Sunday, April 30, 2017

GLORIA

Copyright (c) 2017 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.




By R. Peterson

           
Memories are works of art that never end up in a museum. We decide on a perspective, choose our own colors, and the images always die with us. The images of Brian Deskota and Gloria Storms remain vivid, although I don’t know how much truth there is in my recollections … I was much younger and too close to those involved be entirely objective.
David Fess broke his B string and while the lead guitar player replaced it and re-tuned his guitar Brian adjusted the controls on his distortion pedal. Almost the entire Cloverdale High School Senior Class and double that number of lower classmates and alumni were crowded together in the field behind the Porter’s barn. A steady line of approaching headlights shone in the distance as Eddy Claymore and Richard Glen collected five dollars per person at the pasture gate. Jim Hunting and Bert Monson had just tapped the third keg of beer; there were two more on the way.
            Clint Early stepped up to the microphone double-timing the E, A and D strings on his Rickenbacker bass. “Ladies and Gentlemen!” His voice boomed over the 600 watt Sun P.A. system. “I think this calls for a drum solo!” The crowd broke into hoots and drunken applause as Doug Mansfield began his best Ginger Baker impersonation. Brian squinted to look through the other side of the raging bonfire. Gloria Storms looked exceptionally breathtaking dressed in tight jeans torn at both knees. Her long strawberry-blonde hair partially covered a black Alice Cooper tour shirt. At least two other seniors as well as three alumni on break from college were all vying for the popular cheerleader’s attention. Brian didn’t blame them; the girl had it all: S curves, no matter what angle you were looking from, a pair of legs that went all the way up to her neck and a way of walking that made you feel like you were standing up in a roller coaster.
Gloria smiled at one of the college freshmen, a guy named Jerry Bolger, and Brian saw her whisper in his ear before they walked arm in arm toward a Toyota Celica parked in the shadows … probably to smoke a joint Brian thought although there were plenty of the rolled marijuana cigarettes being passed around the fire. Brian shrugged his shoulders there was no reason for him to be jealous, it wasn’t as if they were going steady.
Brian stared into the flames remembering the playground behind Cloverdale Elementary during third grade recess, watching as legions of boys made fools of themselves sometimes with daring and dangerous feats, like hanging upside-down on the monkey bars and trying to perform a loop to loop on a swing-set, each of them trying to get the attention of the girl with the golden curls. The guys were still trying to make themselves stand out, this time by hanging Rolex watches from their wrists and spinning loops with Corvette Stingrays. Gloria loved being the center of attention, she always had. Brian wasn’t worried, not really. They ended up together at the end of each night and always would.
David Fess had replaced his guitar string by the time Doug finished his drum solo and was just twisting it into tune. When Brian heard the string reach 246.9 Hz, he had perfect pitch; he began the opening riffs of Johnny River’s Seventh Son played in a heavy metal style reminiscent of early Grand Funk Railroad.
Most of the girls were dancing in front of the bandstand; some on Charles Allen’s father’s flat-bed hay-truck but at least a dozen sat on the edge of the stage, clapped their hands and chorused the oohs and aahs in the correct places. Brian could tell by the sparkling eyes staring up at him as he played that they adored him … if only Gloria felt the same way. Brian stared at the Toyota it wasn’t rocking yet … always a good sign.

-------2-------

It was three AM when the last keg ran out; someone said the cops were on the way. Brian had just finished loading his guitar and amplifier into a friend’s van when he saw flashing red and blue lights approaching in the distance. This was Sheriff John Walker’s way of letting the Cloverdale High School students know that the party was over. Brian looked for Gloria but didn’t see her … hadn’t caught a glimpse of her for over an hour.
He straddled the seat of the Harley Davidson soft-tail and brought it to life with a heavy booted downward thrust on the kick-starter. He felt Gloria slid onto the seat behind him. No other girl on Earth could radiate the woodsy allure of Chanel No 5 in exactly the same way. “We better get a move on,” she whispered in his ear. “If you don’t want to spend the night in Judge Parker’s drunk tank!”
“I’m not drunk,” Brian told her, “a little high … but I can manage.”
“You do a little more than manage,” Gloria sounded angry although she put her arms around his waist and held tight as he roared across the field. “I saw all those chicks flocking around you as you were packing up your equipment. What were you doing … passing out grain?”
“You weren’t around …” Brian began. Gloria cut him off.
“Do you know where you’re going?” Gloria shrieked when the bike bounced over a dyke.
“We figured the cops would show up and so we developed a contingency plan.  Anytime you get a party going this size there’s bound to be someone who wants to go squealing to the police. Lemont Porter took down part of the pasture fence on the north side yesterday; an old logging road in the woods will lead us back onto the highway… far from the flashing lights.”
Gloria turned around; a long string of headlights followed them out of the field and onto the wood road.
            “You and your friends are almost too clever,” Gloria hugged him tight.
            “Almost?” Brian grinned. “I thought we did pretty well.”
            “Whoever told about the party also told the sheriff about your escape plan!” Gloria pointed to flashing lights just around the bend. “See ya later … jailbird.” Gloria giggled as she slid off the back of the bike as Brian slowed.
            “Where are you going?”
            “Anywhere but jail!” Gloria laughed. “My uncle is the prosecuting attorney … remember? I don’t want to embarrass my mother’s brother by having his niece arrested for underage drinking!”
            “You’re going to stay out in these woods all night alone?”
            “Of course not,” Gloria giggled. “I have my own contingency plan! I can’t wait forever to have you come and rescue me.”
Brian watched her flag down a car three cars behind and then stared as the off road vehicle ripped through the trees making its own road.
            “License and registration.” The officer said as he shined a light in Brian’s face.

