Forty-five

[Johnyxxx]

Hello,

Can anybody tell me what the author means by forty-five?


The sheriff wiped his own forehead when we reached the sidewalk. “Git in your car right off,” he said, “and go on home. I’ll expect all of you to stay there till you hear from me. And listen. For God’s sakes be careful what you say and do. I never seen folks so stirred up.”
Our car was almost opposite the door by which we came out. I drove, with Anne beside me, and we went down to the highway by back streets. The impulse to stamp on the throttle was panic-strong in me, but I managed to resist it. We rolled out along the edge of the bay at forty-five and as Barsham Harbor dropped behind us I began to breathe without feeling as if a bar or iron were clamped around my chest. Anne’s face beside me was white, but she lit a cigarette with steady fingers.
“Fools,” said Mrs Walters after a time. “Small-town ignorant fools, that’s what they are.”
None of us could think of a suitable comment to that and we drove on in silence.
“That sheriff better keep them in order,” she went on, after a silence.

William Sloane, Edge of Running Water, 1939.


Thank you very much.

 

[emsr2d2]

45 miles per hour.

 

[Yankee]

45 miles per hour.

Probably just me, but I have found some of Sloane's choice of terms/words in this and other passages somewhat "unusual" (trying to be kind). In this example, I don't question emsr2d2's interpretation. I can't think of another. But why would the driver remember/notice the speed of exactly "45" in that situation? So much for poetic license.

 

[jutfrank]

But why would the driver remember/notice the speed of exactly "45" in that situation?

Because despite his impulse, he's consciously trying not to go too fast, and so he's particularly aware of his speed, I suppose.

 

[emsr2d2]

Perhaps 45mph is the speed limit on that road so the driver remembers that, despite wanting to go faster, he/she managed to resist the temptation and stick rigidly to the speed limit.

 

[GoesStation]

That phrase seems completely natural to me. Unlike much of the dialog and narrative Johnny has quoted from this eighty-year-old book, it doesn't feel dated.