Hadrian's Wall (47 page)

“Hey Baker! Have you
already met Billings and Clark?”

“Hi!” I said, nodding.

“I’m Violet Billings,” she
said, keen to stress her first name.

“And I’m Janice Clark,”
said the other one.

They looked at Dwayne, smiled, and continued
to set the table.

He raised his hands,
laughing. “What?” He winked at me, pretending innocence. “Don’t be
so
sensitive
!

I hadn’t picked up on the
game, but I could tell that this group fully understood
it.

“So, you’re the girl who
got lost on the Mountain of Polish Man,” Violet commented lightly.
“How was it?”

“How I got lost?”

She looked up at me. “No, how was the
experience? Did you see something supernatural out there?”

I immediately thought of
the old woman washing clothes in the fog, so decided I’d better
dodge the question.

Dwayne exchanged a conspiratorial look with
David before saying, “Don’t tell me, my dear Violet, that you
believe in all the bullshit that Joe Verano writes for the college
newspaper?”

Before she could answer, a skinny guy
slipped into the room, absentmindedly eating his sandwich. He
looked like a rat with his small, shrewd eyes that contrasted with
large nostrils. He wore his hair tied in a loose ponytail and his
clothes looked rumpled, as if he’d had slept in them. I don’t know
why, but I didn’t like him.

Sitting on the corner of
the counter, Delilah, who hitherto had been sullen, wowed herself
with the possibility of interrupting a conversation that didn’t
revolve around her, but for me, her
big
ego was extremely helpful. People
had forgotten the Mountain of Polish Man topic for a
while.

“Mel, this is Tyler Cassidy, of the Boston
Cassidys. Upon hearing his name, the skinny guy stopped in the
middle of the kitchen.

“You two have a lot in
common,” Delilah continued, commanding what she considered to be
her show. “He also intends to study art. You two could even go out
together. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

What incongruous
comment!
You two could even go out
together...C’mon!

“Our Van Gogh!” Dwayne
reinforced, his indicators pointing to the ‘rat.’ “Tyler’s the
man!”

Cassidy rolled his eyes
saying something like “...playing cupid for a
boring
girl?” He gave me a critical
look, as one might evaluate a commodity.

I turned my face toward
the window and snorted.
That’s all I
need...a pretentious boyfriend.
If he’d
been paying attention before opening his mouth to spew his
bullshit, he would have understood that Delilah and Dwayne were
just trying to help me fit in...and you know what? Like I’d be
interested in a guy with that ugly face who everyone felt was “the
guy” as if he was saying, ‘Women compete for me because I am a gift
from heaven for you all.’

Get real, man!

“Oh, no thank you,” I said
softly in my sweetest voice to conceal my growing aversion to this
person. “I prefer to keep my ears.”
Dwayne
caught the irony and looked at Cassidy with a smile.

“Point to her, pal!”

I gave him a smirk and sat
down on the stool facing the counter. Dwayne was right about the
mess that reigned in the kitchen. There were dirty dishes,
containers of ingredients, and utensils everywhere. I was startled
when I heard the blender turned on and off. I was scared about
everything lately.
This is not
normal!

Janice was humming a song while lifting the
glass jar of the blender and pouring servings into the mugs sitting
on the table. It could be a vitamin drink as it was somewhat
greenish. I made an involuntary grimace.

Tyler also sat in one of the stools. He
looked at the wall-mounted clock and frowned. “We only have half an
hour,” he warned.

Dwayne rubbed his hands. “So here we
go!”

The musical genius leaned over the table and
began distributing the pancakes on the plates.

“Half an hour,” assumed
the pose of a teacher and turned to me. “For you, a freshman of the
freshmen, that means in thirty minutes this will no longer be
ours—the kitchen, I mean. It will go to the next team. Intruders
will not be welcome.” Seeing the questioning look in my eyes, he
continued. “Well, you’re our guest until Mrs.
McPherson
puts you into a group or
until she says that you can choose one of us. All tasks are divided
between the teams.”

I frowned. I had no good memories of group
work, nor did I know how to work in teams.

“Come and share our humble
meal, lovely lady,” he invited me, pulling out a chair for me.
“After all,” he continued, making a flourish with his hand, “you
graced us with a rare festival of treat for our simplistic and
mundane taste.”

Dwayne Preston really was a character!

The others gathered around
the table....e
xcept the
rodent
...I mean Tyler Cassidy. He nodded
with obvious irony and remained seated at the counter, slowly
chewing on his sandwich.

David and Violet cut
several pieces of cake. Folks dug into the cake until only crumbs
remained on the restaurant’s elegant serving platter.

With a bright smile, Dwayne
gave me one of his pancakes and then put a glass of orange juice in
front of my plate. Don’t think the alert look of Abby Haines
escaped my notice. She was secretly watching everything he
did.

“Come on, eat!” he
insisted. “You’re
feeble
, Baker. Any strong wind and we’ll have to tie weights on you
so you won’t go flying around.”

“I love pancakes, but I’m
not really hungry now,” I apologized. “I had a super cheeseburger
earlier, so I’ll just try the juice.”

“Oooh...” He dramatically
placed his hand against his chest. “Now you’ve broken my heart!
Aren’t you gonna at least
taste
my pancake? It’s my specialty!”

“His
only
specialty,” Abby chimed in,
with a hint of sarcasm.

Without answering, I took
the fork and I stuck it into the pancake. Mimicking Dwayne’s
theatrical manner, I did gestures that simulated an airplane flying
loop de loops and then took a small bite. I rolled my eyes and
sighed.
Hmmm...
“What a delight! You are gifted.”

He laughed and looked at Abby.