-------3-------

It was after 9AM when Brian posted bail on the underage drinking charge and decided to ride past Gloria’s house to see if she made it home okay. He parked the bike a block away down the street and crept across the lawn to just beneath Gloria’s upstairs bedroom window. It was Sunday morning and Brian knew both Gloria’s patents would be asleep.
            Brian was picking up a handful of sand to throw at the window when he heard Gloria giggle. “Getting our hands dirty, are we?”
She lay in a lawn chair with a blanket over her.
            “You slept outside with a dangerous killer on the loose?”
A serial killer had been stalking girls in the northeast and had been front page headlines for months.
            “Of course not,” Gloria said. She stood up yawned and then kissed him. Her breath smelled like fresh mint. “I just got home. I went for breakfast in Missoula in Tim Clawson’s Land Rover.”
            “You lead a charmed life!” Brian watched as she walked toward the back door.
            “The best things in life never come easy,” Gloria called over her shoulder as she went in the house.

-------4-------

            The Cloverdale Stallions were down five points in the final quarter of the championship game with the Butte Bulldogs; there was two minutes on the clock and it was fourth down with thirty yards to go. Coach Bender sent in a new wide-receiver with a play he wanted to try. “Eighty-six!” Brian moaned when he heard what the coach wanted them to do. The Bulldogs would be expecting a long-pass on the outside; it was the same play that Bender had used all season whenever the team was in a critical position. Brian glanced at the opposing team from the huddle. The Bulldogs were already setting up for the play he was supposed to call with their best running-backs covering both sides. “This is like handing them the game,” he told his teammates. “To hell with it! Toss me the pig on nineteen and I’ll run it down the middle!”
            “If this works … you’ll be a hero,” Clay Ruston said seriously. “If it don’t, you won’t be able to date any girls that want children because Coach Bender will roast your nuts over a fire made from your team jersey and your hair in the locker-room after the game.” The rest of the players in the huddle laughed and agreed.
            Gloria and her cheerleaders had been boosting moral from the sidelines. Now she held her breath as the Cloverdale Stallions formed at the line of scrimmage. Brian’s voice sounded forceful and husky, the way it always did when he was going against adversity and the situation was critical. “Sixteen, eight, thirty-four, four, nineteen …” Gloria heard the clash of helmets on the line and knew the ball had been hiked.
Brian scrambled backwards with the football seeming to look for an open receiver. The Bulldogs had read Coach Bender’s play correctly and within two seconds every wide receiver would have double and triple coverage. By sheer brute-force two Cloverdale linemen forced an opening in the center and Brian hurdled through it clutching the football tightly under his arm.
The stadium was on its feet and the roar of the crowd was like a hurricane. Coach Bender was screaming profanity as he unwittingly stepped across the sideline onto the field, manic that his first-string quarterback had ignored his play.
Brian threw off one tackle and then another as he surged forward. Suddenly his way was blocked by a massive two-hundred eighty pound defensive back. There was no way to go around the enormous Butte Bulldog charging toward him. Brian feigned to the left and then quickly to the right just before the monster lunged. The huge defensive back was caught off-balance and stumbled. He was halfway to the ground when Brian sprinted up him using his cleats like a mountain climber and leaped into the air just as three other Bulldogs crashed together where he’d been only an instant before. Brian’s legs were a blur even before he hit the ground running. The next ten yards were a series of near tackles as Brian zigged and zagged his way forward twisting away from one tackle after another.
There was a moment when the Bulldogs thought they had him. Massive fingers reached for him from both sides at the ten yard line like huge bear claws and slashed the air instead. Brian dashed over the goal-line with the closest pursuer at least two strides behind.
It took at least half a minute for the crowd noise to subside before people noticed the referee blowing his whistle. The Stallions victory celebration was short lived when the referee announced a technical foul against Cloverdale for having a coach on the field during game play.
The Stallions were given a ten yard penalty and ordered to repeat the down. Coach Bender was furious and no amount of arguing could change the referee’s mind. Bender blamed Brian and replaced him with the secondary quarterback for the last play of the game. The long pass to the right was knocked away and almost intercepted. The Butte Bulldogs won the championship game twenty-six to twenty-one.
Brian looked for Gloria as he left the locker-room after a heated meeting with the football coach. Most of the cars had already left the stadium parking lot. There was a victory dance planned in the school gym but Brian didn’t feel up to going. Several people asked if he wanted a ride, his bike was at home, but he decided to walk.
Thunder beat the night clouds like a wet blanket and a drizzly rain began to fall an hour later just as Brian walked up his driveway. He was just reaching for the front door knob when he saw someone climbing out of the hammock on the front porch. “That’s two showers you got tonight and you’re still not washed up!’ Gloria grinned as she pointed to his dripping hair.
 “You walked all the way out here after six girls have been murdered in the northwest in the last two months?”  Local authorities and the FBI suspected a serial killer but so far no one had been caught.
“My sister dropped me off.” Gloria looked at her watch. “She’ll be back in about ten minutes to pick me up. Besides, lots of guys say I’m the killer … maybe I am!”
“Bender says he’s rescinding my scholarship endorsement,” Brian said ignoring her remark. Gloom was begging to settle over him as he thought about his future.
“The guy’s a jerk. Who needs him?” Gloria reached out and wiped a wet curl of hair off from his forehead.
“I do. A scholarship is my only chance to go to college.”
“Take off your blinders,” Gloria said. “Your future is blocked only because you insist on such a narrow view of things.” She turned around and stared at the city lights in the distance.
“Where were you after the game? This had to be one of the worst days of my life!” Brian was trying to get her to look at him but she shook his hand off from her shoulder.
“I was with happy and successful people. I don’t want to be part of the worst day of your life … I want to be part of your best days.”
Brian tried to smile. He hated to be around depressing people himself. He thought to change the subject. “My mom’s sister, Fran, works in Wedding Bells and she said you bought the designer dress in the store window.”
            “I did and it’s amazing,” Gloria smiled. “I have to go back again for another round of alterations … your aunt is quite the seamstress … but it looks fabulous!”
            “I can’t wait to see you in it.” Gloria allowed Brian to pull her close to him. She was struggling not to give in.
            “I didn’t know you were going to the prom … who did you ask?” she whispered in his ear. She turned her head when he tried to kiss her.
            “Stop kidding around,” he told her. “I plan to borrow my uncle’s car … a Cadillac Coup De Ville … for once we can ride up to a school function in style.”
            “I already have a date … and I’m not kidding.” Gloria pulled away. Suddenly she was furious.
            “Who?” Brian was shocked.
            “Ted Evans,” Gloria said. She grinned but her smile resembled a crocodile. “The senior prom is only a week away and I hadn’t been asked yet … I’m in the running for prom queen and I wasn’t about to show up without a date.”
            “That second year law student renting a room from Sheriff Walker?” Brian’s mouth hung open. “What’s he got that I don’t have?”
            “He’s good looking. He’s president of the young Republicans at Montana State and he’s got money! Oh and don’t try to tell me he might be the killer. Would a guy like that rent a room from the sheriff?” Gloria laughed as she turned and walked toward the car lights.

