Chapter 21

"Raymond will be here at three o'clock!" Mort related, "and he'll be bringing his checkbook. Now, are there really more than one of these?"

"Yes..." Sharon said carefully.

"Are they in as good a shape as this one?"

Sharon turned to Jean, who replied, "Aside from a little fraying of the power cords, yes."

"All right. Raymond will press for two -- which is all I admitted that you have. I've told him that he'd better bring two hundred thousand if he's serious." Mort settled into a chair and waved the women into two others. "That's about fair market -- the auction brought more than was expected. If I know Raymond, he'll talk one up with his private buyers and keep one until after it is sold, then display it. That's what I would do. If he works at it, he'll make twenty-five thousand or so that way and still have a flagship piece to improve his credibility. Now, you can sell to Raymond, or you can market the lamps yourself -- and depending upon a number of factors, you'll get more or less than Raymond will offer. It's up to you. I'd love to make an offer, but I don't have that kind of money."

"Well," Sharon replied, "We'd like to open a shop -- we have other things that might be worthwhile -- but we might be in a position to offer you a few things."

"That would be marvelous!" Mort gushed. "I warn you, though -- if you reveal the contents of your little treasure trove to Raymond today, he'll try his best to loot it. You may want to minimize the size of your cache. He'll find out eventually, of course, but he won't blame you for wanting to hold onto things if you're going into business." He eyed them. "Would you care to present a second lamp?"

"Excuse us..." Sharon took Jean outside. "What do you think?"

"I can go get the most worn of the four," Jean replied. "Then we can see whether that is a worry or not."

"I'll stay with this one," Sharon declared. "I trust Mort, generally, but..."

"Yes." Jean headed off.

At school, Cindy alerted Mary Vargas to the situation regarding initiations.

"They're going to let you play," she said. "Tonight, after the game. They said plan to be out all night."

"Okay." Mary started planning her presentation to her parents -- which included being with Cindy and Beverly, of course. Mary might not think much of the pair, but her parents did -- or her parents thought a lot of their parents, which came to the same thing.

Eddie Ray chased down Nicky. "Hey, how's it hanging, Nicky?"

Nicky eyed Eddie Ray. "It's a stub."

"How come?"

"Vince isn't talking to me."

"Yeah, I heard about that. How horrible is it? I hear your mom embarrassed you."

"Uh huh."

"I think Vince is too picky. Your mom probably needs a little every once in a while, too, don't you think?" Eddie Ray opined.

"Well, yeah, I guess -- but Vince is..."

"Very gay -- and pretty intolerant about it, actually. He needs to live and let live," Eddie Ray finished. "So you're not doing anything, I bet..."

"No..."

"Hey, I could come over..."

"You could?" This was the best news Nicky had heard all week!

"Sure! Your mom doesn't scare me."

"That'd be cool! I'll call her!" Nicky enthused.

"Sure, go ahead. Then she won't be surprised," Eddie Ray agreed.

"What if she, well, hits on you?"

"Would it upset you if I gave her a little?" Eddie Ray asked.

Nicky frowned, thinking about it. "I guess not."

"She's in line behind you, Man," Eddie Ray noted. "I'm there for you -- I just won't freak if she gets excited."

"Okay."

"Mama?"

"Nicky?"

"Uh huh. Hey, can I bring somebody home after the game tonight?"

"Did you make up with that Vince, Dear?" Myra gushed. "I'm so glad! I'm sorry I embarrassed him!"

"No, Vince is still a little freaked," Nicky related sadly, "But Eddie Ray is a nice guy -- and not as touchy."

"Oh, okay. Really?"

"Yeah, he and Vince hang out sometimes, so he heard about last weekend. He basically said that if you showed him your butt, he wouldn't freak or anything."

"Oh, my..." Myra reddened. "Well, what does he look like?" 'He's probably just like Nicky, ' she thought, figuring that the last person a buff top like Vince would hang out with would be another muscle guy.

"Oh, he's got red hair ... he's in football, too, and he wrestles with Vince, so he's pretty hot..."

"Really?"

"Mama, he's coming for ME!"

"Yes, Dear -- I'll behave myself." 'Sort of... '

Terence found himself doing something pretty embarrassing. "Hey, uh, Vince..."

"Yeah?" Vince looked around -- he couldn't be caught getting cozy with a black guy...

