Evil Heights, Book II: Monster in the House Page 19

  "Look at that, Ted!” Lee could hear Maggie complain bitterly as if his dad were somehow at fault. “Did you see that? That's three today! I don't have any more bulbs. Get us some more when you're at the store, and don't buy those cheap ones, you hear! I'm tired of changing ‘em every ten minutes!"

  CHAPTER NINE: THE PARTY

  When Lee and his dad returned from the store, Lee hurried to his room with the bag containing the new flashlight he'd bought for Father's Day. He stashed it away in the roll top desk then took the change left over from the five-dollar bill he'd used and put it into his drawer. Then he hurried back down the hall, as dinner was ready

  After dinner, Lee made himself scarce. Maggie was already working herself up into a housekeeping frenzy. He knew the best thing he could was to keep out of her way so he went to his room and lay back on top of the covers staring up at the whirling ceiling fan. From down the hall he could hear glasses clinking, chairs being scooted, and an occasional yell at Patty to get out of the way or pick something up.

  At their other house Maggie might go months without sweeping or dusting, in fact most of the house work had ended up being done by his dad, and since he always seemed to be at work, that meant it just didn't get done. But occasionally, a few ladies from the adult Sunday school class at church would stop by for an evening, and that afternoon Maggie would turn herself into a whirlwind of activity. Lee had once made the mistake of asking her why she put on airs for visitors, and wasn't it a lie, and therefore a sin, to try to fool people into believing they lived one way, when in fact they didn't. He could still remember the look she had cast back at him, then how she had exploded. After that, he learned to keep his mouth shut and keep out of the way. Uncle Ed and his family would be showing up soon. Until then he'd stay where he was, out of sight and out of mind.

  He twisted slightly to look over at the calendar hanging on the wall by the roll top desk. Morrison printing, where his father worked, had printed the colorful calendars for a hardware manufacturer. Each month featured a girl in a bathing suit or other similarly revealing costume. For June, the photograph was of a girl with golden, wavy hair, bright blue eyes, and thick, black eyelashes. The buxom young lady was supposed to be standing in a garden, though Lee could easily tell it had been shot in a studio. There was a fake farm in the foreground and an even less realistic sunny day painted on a canvas for the background. Of course, nobody was supposed to look at the background. The girl was all that mattered. She was wearing a yellow and white polka dot sundress with a neckline that plunged down her chest, revealing much more than it covered. Bending over, with a hoe in both hands, amongst long rows of fat, ripe tomatoes, she was posed so the tops of her breasts were visible. She must have been an expert gardener, as she wasn't even the slightest bit dirty or sweaty and the tomatoes were as huge, and round, and perfect as her breasts. There was obviously something about gardening that must be delightful as she had the most surprised and enthusiastic look on her face; or maybe she had just figured out the punch line to a joke about the farmer's daughter. Earlier, just before leaving for the store, Lee had used a pen to mark the square with today's date with the word Phoebe. Today was a day he wanted to remember.

  Immediately, his thoughts raced back to what had happened in the train yard. In out-of-order sequences, the highlights of the afternoon kept flashing back. He'd live it through in his mind, and then rewind little segments to replay them again trying to recapture the excitement. It was the few minutes in the caboose that he couldn't get out of his mind.

  The surprise and spontaneity of the first kiss had been thrilling, but in the caboose, he'd been treated to an experience that was beyond his wildest dreams. Without a doubt, the most exciting event was when he'd placed his hand on Phoebe's breast. The inescapable fact that she had actually allowed him to touch her, however briefly, was momentous. This had been one of those milestones in a boy's life; something no matter what the rest of his life held in store, he would never forget. It was thrilling, breathtaking, and thinking of it now gave him a powerful stirring.

  He had never really been all that much interested in self-stimulation, unlike a lot of the other boys. A few guys, like Art, were legendary at it and never seemed the least bit shy about discussing it or even doing it. But for Lee, even when alone, he'd always felt a little embarrassed and awkward. Still, the remembrance of this afternoon was quite powerful. And if ever there was something that could get him as excitable as Art, this had been it.

