Chapter 39

Josh Archer went home Friday night with the vision of Amy Ashtenfelter almost blinding him. He lay awake, staring at the ceiling, trying to keep alive the vision that had crossed his eyes, and when he went to sleep, he dreamed of Amy -- Amy playing volleyball out at her parent's cottage, in her natural state, naturally, going high for a spike, running back, bouncing and jumping, until he awoke in a cold sweat.

How could Danny Evachevski not be affected by that?

As far as Josh knew, Danny had normal tastes when it came to girls. He'd dated around, had a good time, and there even had been that bout of kissy-face and touchy-boobie up on Turtle Hill after the prom, with Danny and his date in the back and Josh and his date in the front. Even though nothing really happened, the windows had gotten sort of steamy, but the girl that Danny had been with was gone for the summer, and the girl Josh had been with had taken out after another guy.

But still...

Josh got up and went to the bathroom. When he got back to bed, visions of Amy filled his mind again, even in his dreams, as she floated around the volleyball court, her blonde hair flying, her...

Clearly, it was going to be a long night.

It was, in fact, a long weekend. Josh knew that Danny was pretty well going to be out at the cottage most of the weekend, so didn't expect to see him, and that didn't help his imagination one bit. He could close his eyes, any time, day or night, and imagine Amy and Danny, running around on the basketball court bare-assed... and not caring.

It didn't help a bit.

Josh didn't see Danny again until Tuesday, when both were to be at the appliance store, prepared to move machinery.

There were two refrigerators in the back of the appliance store pickup, and Josh and Danny were heading across town before Josh had the opportunity to bring up the possibility of a date with Amy. "It might work," Danny reported. "Don't get your hopes up. She's not going to do anything without talking to her folks, and like I said, they're a little sticky. But, she says she thinks you're sorta cute, if that makes you feel any better."

It didn't really make Josh feel any better, but at least wrestling the two new refrigerators up two flights of stairs and two old ones down the same two flights of stairs got his mind off it for a while. It was hot work, and both were sweating when they had the old boxes in the truck, and decided to stop at the Frosty Freeze for a drink to cool off.

They were sitting in the shade, sucking on the cokes, when Pam Appleton came walking up the street, in t-shirt and jeans, carrying the periscope that Josh and Danny had built for her. "Having any luck?" Danny called.

"Still no luck," Pam said. "Maybe that one was really the last one."