Chapter 9

Cindy was lying in the darkened bedroom, staring at the ceiling and trying to blank her mind against the recurring images of what had happened in the home of Steve Samuels, when the telephone rang at four o'clock the next afternoon.

She lay there, stiffly listening to the incessant ringing sound, not wanting to answer it, not wanting to talk to anyone. But then, with the ingrained instinct of all humans to answer the doorbell or the telephone when it rings finally overcoming her apathy, she swung out of bed and listlessly shrugged into her robe. She moved slowly into the living room, her body aching from bruises in a half-dozen places, her vagina and anal passage still sore and rubbed raw from the merciless drubbing of the lust- hardened penises of Steve Samuels and Ralph Taylor and that impossible German Shepherd.

The soul-sick young wife lifted the receiver, cutting the bell off in mid-ring, and said lifelessly, "Hello?"

"Cindy? Honey, is that you?"

Howard. I don't want to talk to him, she thought. l don't want to ever see or talk to him again, I hate him, I hate him for what he's done to me, what he's made me become. But instead of slamming the receiver down, she pressed it tightly to her ear, as if her physical being was acting in direct disobedience to the demands of her brain. She said, "Yes, Howie, it's me."

"You sound funny," Howard's voice came over the wire. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, just fine," she replied. "Where are you, Howie?"

"Still in Monterey." His tone lost its momentary concern, and became edged with excitement and eagerness. "Honey, are you sitting down? I've got some news that's going to shock the pants right off of you." He laughed with boyish verve.

I've got some news that will do the same for you, Howie, Cindy thought. But I'll never tell it to you. I hate you, and yet l still love you, too... I love you too much to tell you about your boss Ralph Taylor, and about Steve Samuels, and about that dog...

She said only, "What is it, Howie? What news do you have?"

"Well, hang onto the telephone," said Howard enthusiastically, his words jumbling together in his excitement. "I met a man here in Monterey, at this meeting I attended. His name is Charley Dawes, and he owns a large auto dealership up in San Francisco. Well, we got to talking and then got to be pretty good friends, and I outlined some ideas I've got for a promotional deal. He liked them, honey; he thought they were really great! He's offered me a job, Cindy, and not just any job either! He wants me to manage his main lot, in South San Francisco, for almost double what I'm making at Auto Circus! What do you think of that!"

Cindy was momentarily taken aback. A new job? In San Francisco? But that meant...

Howard was talking again, bubbling happily. "Of course, this means we'll have to move up there, leave all our friends down here. And we'll have to go immediately, too, because Charley wants me to start as soon as possible. I hate to have to give such short notice to Ralph and Buddy Lathrop--they've been damned decent to me--but if I want the job I don't have any choice. And it's just too good an opportunity to pass up. What do you think, honey? You don't mind moving up to San Francisco, do you?"

Cindy wanted to laugh, to scream hysterically at him that my God, no, she didn't mind! It was an out, an escape from Ralph and Norma Taylor, from her mailing indiscretions with the Postal Department, from the evil, depraved Steve Samuels and his monstrous dog! She was going to have another chance, a chance to start over, to blot these terrible past few weeks from her mind... and yes, a chance to pick up the shattered pieces of her marriage to Howard. She still loved him--there was such a fine line between love and hate--loved him desperately, in spite of what he had done to her. She would never tell him what had happened, that she had learned he was unfaithful to her and that he had willfully given her flesh and her gift of oral love to his boss, Ralph Taylor. They would begin anew in San Francisco, loving only each other, away from the evil influence of the Taylors; all was not lost for her, after all!