-------5-------

            “What makes you think I’m going to the senior prom with Brian?” Gloria replied to her sister when they were only a mile down the road.
            “You’ve been fussing over that dress in Wedding Bells for over a month,” her sister gasped. “Did you and Brian break up tonight?”
            “What’s to break up?” Gloria wiggled her fingers in the air. “You don’t see a boy’s class ring on my finger do you?”
            “I just took it for granted…” Her sister’s voice trailed off.
            “That’s the problem.” Gloria smiled suddenly sure of herself. “Everyone, including Brian, takes what we are supposed to have for granted.”
            “But this isn’t just another dance.” Her sister objected. “This is the senior prom … one of the most important nights of your life!”
            “Don’t worry,” Gloria smiled as her sister dropped her off at her house. “I know what I’m doing.”  She had a few anxious thoughts as she stared out the side window into the rain which was now pouring. Brian Deskota was her dream; he always had been. At least a thousand girls would give up their virginity and anything else they had to go out with him. If you want to catch the biggest fish you have to know how to play them out her father had always told her. Now all she had to do was talk Ted Evans or some other boy into asking her to the dance. She was sure Ted had been ready to ask her at least a dozen times at Paxman’s, at the grocery store and when she ran into him at the game. He was a stranger in town and wouldn’t be a problem to dump later. Dogs were barking at the neighbors but Gloria ignored them hurrying to get out of the rain.
Car lights turning around in the driveway swept over a dark shape crouched in a clump of swaying snowball bushes. It could have been a large dog but it wasn’t. Eyes with the intensity of a snake watched as the girl disappeared into the house. The air around the figure held a faint odor like rotting almonds. “One more week … I must take my time with this one and make sure everything is perfect,” the shadowy figure hissed. Droll dripped from a gaping mouth onto the wet ground. Silent laughter caressed the white flowers like fingers from an evil wind. “Sometimes very bad things can happen … I must be very careful!”
Inside the house Gloria closed her eyes for a moment as she flopped onto her bed and then smiled. What she was about to do was dangerous to any relationship, but Brian was no ordinary guy. He always needed a challenge and always would. Gloria was sure everything would work out in the end … it always had … and it always would.
What she didn’t take into consideration, and most people don’t, was that this was Cloverdale … like no other small town on earth.

TO BE CONTINUED …



Sunday, April 23, 2017

SPECIAL DELIVERY

Copyright (c) 2017 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.



