“No. He owes it to me and said I was to collect it.”
“Of course, I know,” agreed Tom affably.
“But I can earn it—”
“If you don’t take it, Tom, perhaps you will never get another chance to refuse.”
“Why? Going up in the air?”
“No, not up in the air—but perhaps,” Gloria’s face suddenly became a mysterious casket of secrets, “I’ve got a big thing to tell you.”
Tom looked at his companion eagerly. It was as if his boyish sense of alarm had sounded a gong some place around his indefinite heart. “Going away?” he asked very slowly.
“It’s more than that.” Girls love to tease boys. “But I won’t tell you one word now. Are you going to take this money?”
She was holding out her brown hand; on its palm rested two green bills.
Tom set his basket down and looked very serious. He kicked his sneakers into the soft earth, he swung his uninjured arm like a pendulum, he opened and closed his lips a number of times. Then he put out his hand and took the money over.