  Thinking of Art, Lee suddenly wondered if he should say anything to the other guys about what had happened. Whenever any of the guys got together the conversation invariably turned to girls. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to believe most of it. Lee knew most of what they talked about was either pure speculation or just plain, outright lies. Still, he felt funny about telling the guys about what had happened. On one hand he wanted to impress everyone, but on the other it was as though it was nobody else's business.

  Then again, though, he had something that was actually true to tell that none of the other guys could match; he'd actually touched a girl's breast. This wasn't a case of accidentally rubbing up against a girl while sitting with her on the bus or at the movies, or something sleazy like Art always bragged about in purposely bumping into girls in the hall at school. This had been the real thing. She had let him. It dawned on him just then, that if she had let him, she must have wanted to, and if she wanted to, she must have liked it, and if she liked it, she'd undoubtedly let him do it again. With this, Lee immediately decided he'd go back over to Phoebe's on Monday.

  Through his window he heard the sound of a car coming down the road and then a few moments later the sound of car doors being slammed. Almost grudgingly, as he had been enjoying this quiet time thinking about her, he got up and began to put on his shoes. That was something Maggie was adamant about, no shoes on the furniture. If you were on a bed, shoes had to be off, no excuses. Working at the laces, as he hadn't untied them when he'd kicked them off earlier, he let his thoughts retrace the other events in the caboose. That, too, had been very real. But why was it that he still fought to tell himself that part of their afternoon had not really been what he remembered? He could say it to himself, but he knew that Fat Larry's car hadn't made those sounds or blocked out the sun. And fat Larry smelled bad, but nothing like that terrible reek which had had choked him. What he had felt, he knew, deep down, it was real. The presence had left an impression with him, just like a bad dream that lingers on the edge of your thoughts for a couple of days. Even now, here in his own room, he could feel it. Something had been in there with them.

  He finished tying his shoes and sat up. He looked over at Miss June; she obviously didn't have a care in the world. On such a bright and sunny day nothing was about to chase her down a dark road or laugh at her in a caboose. Too, not know how, he knew what had been in the caboose had been something different than the thing which had chased him through the dark. There was no mistaking the feel of what that thing on the road had been, any more than someone could not recognize the difference between a Pekinese and a Pit Bull. One would only bark and the other had teeth.

  Down the hall he heard a knock at the door followed by Patty's excited squeal, “There're here!"

  He got the last lace unknotted and hurriedly tied it up. Lee heard the screen door open and slam accompanied by the screams of Belinda and Mary, the oldest of the Miles’ three daughters, merging with Patty's shrill keen. Lee knew he'd better get down the hall and say hello to everybody before Maggie got mad. He stood up and tucked his t-shirt in then hurried down the hall.

  "Hey, there's the big boy!” Uncle Ed called out when Lee came into the room. “Hiding out on us, huh?"

  "My, he's grown hasn't he?” Miss Laura, Ed's wife, said to Maggie.

  "That's what happens when you feed ‘em,” Ted replied, accompanied in short order by a round of polite laughter.

  The three girls were beside themselves with excitement. Patty and Belinda were holding han
ds and jumping up and down to the swing of an invisible jump rope, laughing and shrieking. Mary had her dress in her teeth and was pitching herself back and forth like a drunken sailor.

  "Girls!” Miss Laura called out. “Settle down! You'd think you haven't seen Patty in a thousand years."

  Maggie clapped her hands. “Patty! You, too! That's no way to act. Just like a wild Indian.” She pushed out with her hands. “Scat! You girls go play. Patty, take Belinda and Mary to your room."

  "My room! My room!” Patty shrieked. “Y'all come see!"

  The three of them bolted down the hall.

  Ted led everybody into the family room and took a seat in the big overstuffed chair Lee usually liked. Maggie had pulled in one of the kitchen chairs and sat next to him. Ed and Miss Laura were on one end of the sofa nearest the T.V. She had their littlest daughter, Charlene, on her lap.

  The baby stared up at Lee with her round, brown eyes, and sucked vigorously at her pacifier. There was absolutely nothing but wonder in those brown eyes. She stared at Lee as though he was the most incredible thing she had ever seen; all the while her pacifier was working. Belinda who was five and Mary who was four could already be heard from down the hall in Patty's room screaming deliriously as they tore the toy box apart.