By R. Peterson

“I hated that infected-boil-on-the-arse-of-humanity, Rutherford Sutherland, his enemies call him Rutty … he has no friends … with the fury of a tormented wolverine I loathed Sutherland Home Delivery equally as well! Yes! I will have more tea. They’ll deliver anything, anywhere to anyone for a price. I’d been sacked from my last two jobs … it wasn’t my fault … not really. I blame the vile, green-the-morning-after suds they pump and pour at the Squealing Pig and a pissing-dance-all-night rock group called Abortion Clinic.”
“Sure you get screwed while you’re dancing but you leave it all behind! I was an undocumented immigrant from America at the time … still wet from the forced swim.”
“You think things are bad here … they’re worse over there. Six months and I’m already out of my mind.”
“Two lumps in mine but hold the cow back. Knock the bitch up and strand her in London … that was my lover’s plan. I was running low on opportunities, pleasure and especially funds … with an accent on the part about fun.”
“There should be a bloody-law against indenturing without trial, even if I am guilty as a fox with an exhaust port blowing chicken feathers, and a proper jury conviction.  So this girl, step-daughter, runaway, unpaid-prostitute, unmarried-mother-of-three nappy-rats was running out of room to breathe. Thank the Devil in Hell the f%$#@^% horn still functioned … sounds like an angry goose! Move out of the f$#%&@# way! I’ll scratch your sideboards and passage where I will if you don’t take me serious! I yelled. They’ll never make me drive on the left!”
“I understand that!”
“I’d made a solemn vow, my second day on the job, that I would someday kill both Rutty and his ever-peering-over-his-shoulder hunch-backed lover. I do wish I was her. He’s such a prize with those flapping fish lips and an enormous paunch that hangs over his belt like unbaked bread. Ethel obviously raked deep lines in her face with a metal comb when she was younger and planted pimples. A bumper-crop sprouted year after year and the tremendous weight of the infected acne obviously twisted and bent her spine … and I worry when I get a cold sore.”
“No, I think your complexion is marvelous!”
 “Now where was I? How I hated them! The first week I was forced to pay for a broken cooling-fan belt … Rutty claimed I’d been over-revving! I haven’t changed my mind about the ghastly murders; I’m just waiting for the right time and place … and a few more paydays. “Perhaps mum if I caress your f#$%$#@ boot with the edge of my bonnet I can get you to crawl a little faster!” I yelled as the traffic thickened. “Is that a Bentaga you’re driving or a Scotland Tortoise with a  f#$%#@  leg-brace?”
“I’m afraid I do get in a bit of a rage when I drive!”
“Of course … anyway it was that on the rainy night of nineteen April two thousand and six that I found myself bouncing and careening across all twelve lanes of the M5 … of course I’m exaggerating. But pay attention to the plot … I promise … it gets better!  Petherton, Puriton and Burnham-on-Sea hoping the clattering three-cylinder engine, no doubt made of recycled Korean beer cans, didn’t blow! I was knighted by Ethel Sutherland herself and given the title Dame … or was that Damn? … A quest to deliver and obtain signature for one thirty-six point nine kilogram package that gassed like the final-product-end of a squirting English Longhorn. What the f%$# is that vile puddle seeping under the wooden box? I thought. Smells like a copper pot ready to melt!”
            “Thank you, dear, for the cake; sweets have always been my doom.”
“Rutty and that fat, creaking bitch who seduced him decided to purchase, used of course, a fleet of tiny super-tawdry Lorries for half of what you’d play for polite vehicles and then overloaded each one to the point of exploding all the hair-club tires. Someone should tell the Asian dictatorships about shock absorbers. No bolts … everything is held together with gum. When I left the M5, near Brean, I was lost and bouncing like Belle du Jour on a clandestine visit to the back rooms of Parliament. Of course Southerland doesn’t invest in GPS. I had Rutherford’s hand-written scribbles! “F%$# off with the high-beams Mate! Can’t you tell I’m hunting an address? Bloody frog from across the channel he was!”
            “I’m sure you have … we all know that sort don’t we?”
“Ah! An hour later there’s the sign hanging from a bent nail. Chancy my headlamps still work, dim though … like my bloody forgotten! I haven’t seen a streetlight and only one smoking Billy since Brean. Another five miles and we should be there … me and my shadow. Don’t start me singing … I’ve enough trouble! What the f#$% happened to the gravel? Two ruts skirting a rabbit hedge! I cranked down my window and told all the hairless tires to hold their breath. I could hear what sounded like restless snoring coming from the back.”
“No, it doesn’t bother me now!”
“Creepy! Surely the angels would know I was coming.”

