Chapter 6

There was one more moment of panic before I got into the shower. Actually, I wasn't quite out of the sun porch. I was scurrying along as fast as I could go on all fours with my butt in the air when I thought I heard the hall door open and close.

Good God! I thought. They're going to see me this way! And then, I thought I locked that!... Oh, of course. Will had to unlock it to get out.

I made it into the bathroom without whoever it was seeing me. And nobody called to me or anything, so I decided they must have gone away. That didn't mean I wasn't careful when I finished drying off. I wrapped our biggest towel around me and scampered around getting my clothes. But if anybody had come in, they were gone.

I had to go to work before Mark got home from fishing. And he was asleep by the time I got home at twelve-thirty Sunday morning. I'd had my usual ring-around-the-rosy, trying to keep out of Duane's reach. It would have been nice to have somebody's shoulder to cry on.

So I climbed into bed and tried to pretend the pillow was Eric's shoulder and he'd get up and go over to Duane's apartment and call him into the hallway and beat the shit out of him. By the time I'd run that one through with six different kinds of variations it was a dream instead of daydreaming and it was morning and time to get up. Gunner was right there when I rolled out of bed and pulled off my pajamas, but the first time he shoved his nose at me I put him straight.

"What are you? Some kind of fiend or something? You're crazy as hell if you think you're going to drag me all over the floor again! Shove off, buster!"

Mark showed up at the door to his bedroom, his hair all tousled and his eyes mattering. "Who ya talkin' to, sis? Somebody been dragging you someplace."

"Oh, for heaven's sake! Go wash your face with cold water! You're not even awake yet, Marky!"

"Nmmph!... Guess not. Woulda swore I heard you talking to somebody, though."

I had to giggle, he looked so awful. He turned around, then stopped.

"Funny, sis. Shoulda heard Eric last night."

"Huh! What about Eric? What about him?"

"Jeez, you shoulda heard him. Nancy made some kinda crack and he looks up from his plate an' says, 'Were you there?' So she turns red an' says, 'Me? A place like that?' all snotty-like. An' he says, 'Well, how do you know, then? Ought to watch out; they've got laws about talking about people.' She's fit to be tied, but Will--y'know, he's kind of a slob, sis--anyhow, Will grins around a big mouthful o' spaghetti an' says, 'Yeah, man! Only ain't no sweat! Y'oughta seen her when... '"

I just about died right there. I knew what Will could tell them!

But Mark went on. "All of a sudden Will quit talkin'. Eric's starin' at 'im real quiet, like he's got an iceberg up 'is butt. An' when Will's voice peters out, Eric says, 'Sometimes they don't have time for the law to settle loose talk. Sometimes somebody just gets tired of a big-mouth and does something about it on the spot.' An' then he looks down at his plate an' mutters. Maybe he wants me to hear, I don't know. He says, 'Seems like she's a damn sight better than most; at least she doesn't have a mouthful of garbage to tell about everybody else."