The Nightcrawler (13 page)

He took one last glance at the crow as it flew off in the distance then got in the car. Reaching across the seat, he unlocked the passenger door and Ashley climbed in settling her pack on the floor between her feet. Scott had an odd look on his face that made Ashley a little uncomfortable.

Inside, the IHOP waitress told them to sit anywhere. It was still early and the place was empty with the exception of one other table. He hadn’t noticed the Lincoln in the parking lot but there sat Wayne and his wife. Scott thought immediately that it was no wonder the old man rushed back in to his wife. She was a small woman, her hair pulled back into a bun so tight it made the skin on her face shine like polished ivory. She wore little oval shaped glasses that sat on the end of her pointy nose, but what Scott noticed most were her eyes. They looked like cold deep holes of despair. She appeared to Scott to be completely void of fun. He doubted that she had experienced fun since before Jesus was a baby. If anyone could use a good laugh it was this woman.

Wayne had looked over his shoulder to see who else was in the restaurant and gave a nod when he saw it was Scott. His wife instantly started in on him, probably about why he was acknowledging those people. He just looked down at the table and ate his eggs like a little boy cowering from an overbearing mother.

“Divorce has got to be better than that.”
 

He didn’t realize he was speaking aloud and Ashley turned to see what he was talking about. Wayne’s wife sneered at her and she turned back to Scott and began to giggle.

It wasn’t until that moment that Scott noticed how truly stunning Ashley was. Her smile was warm, framed by the sweetest dimples he could remember ever seeing. She had big blue eyes, the kind that you usually saw in toddlers. She had perfect features, flawless skin, and the blondest hair this side of the Alps. He didn’t consider himself an expert but he believed it was her natural color.

She suddenly became aware that he was looking at her for the first time. “What?” She said smiling uncomfortably.
 

With the same level of discomfort Scott said, “Sorry, it’s nothing.” He opened his menu and said, “I don’t know about you, but I’m having pancakes.” He found himself looking over the menu at her again.

She didn’t notice this time, “Pancakes sounds good.”

The waitress, a pale skinned older woman with salt and pepper hair and a body that was as wide as it was high stepped up to their table with a coffee pot. She wore a uniform that was clean and pressed but well-worn. Scott waved off the coffee and Ashley shook her head.
 

“We’d both like pancakes and some orange juice,” Scott said handing his menu to her.
 

She winked at him, “Okie-dokie! Well my name’s Jean and if you need anything you just holler.” Then she scooped up Ashley’s menu and walked away.
 

The color drained from his face and he stared out with a blank expression. If it wasn’t hand gestures, winking, or clicking tongues it was that stupid fucking phrase. Okie-dokie.
What the hell does that mean anyway?
Okie-dokie my ass.

Ashley noticed that Scott seemed to have left the building and cautiously asked, “Are you okay?”
 

He gave a forced smile and nodded.

She wasn’t sure if this was a good time, but at this point she wasn’t sure if getting back in the car after breakfast was a good idea. She didn’t think Scott would hurt her but she was beginning to wonder if he might be unstable.
 

“I hope you didn’t mind that I called my mom from the room last night. I left without telling her and I wanted her to know I’m okay.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I was just saying I called my mom from the room. It should have been on the hotel bill.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to expense it anyway.”
 

Before Scott knew it, they had finished eating. He now knew Ashley’s life story. It seemed that once she started talking she couldn’t stop. She broke up with her boyfriend last week. His name was Harold. He was a great guy but she felt he was willing to settle for less than she was. He got a job at the steel mill. He would be like his daddy and Ashley sure didn’t want that. Her cat died this summer. Oh how she cried. Her best friend Marcie got herself knocked up by Billy Johnson, yuck. Ashley had been accepted to two colleges, and her mom was so excited. She would be the first in the family to go to college. But that was also not for her. At least not right now.
 

Jean came over with the bill and Scott almost jumped out of his chair to pay it. He left a twenty on the table for a thirteen dollar tab and headed for the door unsure whether Ashley would follow. Almost at the car he saw her trotting out, her head bobbing with each step.
 

Again he reached across from the driver’s seat reluctantly unlocking the door. She threw her pack in the backseat climbed in and showed him the way back to the interstate.

Chapter Fourteen
 

About the same time Scott and Ashley were heading for the highway, leaving the worms and taunting crows behind, Roger was beginning to stir in Beth’s guest room. It had been a great couple of days but if he didn’t leave now he may not get to the Grand Canyon. Thanks to his mother wiring him some cash and Beth driving him into town, the trip was back on. He would tell Beth during breakfast that he was hitting the road. He hadn’t tried to turn their budding friendship into an all out summer romance because he had a plan and he still had strong feelings for Paige. The plan was to hike the Grand Canyon. If he gave in to his attraction, the plan would be history and so would Paige. He couldn’t see Beth backpacking through the desert anyway. The canyon was still a long way off. Would she be standing on the road hitching? More likely Daddy had a fifty-foot motor home with a hot tub and satellite TV that she would no doubt suggest they bring. No, that wouldn’t do at all. He wanted to rough it across the country. Today he would thank her and hope she would invite him to get in touch with her when he got back to school.

Roger dragged himself out of bed and walked across the room to the window. Looking down at the pool, he decided a morning swim would be a great way to end his stay.
 

He felt like the only person on earth. Birds chirped, and a dog barked, but otherwise he heard nothing. It was so quiet, too quiet for daytime. There were no sounds of air conditioners humming, or traffic from a nearby street. From what he remembered of the drive in there weren’t any nearby streets. The driveway must have been a mile long and he didn’t remember there being any neighbors.
 

When he got down to the pool he stood at the edge hypnotized by the silence.
 

“You going in?”
 