-------2-------

“There was so much f#$%#@ fog rising from the weeds I had to look at the address again to see if the moss and mortar rock manor growing out of a forest of dead roses wasn’t the residence of some Lon Chaney lurch-a-like. Nope … this time I’d found a real upper-class English gentleman … “Aleister Crowley III” I believe the label read, although I could have been wrong about the numbers.”
“I know he’s famous and also dead … at least I think he is!”
“Sorry, let me continue. My North Korean, petrol-powered rickshaw coughed and died just as I pulled up to the house. Just as well, with short pants and a pair of trainers I was ready to walk … or to run. The package wasn’t all that heavy but by using a shovel (I get stuck at least twice a week) I scraped it out the back and onto a dolly … I didn’t want to get my hands dirty … or God forbid break one of my ragged and chewed fingernails. I’ll grow them out in the spring for my Allure cover-shoot.”
“Yes dear, I am one of the chosen.”
“Walking on the gravel-over-cement driveway my boots sounded like a pack of wolves chewing old bones. The creaking wheels of the hand-truck were like the cries of terrified rabbits. My forever broken heart, in too many pieces to pound, made a soft rattling noise.”
“Don’t roll your eyes … I’m trying to make this story entertaining!”
“A huge oak door sagged on rusty hinges that looked like they were made when King George was taxing tea in the colonies to pay for an army of mistresses.”
“Of course I can’t prove that … let me finish! I rapped on the splinters with an iron knocker in the shape of two dragons breeding … and then waited. I’d almost battered down the door knocking one of the lusty lizards to the ground when I finally turned and pushed the load back to the rickshaw. From somewhere in the distance a quartet of dogs, or hopefully wolves to make this story better, began to howl. I knew how they felt. I’d driven over three hundred miles and couldn’t leave the soggy package without a signature. I can’t tell you what I yelled into the night … but it was f#$%$#@ rank even for tender wolf ears. By the time I got the box loaded into the back I was sweaty and furious.”
“No, not with you dear … never with you!”
“With the infinite power of profanity I finally got the starter to catch and was pathetically trying to fling gravel with the skinny tires on the way out when a bean-pole thin man, with an unkempt pointed goatee, leaped from a foggy thicket into the center of the twin cow-paths. There was no way to go around him with the long pole he thrust forward in a horizontal position as he approached. If my lorry had had more power I swear I would have tried to run him over.”
“Is that a cat I smell … you really should invest in a dog.”
“Yes, he looked dangerous, but I cranked down the window anyway.”
“I was ready to die; let the bloody orphanage in London raise my brats! “Deliver the package in the rear,” he suggested with a mouth full of crooked teeth. “I’m Harry and I’ll let you in!” I bet he was. He also smelled like a goat. I was glad it was night; I could only imagine the swarm of flies that infested that beard during the day. One of his eyes looked straight ahead; the other popped out of his skull and twisted and turned as it tried to peer down my blouse. He was obviously deranged! If I had any breasts, they were somewhere on a nude-beach in Spain enjoying a holiday and soaking up the sun.”
“Thank you, but I’ve wiped mist from a mirror after a shower many times.”
“I don’t know where the gas-lanterns came from, dear, but Bean-Pole Hairy hung one on each end of the pole as I followed him around to the back. From behind he didn’t look half bad … perhaps it was that lurching hop that turned me on. He removed a chain and opened wooden doors covering stone stairs and ordered me to transport the box down them. I’m not desperate … just practical. I would love a nip … thank you! Perhaps this tale will now go a bit smoother. Of course he stood there gaping as I struggled to once again get the heavy wooden box out of the back and onto the hand cart. I couldn’t really blame him; I must appear like a lovely ballerina when I work.”
“Oh really? That’s your opinion then isn’t it?”
“The stairs were steep and many and it was all I could do to bump the cart to the bottom. “I’ll come in from the front and light the lamps,” he promised. Of course he closed both doors and I heard him secure the chain. I expected no less. I was left alone in the black with what I hoped were only my thoughts. I’ve never been afraid of rats … often they’ve been my only friends. No offence to you, dear, you’re a real charmer! It was there in the utter darkness that the raspy voice first came from the leaking package. “Don’t be afraid,” it said. “Were almost home.” I was squirming … I desperately needed the services of a loo … now more than ever before! Damn! I thought. I should have gone when I passed through Petherton!”
“Oh, I know you wouldn’t”
“I held my water for as long as I could but when Bean Pole Harry flipped a light switch and I saw four headless humans lurching toward me and a couple of doctors standing by with stitched-on heads I let go and splashed the floor. The place was as clean as any hospital but I still wasn’t sorry for what I’d done. There’s a limit to how you can startle a person and I’d hit mine.”
“Thank you dear. I think I will have more tea.”
“Don’t bother I’ll get it.”
“Now where was I? The doctors were all smiling and walking toward me like we were old friends. “We only want the box,” they said, “and you can be on your way!” That’s when I heard the voice from inside the package speaking again … and I thank God I did. “Don’t believe them,” the voice said. “Sure they want me … but you’ve got a good head on your shoulders and I’m sure they want it as well. As long as you hang onto the box they cannot touch you!”
“There was truth to what the voice told me … and I thank you again. Every doctor with a sewn-on head was looking at my own head as if it were some new gadget in an electronics store. I backed toward the stairs keeping the hand cart with the box in front of me. One of the doctors tried to reason with me. “You were hired to deliver the package,” he said.  “Leave it and be off or I’ll have to file a complaint!” I laughed in his face and he was furious. “They’ll want you to go downtown and fill out a form.” I told him. “I don’t suppose you own a turtle neck sweater do you? Those huge stitches around your neck are sure to draw a few questions!”
“They followed as I backed up the stairs but none of them got too close. You’ll be sacked by the time you get back to London!” one of the doctors promised.”
“But at least I’ll still have my head!” I told him. “I was feeling more confident as I rolled the cart back to the rickshaw. I laughed each time they made a new threat. One of the doctors even tried pleading with me. “My wife needs what is inside that box desperately,” he said. “We’ve waited for over a year and today was to be the happiest day of our lives!”
“Sorry,” I told him. “But there’s always tomorrow!”
“I had a bit of a start after I loaded the crate in the back of the van and it failed to start the first few times I cranked it over. The doctors and the headless people started crowding closer. I could see smiles on the faces of those with sewn on heads and I believe they thought as long as I didn’t leave there was still a chance that they could get what was inside the box!”
            “I’m here aren’t I? Of course the van finally started!”
 “Thank you, but I believe I’ve had enough tea. I do believe I’ll have another piece of cake though.”
“No, don’t get up … I’ll get it!”
 “It was a long way back to London and I was terrified by what might be in the crate so I stopped at a pullout near a scenic view and cast the box into a clump of brambles. I felt better without the burden and went straight to the police when I arrived back in London.”
            “Oh, you know him?”
            “Inspector Crombie is a sly muffin in anyone’s book. He listened to my entire story while tapping a pencil against a pad that he’d only written my name on. He had a way of looking at a person as if he’d seen it all and even knew the color of my underthings. “You’re an American aren’t you?” It was more of an accusation than a f#$%$#@ question.
            “You believe I’m lying?” I blurted. I was furious, but the good inspector never batted an eye.
            “I believe you need a bit of a rest!” he says still tapping his pencil.
“I spent three weeks in a private room in St. Andrews for observation because the good inspector thought I was mad as a hatter! After the second day I had everything figured out and confessed to anyone who would listen that it was all just a harmless prank … that had gotten away from me.”
“There’s a lot of crazies in Britain … I guess they needed the room. Once I was out and had my job back I could stop pretending.”
“Of course Rutherford was an arse … but he was so desperate!”
“Oops! I didn’t mean to horde the sugar! Here you go love!”
“No, he never received a complaint about the non-delivery.”
“Now where was I? Oh yes, the last bit of my story! I began to get worried. I couldn’t sleep at night and began to imagine doctors with sewn-on heads and other people creeping through the garden outside my flat. I finally drove back to the bramble bushes next to the scenic overlook and hunted till I found the crate. Only a few broken boards … but no real damage. You of course can determine that much better than I”
            “You know the rest!” I was thrilled when I opened the box … and what we have just keeps getting better each day.”
            “I feel the same way!”
“Yes, I’d love to travel with you. Perhaps on my next holiday I’ll rent a proper car and we’ll drive north. I hear Scotland is beautiful this time of year!”
            “No, of course we’ll sleep in separate beds … I’m not that out there.”
            “You’re gurgling! I didn’t hear that last bit. Oh dear! You’re bleeding again and that China-plate was my mother’s!  That’s some nasty gash below your chin! Not too ragged though … I’ll bet it was fast … and I hope … not too painful. I’d say one of those huge double blades on an axe.”
            “Here let me tidy that up a bit!”
            “Of course I’m not angry, dear. Like I said, I don’t have many friends … and you’re so easy to talk to!”

