Chapter 15

Sherry showed up at noon on the dot. She was dressed in her usual drab winter coat and flat shoes. She looked around for a few seconds. I stood up and waved my arm and she spotted me and walked over.

"Hello Sherry, I'm glad you could join me", I said as she came within earshot, "Would you like something to eat or drink?"

"Thanks, I guess. Not that I had a lot of choice", she said bitterly, ignoring my question. "So why did you call this meeting... ? By the way, what is your name? I can't just keep saying you. I think your last name is something like Darkmar, but I haven't a clue as to your first name."

"I beg your pardon, Sherry. I thought you knew my name already. John Darkscar, PhD at your service. Please call me John."

"All right... John... what do you want of me today?"

"Just to get better acquainted, Sherry. Let me explain what we're going to do. In a minute or two, we're going to get up and stroll together like old friends through the mall to the entrance to the Delaware Avenue parking building. We're going to walk through the parking building and over to the skyway to the Mariott. At the end of the skyway, we'll part company. You'll go ahead to the lobby and walk into the gift shop to the right of the door. I'll wait a minute or so and follow you. I'll walk directly across the lobby to the elevator and go directly to room 1021. You'll be keeping an eye on the elevators, and as soon as I go up, you'll take the next elevator to room 1021, as well."

"Take this keycard, and use it to let yourself in. Have you used one of these before?"

"Yes, I used one a couple of years ago when we went to a church convention in Nashville. So we'll be alone together in this room?" she said with a note of trepidation in her voice.

"Yep. Look Sherry, I'm not an ogre. I won't say that you won't have to do anything you don't want to do, but nothing painful or terribly disgusting is going to happen, OK? Anyhow, you'll be out and on your way home by four o'clock."

"OK, I guess... I don't have any choice, anyway, do I?"

"Not really. Oh hey, before we go, unbutton your coat. I want to see what you have on."

Sherry just shook her head and sat up straight. She unbuttoned her coat and let it fall open. Surprisingly, she was not wearing her usual cotton blouse and denim skirt. Instead, she had on a silky-looking pale green blouse and a darker green pleated skirt. The combination suited her rather well.

I smiled and gave a low imitation of a wolf whistle. "That's a very nice outfit, Sherry. You ought to consider dressing like that more often."

Sherry blushed. "I really don't have many things like this. I don't dress up except for church, so what's the point in having fancy clothes?"

"None, I suppose... when you look at it from that angle", I mused. "OK, Sherry, let's go."

We got up and walked to the down escalator and strolled through the mall toward the skyway. Sherry was quiet for a bit, then she said, "I wanted to ask you something. Why did you get so upset about us protesting at the video shop?"

"Sherry, I was AMUSED at the protesting. That's your right, and there was no way that you were going to hurt Dave's business by marching and chanting. What DID get me riled was what you and Jerry said when we took Dave out. I don't know if you realized it, but if we hadn't gotten him to the hospital when we did, he would most likely have died!"

"So, here we are wheeling out a man that's having a very severe heart attack, and you and Jerry are in our way and in our faces and saying things like you said. Hell yeah, I was upset", I ranted.

Sherry colored a bit. "But he was renting porn in the center of town, where anyone could see it!"

I just shook my head. "Sherry, have you ever set foot inside Dave's Video?"

"No."

"Well, if you had, then you'd know that first off, there are no signs about where the adult videos are. Second, to get to them you have to pass by the counter, and Dave, or someone else checks your ID to make sure you're an adult, if they don't know you. So, just how did you find out that Dave rents adult videos anyhow?"

"I'm not sure. Jerry came home from a church meeting and said that someone had told them about the adult section at the store, and that it was high time that someone did something about it!"

"So you just jumped on the bandwagon? Just went along with the crowd?"

To her credit, Sherry looked embarrassed. "Well yes, I guess you could say that. But Jerry is the leader of our house, and I would have had to go anyway. I guess I did get carried away with what I said though. Jerry had been telling us all how sick and evil it was to deal in sex. Anyway, if I hadn't backed him up I'd have not been an obedient wife."

"Sick and evil? Let me tell you some things about Dave. Dave and I grew up in the same neighborhood. He's about five years older than me, and he became sort of the older brother I didn't have. He taught me a lot about the outdoors when we were in Scouts, and he also kept me in line when I got a little crazy as a teenager. I'm not sure I wouldn't have gotten into serious trouble if it weren't for Dave."