  "Come in and sit down on the sofa,” Miss Laura smiled at Lee. She patted the green fabric invitingly.

  As he came around to the corner of the sofa by the coffee table, Uncle Ed jumped up and grabbed him. “I got you now!” he called out.

  "For heaven's sake be careful, Ed!” Miss Laura called out. The baby was so startled, the pacifier dropped out of her mouth and onto her mother's lap.

  "Aw come on,” Ed protested. “We're just fooling around."

  "You're scaring the baby,” Miss Laura protested.

  Uncle Ed let Lee go and fell back onto the sofa with a heavy exhale. “Damn, he's getting big."

  Lee couldn't help but catch the glance, which passed from Miss Laura to her husband when he lit up a cigarette. Miss Laura wasn't fond of smoking. His shirt all pulled out, Lee scooted past Miss Laura. He worked at tucking it back, shoving it down in his pants with his hands, until he realized Maggie was glaring at him, so he just left it the way it was and took a place at the corner of the sofa. He smiled politely at the baby and waited for whatever would come next.

  Maggie got up from her chair. “Who'd like something to drink?"

  "I'll take a beer if Ted hasn't already drunk all the cold ones,” Ed joked. He was leaning back on the couch and had the hand with the cigarette propped up on his knee. He reached out around his wife and pushed at Lee's knee. “Wait ‘til I catch you outside."

  "Laura, what would you like?” Maggie cracked a thin smile.

  "How about a rum and Coke?"

  "I can do that. Okay, that's one beer and one rum and coke."

  Maggie had gone a little too heavy with make up, and her lipstick was a little too pink and thick. Standing there in that particular light, she reminded Lee of Eileen, the waitress that worked the Meal Time diner out on the highway. She always smiled at his dad, when Maggie wasn't there and it was just the two of them. Come to think of it, she smiled at his dad in exactly the same way the girl in the polka dot dress in the calendar photograph had smiled at the camera. Maybe that's why they seemed to stop there so often, when he was out with his dad?

  "Ted?” Maggie asked. She affected just the same tone just as did Eileen when she took his order, though, of course, minus the smile.

  Ted looked back up and over his shoulder at Maggie. “Beer's fine with me, honey."

  Without waiting to be asked, Lee said, “I'll take a Coke.” Then added just before Maggie disappeared into the kitchen, “With lots of ice!"

  "So what's new, Ed?” Ted asked, crossing his legs. “Been selling any houses?"

  "I'm happy to say business has been pretty good.” Ed took a drag, and sat back settling into the sofa and putting his free arm around his wife. “People are always moving during the summer. We've been jumping. What about you? You still working all that overtime?"

  "I've cut it down a little.” Ted sat back and crossed one leg. “Now that we have this place and a little money in the bank for a change, I plan to take it a bit easier. I already told Jack he needs to look at taking on another guy, at least to handle the night shift. I'm not going to do it all, not anymore."

  "I don't blame you. Don't blame you a bit.” Ed snubbed out his smoke in Maggie's big ashtray. “It's got to be hard on the family working those sixty and seventy hour weeks?"

  Ted shifted in the chair. “Hard on me too."

  The baby had reached out and grabbed the sleeve of Lee's shirt with a pudgy fist. She was now giving him a vacant rather than adoring stare. A little stream of drool had escaped from the side of the pacifier she was so vigorously working with her mouth. It hung in a tenuous drop just at the bottom of her chin. Just looking at it made Lee's chin itch to the point where he had to reach up and rub though there wasn't anything there. He was even tempted to reach over and wipe it off, but there weren't too many other loathsome things in the world he'd just as soon not touch as baby slobber. Lee tried to squeeze further into the corner and scoot over out of reach, but the sofa was too small.

  Miss Laura, noticing Lee's distress, pried Lee's shirt loose from the grasping fingers, much to his relief. She gave him a weak grin and said, “I think Charlene likes you.” Leaning over, she produced a small towel from the diaper bag and gave Charlene's chin a small squeeze, and the drop was gone.

  Uncle Ed leaned over and gave Lee's knee another shove. “Hell, I bet all the girls are after you, huh? Probably have to beat ‘em off with a stick.” Uncle Ed looked to the kitchen doorway and then dropped his voice. “Just like your old man."

