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Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Summary

Lorena takes to travelling; Jake does not. Deets, stopping by their camp most days, has taught her to build a fire and pack a mule — chores Jake neglects while complaining about how she does them. Her refusal to enter San Antonio festers in him like the old thorn. He accuses her of planning to whore with the first cowpoke who passes, threatens her with a rope, rides into town for whiskey and races back hoping to catch her with someone. Drunk, he tells her a fortune-teller once said he would hang, that Call used to sneak visits to a whore named Maggie, and that Maggie was Newt's mother — nobody knows whose boy he is. He is privately turning over the idea of taking Lorena to Austin and slipping away from her, while admitting to himself that he cannot stand the thought of her going to Gus.

Analysis

Jake decays in private while the drive proceeds in public. Drunk, he hands Lorena two pieces of information the novel has been withholding — that a fortune-teller promised him hanging, and that Newt is Maggie's boy — and is too incurious to notice he has confirmed both plots.

Plates

Night on the trail — rain wakes them and Lorena stumbles up alone in the dark to drag the stiff tarp over the blankets while Jake cusses the weather.
00 Night on the trail — rain wakes them and Lorena stumbles up alone in the dark to drag the stiff tarp over the blankets while Jake cusses the weather.
Morning after the storm — the sky clears, and Lorena sits on the blankets in the warming sun watching her arms tan, certain that a life of travel is what she was meant for.
01 Morning after the storm — the sky clears, and Lorena sits on the blankets in the warming sun watching her arms tan, certain that a life of travel is what she was meant for.
Deets, stopping by their camp as he does almost every day, shows Lorena how to pack the mule — one of the chores Jake neglects.
02 Deets, stopping by their camp as he does almost every day, shows Lorena how to pack the mule — one of the chores Jake neglects.
Evening — Lorena crouches making the campfire the way Deets taught her while Jake stands over her: "Dern you, why can't you talk?"
03 Evening — Lorena crouches making the campfire the way Deets taught her while Jake stands over her: "Dern you, why can't you talk?"
"Once a whore, always a whore. I won't stand for it. Next time I'll take a rope to you." — a close portrait of Jake across the fire, with the coiled rope in reach.
04 "Once a whore, always a whore. I won't stand for it. Next time I'll take a rope to you." — a close portrait of Jake across the fire, with the coiled rope in reach.
Jake eats his bacon, saddles up and rides off toward San Antonio without another word — and Lorena, left in camp, is relieved.
05 Jake eats his bacon, saddles up and rides off toward San Antonio without another word — and Lorena, left in camp, is relieved.
Alone in the deep dusk, bullbats whooshing overhead and the Irishman singing to the herd a mile off, Lorena watches a possum walk past within ten feet, look at her stupidly, and walk on.
06 Alone in the deep dusk, bullbats whooshing overhead and the Irishman singing to the herd a mile off, Lorena watches a possum walk past within ten feet, look at her stupidly, and walk on.
Jake comes racing back into camp with the whiskey, hoping to catch her with somebody — and only raises dust that settles in the blankets.
07 Jake comes racing back into camp with the whiskey, hoping to catch her with somebody — and only raises dust that settles in the blankets.
Drunk on the blankets, Jake tells her a fortune-teller said he would hang, that Call once sneaked around with a whore named Maggie, and that Maggie was the one had little Newt — nobody knows whose boy he is.
08 Drunk on the blankets, Jake tells her a fortune-teller said he would hang, that Call once sneaked around with a whore named Maggie, and that Maggie was the one had little Newt — nobody knows whose boy he is.
"Lorie, me and you was meant for feather beds" — and then Jake sleeps, while Lorena, who would rather keep travelling, lies awake beside the dead bottle.
09 "Lorie, me and you was meant for feather beds" — and then Jake sleeps, while Lorena, who would rather keep travelling, lies awake beside the dead bottle.