He turned with a start to see Beth’s sister. She was wearing a large white fleece robe that hung to her knees.

“Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me,” he said. He checked her out the same way he did both her and Beth at the rodeo and a pang of guilt made him look away. He wondered how two sisters could both be so beautiful.
 

“You’re the guy who fell off the fence, aren’t you?” she asked with a smirk.
 

Roger’s ears began to turn pink. “And you must be Bobbie.” His eyes were again studying her. She obviously noticed, and gave him the once over, smiled and shot him an animated wink.

Her face lit up as she dropped the robe on the ground, leaving Roger stunned. Bobbie stood on the cut stone deck surrounding the pool. The robe was bundled around her feet. Bobbie’s feet were the only part of her that was covered. Her grin turned naughty as she reached provocatively behind her neck and tied her hair back in a ponytail. Roger stared unblinking as her naked body glistened in the morning sun. She took a step toward him then asked again, “You going in?” She walked to the edge of the pool and jumped in.

She swam underwater to the far side of the pool. Roger stared at the perfect human form gliding through the water. He began to feel as though he were intruding, or worse like a peeping Tom. He was transported back to a time when he was eleven. He was playing in the backyard with Ed when they heard splashing next door. They hustled over to a loose board in the fence that they used as a gate to the neighbor’s yard to retrieve errant balls and Frisbees. They slid the board aside expecting to see Lois Stork and her friends in the pool. Lois was old, at least seventeen they figured and she always had friends over. Roger and Ed never missed an opportunity to sneak a peek at Lois and her friends in their bikinis. This day was different. Lois was alone and she was skinny-dipping. They watched her for just moments but to Roger it seemed like much longer. He suddenly became very embarrassed and told Ed he had to go in.

Inside the house he ran straight to his room. He barely heard his mother ask if he had an argument with Ed. He just answered no and closed his bedroom door behind him. It was the first time he had gotten an erection, the first time in the middle of the day at least. He didn’t count the ones he woke up with every morning. They just meant he had to pee really bad. This was the middle of the day and he didn’t need to pee. His window overlooked the Stork’s yard. Lois was done swimming. She lay naked on her towel beside the pool, drops of water sparkling all over her body. He learned how to masturbate that day and he spent a lot of time watching Lois swim from his bedroom window that summer.
 

Roger felt the same way looking at Bobbie gliding below the surface of the water that he did when watched Lois from his bedroom window.

“Hey Vermont, you goin’ in?” Beth said from behind him.

Startled and a bit embarrassed he looked at her trying to be nonchalant. Roger doubted he was very convincing. It felt like he just got caught watching Lois Stork skinny-dipping. His face and ears were hot and he was blushing furiously. He hoped his deep tan from being on the road masked what would normally be a red glow. Not likely, but maybe.

Roger looked back at Bobbie then back to Beth. He didn’t know what to do.
 

“Well?” she quipped looking over at the pool. She wore an orange Body Glove bikini. Like the day before, Beth looked like a swimsuit model.
 

Suddenly Roger was glad he had the oversized beach towel hanging over his shoulder. It hung down well past what he now realized was an obvious pup tent in his swim trunks.
 

Beth seemed to have figured this out. She sauntered over and began tugging at the towel saying, “Come on, Vermont, let’s go swimming.” She didn’t care that her naked sister was in the pool.
 

“Don’t fret about her,” Beth said. “Daddy won’t even come down to the pool anymore because he’s afraid of seeing his daughter naked. Even if everyone else in Nebraska has.” With that, Beth pulled the towel away, threw it on the ground. She ran screaming across the deck and landed a cannon ball right next to Bobbie. When the wave subsided they began to splash each other, laughing and shrieking like a couple of ten-year-olds. Roger laughed to himself, and then with a Tarzan holler did an even bigger cannonball on Bobbie’s other side.

The shock value gone, Bobbie got out of the pool. Roger watched her walk across the deck and Beth got his attention back by bouncing a lime-green volleyball off the side of his head.
 

“You are so dead,” he said swimming toward her.
 

She headed away from him with a giddy shriek and he realized at once that she was a much better swimmer than he was, but he could throw so instead of chasing what he couldn’t catch, he got the volleyball and launched it at her wake. The wet ball sailed wildly over her head, ricocheted off one of the Greek statues, and splashed down in the corner of the pool.

Bobbie returned wearing a one-piece black swimsuit with a red Nike swish just above the point of her right hip. The suit was cut high on her hips, dipped low in front exposing most of her breasts and the back plunged almost down to her tailbone.
 

“You all done with the nakie game sis?” Beth said with a disapproving sister look.
 

Bobbie produced an orange volleyball from behind her back and spiked it down on Roger, “Can I play too?” She dove back in and began to swim laps with the form of an Olympic swimmer while Roger and Beth continued to play a little courting game in the shallow end, splashing and dunking each other. When Beth climbed up on Roger’s back trying to pull him under with the skill of a calf roper, Bobbie stopped swimming and said, “For Christ sake, Beth, why don’t you take him inside and jump his bones.”
 

Beth picked up the green ball that was floating by and tossed it at her missing by six feet. Bobbie giggled and resumed her laps. Roger and Beth both retrieved a ball and fired them at Bobbie in tandem. Neither ball struck its target. Bobbie however assumed it was game on and made a B-line for the nearest ball; it was a free for all. Both girls scrambled out of the pool and headed for benches at opposite sides of the pool. The seats opened and assorted water weapons came flying out. Pool noodles, Super Soakers and beach balls.

They splashed around hurling one projectile after another at each other until the game changed to boy against girls. Roger was able to block most of the incoming attacks while being deadly accurate with his counters. The girls retreated to the hot tub and Roger did a victory dance beside the pool then joined them.