"Pa was wondering if you were busy tonight..." Terence muttered softly, looking around himself.

"Oh?" Vince thought about it. No Nicky, no Eddie Ray... "Well..."

"Here's his number," Terence shoved a scrap of paper in Vince's hand. "This shit is embarrassing enough. You call him."

"Yeah, uh, thanks..." Vince said to Terence's retreating back.

As for the girls, some got asked to the party, and some got told. Miriam got told, of course -- but she wasn't the only one...

"Bernice!"

"Randy?"

"Climb up front when I come to get the girls."

Bernice stood there with her mouth open -- but Randy had moved on already.

"What was that?" Trish asked.

"He just..." Bernice was surprised -- and all set to fume a little. "What am I? Furniture?"

Miriam smiled. "He's testing you."

"What?"

"He's testing you. If you follow him and rant and rave..." Miriam shrugged. "Trust me, I know Randy. It's important to him that you know who is boss -- and if you belittle him..."

"He'll never forget it," Trish finished. "I underestimated Randy at the very first -- and never lived it down. Bobby and I are a better fit, but I stuck my foot in my mouth just before I discovered the real Randy -- and we were done before we started!"

"I bet he didn't go far..." Miriam mused.

"Well, good," Bernice said thoughtfully, "I still want to talk with him."

"You know what he wants to hear..."

"Yes, Randy!" Bernice parroted -- and giggled. "You make it sound like that's all there is to it!"

"Everybody treats Randy like he is a kid or an idiot," Miriam insisted. "Nobody gives him a break. Every time he tells someone to do something, he gets, 'But Randy!' -- or an excuse, or an argument -- or even ignored. This was the thing that got us hooked up -- I acknowledged that he was in charge and I did as I was told! I trusted him to be right -- and he was!" She sighed. "The problem was that the recognition and support was all he wanted -- and I wanted more..."

"How is Frank?" Trish asked.

"He understands. I'd like to have more time with him, but we're ducking his dad, who hates women on general principles. You would never understand and you would hate him -- but we understand each other," Miriam asserted.

"He looks like he's being a total jerk!" Trish muttered.

"He works at it," Miriam replied, smiling. "You just have to know when..." She shook her head. "It's hard to explain. It's tough love, squared, maybe."

Bernice pursed her lips. "I think I'll go practice my 'Yes, Randy.' I'll see you guys later." She set off, head high.

Randy was at his locker, digging through things.

"Randy?"

Randy turned to eye Bernice warily. 'Here it comes.'

"Can I ride around with you a little earlier?"

Randy blinked in surprise. "Uh, no, probably not." Bernice opened her mouth, but nothing came out -- 'Why?' came across, anyway. "The first run will be Tyrone and Otis and probably Marcel and Rudy and a couple of others. I figure you probably don't want to be there."

Bernice's eyes popped. "What?"

"Come see me at lunch and I'll tell you all about it -- how's that?"

"Okay!"

"I've got to get to class..."

Bernice nodded and took off, her mind buzzing. Tyrone and Otis?

About noon, some bleached blonde woman drove a relatively new white van into the junkyard parking lot, followed by another woman who looked like she'd spent time somewhere being starved -- and maybe beaten. They came right on in and the blonde one did the talking...

"Ed?"

"Yeah?"

"Randy sent us, I guess."

"Let's see what you got." Ed came out from around the counter and let them lead him outside.

The van was a Chevy -- one of those Astro things. It was probably the best for their purposes, but parts would be harder to come by for it than a raggedy-assed Ford or a Dodge. Ed had a look inside and grunted. "That panel isn't gonna cut it -- you can see the driver through there."

"We figured something was better than nothing, but, yes, we need better," the blonde said.

"I MIGHT have seats for this..." It had mounts in the floorboards, at least. "Another brand would've been easier to fit -- but you'll get more use out of this. When do I hafta turn it over?"

"Eight-thirty?" Candace hazarded a guess. "That would be the absolute latest."

"We did some custom stuff to the seats in the other one," Ed noted. "What about this one?"

"I think if we get seats, we'll be happy, initially," Candace replied. "I'll pass that on to someone else to figure out for the future."

"Awright. It's got A/C?"

"Seems like it."

"I'll check -- and make sure you got vents in the back. It'll be ready -- I'll do something for seats if I don't have the ones this thing usually takes."

"Thank you." That was the second woman.