  Miss Laura fixed her husband with a glare and then turned to Lee. “And what have you been up to so far this summer, Lee?” Turning away before he could answer, she fished a toy shaped like a bell out of the enormous diaper bag and held it out. Eagerly, the baby reached for it, but once she had it, within a matter of moments it ended up bouncing off the coffee table with a resounding crack and a tinkle. Ted picked it up from where it landed, shook it a couple of times and tossed it over to Ed, who put it back in the bag and came out with a stuffed, striped tiger. He handed this to Laura who successfully attracted Charlene's attention by bouncing it up and down on her lap as though it was trying to get away.

  "Lee just bought himself a brand spanking new bike,” Ted answered the question for Lee. “Worked for it and bought it all by himself."

  "Did it all on your own?” Ed had to lean around his wife to see Lee. “I'm impressed. What kind did you get?"

  "A Schwinn,” Lee replied eagerly. “It's called a Jaguar. It has a light and everything."

  "Sounds flashy. What'd it set you back?"

  "Forty bucks."

  Ed whistled. “Whoa. Where'd you get that kind of money? I know your dad said you were working, but he didn't say you were working robbing banks."

  Lee sat up forward on the couch so he could see Uncle Ed. “I've been workin’ at the Ballard's replanting their rose bushes. Mrs. Ballard paid me five bucks a day.” Lee held up his hands to display his roadmap of crisscrossing scratches and cuts.

  "Ouch, you poor dear,” Miss Laura said. She turned to attention to Ted. “Look at that poor child's hands, y'all should be ashamed. He's still too young to be working like that."

  Lee proudly twisted his hands back and forth so everyone could see the blisters on the palms as well.

  "He may be too young in years,” Uncle Ed contradicted, “but look at the size of him. “I'll bet Lee could pass for sixteen maybe even seventeen.” Unconsciously, Uncle Ed lit another cigarette. “Getting to be a pretty well grown boy there."

  Lee had to fight to not smile.

  "Do you remember any kids Lee's age who were Lee's size when we were kids?” he asked Ted.

  Ted pursed his lips and shook his head.

  "Me neither,�
� Ed agreed.

  "Really quite a handsome young man,” Miss Laura added.

  Lee really wished they'd get off the subject of how big he was. It was more than a bit embarrassing.

  Maggie came back in, sashaying and carrying the drinks and snacks on a carved wooden tray. The tray was so big she had room for the beers and drinks along with a matching wooden bowl of Spanish peanuts and another larger one filled with potato chips that had a raised cup in the center brimming with onion dip. Lee had never seen any of this stuff before, so he knew it must have been items Maggie had retrieved from his grandmother's china cabinet or hutch. The wood was dark and exotic, definitely not the kind of thing she could have found at Patterson's house wares department this afternoon.

  "Dig in,” Ted said, not wasting any time in leaning over and helping himself. He picked up his beer, neglecting to pour it into the glass Maggie had put to the side.

  Ed didn't waste any time either, putting his cigarette in his lips; he leaned across and grabbed an enormous handful of chips with one hand while holding his beer with the other. Lee noticed the look, which passed over Maggie's face when he, as well, neglected to pour his beer into the provided glass as had his dad.

  Miss Laura shook her head. “Now what are you going to do, cigarette in your lips, chips in one hand, and a beer in the other?"

  Ed grinned, holding the cigarette in his teeth, then put down his beer, and with the hand now free, he took the cigarette and stubbed it out, never saying a word to his wife.

  From down the hall came a heavy thump and then a scream. Both Maggie and Laura started, looking down the hall at the same time.

  "Sounds like Patty,” Maggie said. She had just picked up her glass but now put it back down. “I'll go see."

  "Can I help?” Miss Laura gathered up Charlene in preparation for plopping her down in Ed's lap. “I haven't seen your house yet. Besides that might be one of mine."

  "No,” Maggie came back. “That's Patty.” Then a little shrewish, “I didn't go to college, but I'm smart enough to know the sound of my child's cry anywhere.” Maggie showed everyone her creased smile for just a moment, then set off down the hall calling out, “Mamma's coming baby."