THE END?


Sunday, April 16, 2017

DREAM LOVER part 3

Copyright (c) 2017 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.



By R. Peterson

The smoke and the flames were visible blocks away. The Cloverdale police had the street barricaded and only allowed emergency vehicles through. I parked my truck and ran past a line of ambulances and quick response units, ignoring the officer shouting at me to stop. Two dogs ran past, barking with excitement. Fire trucks continued to spray water on the still smoldering building. Mrs. Childs stood across the street with a group of bewildered and frightened residents. Two of her assistants were covering the trembling old people with blankets even though the night air was at least eighty-degrees. “Where’s my mother?’ I yelled and then silently counted to ten as Mrs. Childs held up her index finger. She was talking to someone on a cell-phone and as I listened I could hear her assuring a family member. “Mary is going to be fine,” she was saying. “She can’t talk right now because they have her wearing oxygen. No! It wasn’t smoke … just the excitement of having to leave the building!” I glared until she finally clicked off the call.
“Your mother is in the QRV being checked-out for smoke inhalation,” She said pointing to a white van with a crowd of people milling around it. The family contact names must have been programed into her phone; she was already talking again as I ran toward the truck. They wouldn’t let me in to see and I waited at least three minutes before a fireman lifted her from the back door.
“It was those incense candles we were using to hide the kittens,” Mom said as she pushed away the hand of an EMT trying to force an oxygen mask toward her face. “Big-nose cat-hater Florence Hicks put two burning candles under her box springs to conceal the imagined litter-box smell coming from down the hall and her bedspread caught the curtains on fire! Even if that grumpy woman didn’t have Alzheimer’s … she’d still be dangerous!”
Mom looked fine and relief swept over me. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll live,” she said holding up a photo album in clenched fingers. “I had to scratch a fireman’s face before he’d let me take my memories. What’s wrong with people these days?”
It was then that I noticed the county morgue van; two white clad workers were loading a cloth covered gurney into the back. “My God! Someone died?”
Mom looked at me with the same compassion she had when my pet collie Skipper had been ran over by a truck when I was ten. “Jennifer succumbed to smoke inhalation,” Mom said. Tears of sympathy welled in her eyes. ‘I thought you knew. The firemen went through the building calling out to anyone who was left inside; there was so much smoke, it was hard for them to see. No one thought about a woman unable to speak!”

-------2-------

It wasn’t until the funeral that I realized Jennifer’s married name was Jennifer Kruger Roker. I sat in the row behind the family holding the program in my shaking hands too stunned to speak. The picture on the front had probably been taken when Jennifer was about thirty. She looked stunning. It could have been my imagination, but I thought I noticed a hint of sadness in her eyes. I’ve seen that look many times as if not just the passing of years but a lack of love somehow dims the light that a person has inside them. If she was married to a bully like Rex Roker how good could her life have been? It wasn’t just the sadness over finding her again after all these years and then losing her so suddenly. I felt like I’d caused her death. I still remembered Rex’s car bursting into flames in my dream and I felt responsible. I remember reading that some of the world’s most brilliant quantum physicists  think that everything we perceive about the universe — height, width, depth, and time, including time — may be actually a hologram, a flat surface with information in the boundaries.       What I took that to mean was this: Anything that you can create, even in the corners of your mind has the possibility of becoming real. Right now, that theory made sense. It seemed too big of a coincidence; Jennifer burning in my dream in a fire and then succumbing to smoke inhalation in real life.
A woman, who introduced herself as Jennifer’s younger sister Beth, talked to me for a minute and invited me to a luncheon afterwards put on by a local church. “Jen wrote about meeting you again and visiting with you these past weeks,” she said. “I think you made her happy … something she didn’t get enough of in her life while she was married to Rex Roker. Did you know he cheated on her? My God! Someone like him should have been grateful that he found anyone decent. ”
I didn’t remember Beth from school and was too stunned by everything that had happened to attend the lunch. I wasn’t surprised at Jennifer’s sister’s reaction to Rex. He was trouble from the time he learned to walk. Try as I might I just couldn’t see Jennifer ending up with someone like Rex. She was caviar and he was burnt macaroni and cheese without milk.
After the funeral, I didn’t feel like driving so I left my car in the lot and decided to go for a walk. Guilt is a heavy burden to bear. The wind came up and blew dead leaves, rustling across the sidewalk as I trudged through the town without a destination. Anything that you can create, even in the corners of your mind has the possibility of becoming real. My God! What had I done?

-------3-------

I didn’t have any more dreams, how could I when I wasn’t sleeping? I lay in the double bed in my apartment, hogging all thee pillows and with two bestselling novels that I read cover to cover, even though I couldn’t have told you five minutes later what they were about.  I was hypersensitive and was conscious of everything: the dripping water-sound of the alarm clock ticking on my nightstand, a freezing wind bending over the arborvitaes planted just outside my window with hushed shouting and the ominous sound of isolated silence … that loudest and most annoying distraction of all.
            After the fourth night without sleep I decided to wear myself out. I actually ran around the block. At sixty-five years of age I figured that if physical exertion didn’t knock me out at least I’d have a heart attack. Anything was better than suffering through insomnia. I had only a quilted ski-parka on and had forgotten gloves when I found myself walking through the city park later that afternoon. A long shelter open to the public by reservation was enclosed and bricked at one end. The stone from a wood-burning fireplace was still radiating heat from an earlier fire with a large pit of coals. My numb hands were more than grateful. Best of all, someone had left a folding chair, a recliner, near the warmth and I sat down just for a minute. Night was still a couple of hours away. I wouldn’t say I felt happy or any relief from the guilt that seemed to hang like an unwanted albatross around my neck … Did I destroy Jennifer by bringing her into my dreams? How selfish of me. I could no longer hold back the tears. At least with my hands in my pockets … I was warm. I wasn’t aware of when the darkness came … only that it did.