“See? She said I’m gifted.
Am I ready to get married, Mom?” Abby stared at the ceiling and
then back at her plate. Her flushed face told me that behind her
look of disdain she was happy to be the target of his
cynical
attention. The
two exchanged a quick glance.

Hmmm
...
There’s chemistry going on
between those two!

I looked down at my piece
of pancake, not wanting to embarrass them. Don’t you know, there’s
always someone willing to do that. However, before that happened,
something got them all stirred up. Several mobile phones began
ringing almost simultaneously. The silverware was noisily
abandoned. Beside me, Delilah was having some difficulty retrieving
her phone which was tucked in the back pocket of her tight pants.
Some curses and precious seconds later, she finally managed to pull
it. It was incredibly tiny.

Euphoric exclamations around the table left
me more curious.

“Verano will do a party for
freshmen at Skull Rock. The theme is ‘Scare Away the Heat.’” Abby
read the message over Delilah’s shoulder. For a moment I wondered
how anyone could read the text on such a small screen.

Frowning, Abby looked around. “What does he
mean by that?”

“I think it’s obvious,
Abby!” Dwayne ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “This summer
has been hell. I don’t remember when we last had a heat wave as
intense and as extended as this one. If Verano will do something
that makes our late afternoons more refreshing,
I’m in!”

“What is the Skull Rock?” I asked
hesitantly.

“It’s a big rock in the
middle of the west side of Bluewater Lake,” Delilah explained. “Two
depressions and one mini cave form its eyes and nose,
respectively... and the row of broken stones simulating the teeth
below, near the base where the rocks are nested. Geologists from
the university say that the stones didn’t develop randomly.
Probably during the Cretaceous Period a catastrophe of large
proportion could have split or carved the stones... Looking from
afar, the depressions and the row of stones ‘create’ the features
of an angry skull.

“It is not exactly the
picture of a skull,” Janice interjected, “but at a distance, it
resembles one. Up close, nobody associates the rock to something so
sinister.”

“It’s called ‘Jump’ because
the rock sits atop a small cliff,” Dwayne added. “Exactly where the
opposite banks of the lake come close. People say the old
immigrants held jumping championships over there. Whoever climbs on
top of the skull has a privileged view of the entire beach on the
opposite bank.”

“You can see the
Green-Screen woods
and a
small part of the Mountain of Polish Man below,” Cassidy added in a
monotone voice. The subject seemed to annoy him deeply.

“A party for a lot of
frosh...” David muttered, shrugging. “Everyone won’t fit at the top
of the rock. It’s very narrow. I know because I’ve been up there
practicing rappelling techniques.”

“Surprise, surprise!” said Dwayne rising
from the table. “What a mysterious party! Neither was scheduled in
the calendar of events from fraternities.

I’m dying to see what
Verano is planning for us,” Delilah commented thoughtfully. “In the
blog, he posted a text explaining that we must come with a
swimsuit
and bring
drinks.”

“Oh, man, look at the list of drinks!” David
was astonished. He showed the phone display to Cassidy, who was now
standing beside him.

Bored, Cassidy briefly glanced in the
display and said, “So, he wrote it.”

Janice turned to me and
began explaining
. “Joe
Verano’s trademark is organizing parties. He organizes
parties that are very inter-active. So, the guys kill to get the
things he asks each time. It’s like a
scavenger hunt.”
She raised her
eyebrows as if to emphasize the importance of the social
event.

“As if it were a kind of
jerk
scavenger hunt
from high school,”
Tyler lit a
cigarette. “Except
in this case, the tasks
fulfilled count toward points
for admission
to the party
. I thought I left such
ridiculous rituals behind when I got my diploma.”

“Yeah... Wow! It took an
eternity! Just over a month and you’re already behaving like a
boring old man!” David rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so critical, man.
I still feel the blood of high school running through my
veins!”

“Asshole!” Tyler replied, looking
perpetually bored. He took a deep drag on his cigarette while the
others laughed.

“That reminds me of the
practical side of life,” Dwayne philosophized, looking like someone
who has fun at the expenses of the other two guys. He began
gathering up the dishes with help from David and Violet. “We have
to swing by the supermarket, so let’s all chip in...”

“Uh...I won’t participate,”
I warned, half breathless.

I had no money to even buy
a soda, much less anything more expensive. I don’t know! It was
obvious that parties the universities usually got into something
stronger than juice, tea, or Coke.

“No, you have to go! You’re
with us now!” Delilah vehemently objected. “Think of today’s party
as your official debut at college.”

But I was not admitted to the college
yet...Damn! They really know nothing.

The others were silent, staring at me for a
moment. Dwayne was the first to break the strained atmosphere that
prevailed. He put the dirty dishes on the counter next to the
sink.

“Well, he who cooks does not wash the
dishes!” he announced.

When he returned to the table, he began to
collect the money without paying attention to any of us.

“C’mon!” Delilah whispered
in my ear. Her tone sounded urgent. Without waiting for my consent,
she handed two bank notes to Dwayne. “She’s my guest.”

“What do you want to buy, Dells?” Dwayne
asked, pulling a notepad and a pen from his pocket.

She looked at me uncertainly. I remembered
that Adrian had been drinking wine during lunch and decided to take
the risk...

“Wine?” I suggested timidly.

He raised his eyebrows.

“White, red, dry...?” he asked
impatiently.

“Mmmm...” I chewed my
cheek absentmindedly.
And now?
With a hard smile, I looked to Delilah like I was
asking for help. “Your turn, partner!”

“Red wine and dry,” Delilah replied.

Dwayne wrote down
everyone’s requests. Some people wanted wine and martinis, others
asked for whiskey and rum, but the majority opted for keg beer and
for the refrigerants. He put the notepad in his pocket and walked
toward the door.