. She also was fair, but she had no feminine charms. In fact, she was almost mannish in her dress and appearance. She wore a pair of shabby yellow-white trousers and a black polo sweater. Her hair was cut short, like a man’s, and her complexion was almost mahogany.
As he watched them, they suddenly made up their minds and crossed the road, coming towards him. He moved away from the Lincoln, looking at the smaller of the two with an appreciative eye.
The tall girl walked right up to him and said, “Like to do something for two deserving girls?”