-------4-------

It’s strange to be inside a dream when you know where you are. That same long hallway with doors on both sides loomed once again before me. I could see the light seeping from beneath the door that I’d went through twice before and I almost opened it. Why I didn’t I’ll never know. Perhaps I had no desire to witness the horrible accident as Rex’s Chevy struck the white station wagon just on the other side of the bridge and then careened into the service station in a fiery ball of finality. I turned my head and when I did I noticed something I’d never noticed before. The next door down on the opposite side had a faint light coming from underneath. It’s often said that in order to get new results you must pick up a different rock or else pitch at a different window. Perhaps this is how fate is broken.
            The sweeping strobe beams illuminating the floor of Starlight Skating were like threads of colored light weaving a hippie-style tapestry in a magical era. Three Dog Night’s Easy to be Hard was booming over the wall mounted speakers. Jennifer was like the sister with the icy powers in the Disney feature Frozen with blue-white sequins reflecting all the colors of an indoor rainbow as she twirled around the floor. I was happy again and joy is a key that can unlock any ability. My roller-skating moves matched hers, perhaps not with the same elegance and choreographed grace but still with an acceptable resolve. One realizes after a lifetime of looking back that there is never a next time … for anything. We didn’t skate to all of Billboard magazine’s top-forty songs but we must have enjoyed a good number of them. It’s odd how the most euphoric dreams can turn into nightmares with the simplest of sounds. Rex Roker’s steel toed work-boots as he crunched on the gravel behind us as we walked to my dad’s car had the same spine chilling effect as the shrieking tones of the Teen Slasher horror-movies to come twenty years in the future.
            I wish I could say this time I put up a better fight, but I didn’t. People are who they are inside, even when they’re dreaming. He knocked me down and his friends pushed my face into the gravel as Rex forced Jennifer into the back seat of his car.
            The next thing I knew I was following Rex’s speeding Chevy in my dad’s car. At first I thought it was blood running down my cheeks but there really isn’t any physical pain in dreams … it was liquid fear. Probably a cold sweat while I slept. I almost started honking my horn again with the justification that I could get the attention of a cop and that somehow he’d rescue Jennifer. I don’t know why I didn’t. I think it must have had something to do with realizing that the world is like a hologram … everything is controlled by a projection from the outside and if you want to change things you have to pick up a different stone or choose another window. I know this all sounds confusing … but that’s the way our imaginations are and it’s the only way they work. My honking horn had caused the person driving Rex’s car to drive faster. Timing is everything; a second faster or one second slower and Rex’s car would miss colliding with the white station wagon. As it was I had to slam on my brakes and slid sideways in a near miss with the same vehicle.
I followed Rex’s bouncing car down River Road and I knew where they were heading. Mawkat Lake, named for a Blackfoot Indian Chief, lay just inside Motha Forest where Comanche Springs fills a ten acre depression before joining the Cottonmouth River on the way to Magician’s Canyon. It was a favorite teen hangout and a place for underage drinking parties. The kids called it Make-out Lake for good reason. I got my first kiss there when I was fifteen and later scared the daylights out of Nancy Groom and her friends while they toasted marshmallows around a fire with a homemade lake monster costume me and my pals had hidden beforehand in a hollow tree.
 I was glad to see the figures in the backseat were no longer fighting but strangely I felt a twinge of jealousy at the thought that they might be talking. Surely Jennifer is trying to talk herself out of being ravaged by the brute I reasoned. There is no way she couldn’t help but hate the guy. But she had married and divorced him in the future hadn’t she? Maybe I’m not really aware of everything going on here. Reality invades all dreams and the defenders are always unprepared.
It was a party. At least ten cars were parked in a meadow just two hundred yards from the lake shore. I could hear music blasting from someone’s stereo and the sound of raucous laughter. Most of the cars in the lot had a “Shadows” decal in the back window: a silhouette of a hot rod burning rubber with spinning 45 RPM Chuck Berry records for wheels. It figured; most of Rex’s pals were non-paying car club members, oily-comb-in-the-bathroom addicts and reform school graduates.
I followed and hid in a clump of cottonwood trees … This wasn’t my crowd although I knew they’d love to have me show up … for some fun and games at my expense. There were roughly as many girls as there were guys. Chicks with tight pants, mouths full of Juicy Fruit gum and greasy Levi jackets with the Shadows logo stitched on the back.
The Shadow bitches were trying to talk Jennifer into going swimming … al la nude. “Come on … it’s initiation,” one of them told her as she tried to pull off Jennifer’s jacket. The others had noticed Jennifer’s skating outfit. “My don’t you look like a sparkle!” When Jennifer protested that she didn’t want to go swimming or join the club … she just wanted to go home … they began to get indignant. “Think you’re too good for us, do you?”
            “Rex,” One of the girls yelled as Rex helps tap another keg. “Your date is talking bad things about you!”
            “She just needs to loosen up!” Rex said as he walked over. He chugged a quart sized paper cup filled with beer and foam ran off his chin as he belched. “Take me home,” Jennifer insisted, “or I’ll have the police charge you with kidnapping!”
            “Aw, common baby we’re just out here trying to have us a little fun,” he told her.
            `”I mean what I said,” Jennifer told him, ignoring the laughs from the girls.
            “I’ll tell you what,” Rex told her. His puffy lips formed into a ridiculous amorous pout … as if he’d been practicing in a mirror. “I have to get something for my trouble … after all I brought you all the way out here on our first date!” He threw his arms in the air as if in resignation. “Just one little kiss and I’ll take you home!”
