"Don't worry, hon."
"Ben—about the phonograph—"
"Suse ..." He turned his head to look at her eyes. "It's good for longer'n we are. That motor. So's the bridge, the way it is, and the road ... we'll be gone first. Before they get around to fix 'em. Before the phonograph gives out. What we want is going to last us—and what we don't want will come too late to hurt us. Nothing's going to hurt our peace. I know that somehow. We got it, and it'll be like this for as long as we're here to enjoy it ... I know."
"Ben—"
"If I want to go fishing," Ben said, and pressed her head against his shoulder again, "I go. If I want to relax with the men, I do it. If I want to just walk and breathe deep, I do it—keeping to the trees, o' course. If I want to just be with you, I do it. It's quiet. It's real quiet in our rag town. It's a world for old people. It's just the way we want it, to live like we want to live. We got enough gardens and livestock, and all the canned stuff in the store, to last us for a ... for as long as we got. And no worries. About who's fighting who over what. About who won. About how the international mess is getting worse again, and we better make more bombs for the next one. About who's winning here and losing there and running neck-and-neck someplace else. We don't know any things like that, and we don't want to know. It don't matter none to us ... we're too old, and we seen too much of it, and it's hurt us too bad, and we know it just don't matter at all."
"Ben ... I got to crying today. About May and George and the children. I was crying, and thinking about that day...."
"So did I think. None of us ever forgets for a minute. For a second." His lips thinned. "That's part of why we do what we do. Rest is, we just want to be left alone."
They sat in silence for a moment, his arm around her shoulders, his other hand holding hers. Then he released her hand and thumped his own on the table, grinned at her and said, "Life goes on, now! Reckon I'll go down and get that cat—or go walking—or just go soak in some sun. What time are the folks showing up for—"
Jetsound slammed across the peaceful valley.