Jennifer was fuming mad. I could almost feel her fury as she looked at the ground. Maybe Rex was telling the truth. She surely had plenty of witnesses … even if they were his friends.
            “Okay,” she said at last. “But make it fast … I want to get out of here!”
Rex walked toward her smiling. “Just relax, baby … it’s not the end of the world!”
As soon as their lips touched a camera bulb flashed. One of the girls giggled as a Polaroid photo popped out of the camera and began to develop. “We got proof that nobody forced you to come here … and that you were having a good time,” she cackled.
            “A picture is worth a ton of words in court my dad says!” Rex was laughing as he put the picture in his wallet.
I felt sorry for Jennifer as the girls began to strip her. There were just too many of them. If I charged in I was sure to be killed. Even though you know it’s only a dream reason still drives your nerve. I could almost imagine my parents and the cops finding my beaten and bruised body floating face-down in the lake tomorrow morning.
The girls were pulling Jennifer into the water and the guys were all taking off their own clothes. I’d never been to an orgy but I’m sure this was the way many of them started.
I don’t know what made me think of the gravel pit monster costume that I hoped was still hidden in the hollow tree. Looking back, scaring Nancy Groom and her friends had been one of my best teenage moments. Things rarely go the way you planned usually any attempt to change fate makes you end up looking ridiculous. I could hear laughter coming from the water. I thought I could hear Jennifer’s voice mixed in with the others. She didn’t sound as angry … she married him after all didn’t she?
            The hollow tree was at the far end of the lake hidden behind a huge clump of mulberries. The costume fit better than I remembered … the water was even colder. I pulled clumps of last summer’s moss off the bottom and tucked them into the spaces around my waist and where the hood attached to my shoulders. When I could see the people swimming I submerged and swam just below the surface. My heart was making the shark noises from Jaws as I moved toward the kicking legs.
Seldom do our dreams explode in euphoria … this was an exception. When I burst from the water with a low bellow like a cow that has missed three milking’s all the eyes in the water were like full moons with terrified white faces. I was aware of the screams and the thrashing madness as everyone scrambled to get away from me. Fear is the ultimate weapon to those who can wield it and I charged after them utilizing a morbid lurching gait that would have made even the great Lon Chaney squirm with envy.
The cars were starting up and moving out too quickly. Clouds of dust drifted toward the night sky as flying gravel struck the trees and bushes like buckshot. I heard two girls arguing and a last pitiful cry as one girl was pushed to the ground just before the car sped away. I walked toward her forgetting for a moment what I had become and what I now looked like. Somehow I knew it would be Jennifer and it was. Crouched low on the ground so that I couldn’t see her nakedness. “Are you okay?” I mumbled.
She sprang from the ground like a cornered wolverine moving too quickly for me to comprehend what was happening. A chunk of firewood the size of a baseball bat struck me squarely on the side of the head and I was seeing stars … too many for a single galaxy as small as the Milky Way. Then there was only darkness.
When I woke up the gravel pit monster hood was under my head. Jennifer had placed it there as a pillow. She was dressed and warming her hands by the fire. “What were you thinking?” she demanded. “That’s the worst monster costume I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s a wonder they didn’t put you on a stick and roast you over the fire lie a hot dog!”
“This is some date,” I told her as we walked toward my car.
“I’ll never forget it,” Jennifer said as I opened her door. All the stars seemed to be in her eyes as she kissed me and then suddenly all those same stars were falling … shooting across the universe and taking me along for a ride. This time there were no white rectangles … no doors to pass between what was and what might have been. With a touch of sadness I knew there would be no return.
The fire was out completely in the park shelter and the fire-pit stones had lost their heat. It was the cold that had taken me from Jennifer’s warm dreamy embrace and back to reality. There were dry leaves on my head and shoulders as if I were some kind of Rip Van Winkle just waking up after a century of slumber. If I could have gone back to the same dream and stayed forever … I would have.
My car wasn’t in the Alpine Meadows parking lot … in fact there was no assisted living center on that corner of the block … there was an Ace Hardware store … I checked the street signs twice. I walked to the apartment that I had rented for the last three years but a large Negro woman with children wrapped around her legs answered when I tried to use my keys on the front door. She was threatening to call the police as I ran into the night.
An hour later I finally found a listing for my name in the white pages hanging in a phone booth. The address was only two blocks away and by this point I had nothing to lose. The house was a split-level with a nice yard and a two car garage. Jennifer looked surprised when she opened the door in answer to the doorbell. “It wasn’t locked was it?” She squinted at me obviously bemused. We were both the same age, midway through our sixties. There was a touch of grey in her dark hair but she still looked great. Best of all she was talking and wasn’t writing on a pad. “Dinner has been ready for a half an hour,” she said, and gave a mock pout. “It’s our anniversary … did you forget?”
“Of course not.” I lied. The memories were beginning to come to me … forty years of the most happiness I could have ever hoped for. What looked like a three course gourmet meal had been placed on a lace-covered table with place settings for two and three candles. The roast beef looked delicious and then I remembered it was my favorite. Everything was coming back with uncommon clarity while other things were fading.
“You look like you’ve been sleeping in the woods,” my wife mused as I sat at the table and she brushed a bit of leaf from my hair. “That’s what I get for marrying a wild-man. You said you were just going for a run … I hope you had sweet dreams?”
“The best,” I told her.

THE END?