"No problem. Any idea when Adele is comin'?" Ed asked.

"Not for sure," Candace replied. "Early enough to help. I think."

"I don't expect much. Help from Adele is more, uh, moral support."

"An ass to pinch, more like," Candace chuckled.

"Yeah, that," Ed grinned around his cigar. "Okay, gimme the keys and I'll go diggin' for seats. I'll look at closin' early if I can to get more time on it."

"Thank you." Again, the scrawny woman was all manners.

"You're welcome." Ed took the keys from Candace, and Candace and Abigail got in Abigail's car and headed for the clubhouse.

Randy and Bernice were in the old van in the school parking lot. Randy had waited for Bernice in the lunchroom, collected some food with her, and led her out to the van. They were eating in the cab while Randy swept the lot with his eyes. "The way I get it, we have two problems -- Tyrone and Otis -- and you -- and those bitches Cindy and Beverly. Toby and Amy came up with some wild plan to off Cindy and Beverly on Tyrone and Otis. What it's supposed to do is get Tyrone off you and fix Cindy and Beverly so they'll never bother anyone again. Don't ask me how it works, I just drive the van."

"What are they going to do?"

"I'm going to truck Tyrone and Otis and whoever they decide to bring with them out to a new place we have, then I'm going back to pick up Lon and Sally and Cindy and Beverly. Cindy and Beverly were bugging Gina about what she did to get into the group and Gina fed them a bullshit story about how we made her get blindfolded and naked, then wrote a bunch of shit on her with markers like 'slut for black cock' and 'cum dumpster' and took some pictures, then tried to scare her for a while but didn't actually DO anything..."

"Well, THAT's bullshit..." Bernice mused.

"Yeah, but it needed to be something they wouldn't worry about if they knew all about it, you know?" Randy explained. "It ain't about shit if you know all about it going in. So they think they're gonna get over -- all they have to do is pretend to be scared and it'll all be cool."

"Except instead of that, they're gonna get ridden like I did up at the camp..." Bernice mused.

"Exactly!" Randy grinned. "We're counting on Tyrone to use whatever it is he used on you to break 'em, too, and turn 'em into Tyrone and Otis' sluts..."

"Oh, Man!" Bernice cackled. "That is SOOO cold!"

"We're gonna get it all on video, too -- they won't be able to hold their heads up if they fuck with us!" Randy grinned. "We may put it on the net so everybody can enjoy it!"

"Seriously, SERIOUSLY cold! Man, I wouldn't want to be them!" Bernice erupted.

"You already were, Babe," Randy noted. "Everybody will forget all about you once they see THOSE two, though..."

"How does this keep Tyrone off my ass?" Bernice asked.

Randy scratched his head. "I might be as simple as Toby and Amy giving Tyrone those two and him agreeing to pass in return -- but I think they have some insurance somewhere. You know how Toby is -- he's always got something ... Maybe you ought to ask Amy."

"If it goes nowhere, I STILL want to see it!" Bernice declared.

"Damian and Toby will be watching the video and keeping an eye on things remotely," Randy replied. "We can probably sit in..."

"That would be nice..." Bernice mused. "What else is going on?"

"Well, Mary Vargas may get a REAL initiation -- which could get hairy, I guess, but with Damian out it probably won't get much past rubbing her nose in things. I don't know anybody who has a serious urge to piss in Mary's cornflakes, anyway -- she's basically okay."

"Piss in her cornflakes?" Bernice snorted a cackle. "That's a new one!"

Randy shrugged, grinning. "I heard it somewhere. I think Amy and Toby have something else cooking -- Terence knows -- I haven't gotten tied up in it."

"Okay, so you're right, I guess -- I don't want to mess with Tyrone. But later..." Bernice eyed him sidelong.

"Like I said, get in up front when I come for everybody else."

"Okay." He STILL hadn't said they were going to hook up -- but he hadn't said they wouldn't, either. "We'd better get back."

"Yeah."

"One eighty!" Raymond Poundstone offered.

"Two-ten!" Sharon countered.

The second lamp -- as advertised -- had some fraying of the cord. Raymond wasn't concerned -- a good electrician using wire from the era could repair it easily -- but it was a chink he had been able to use to drive the price down a bit. The women were pretty firm at this point, though. "One-eighty-five."

Sharon confirmed with Jean before countering, "Two-oh-five."

"Can we cut to the chase?" Raymond asked. "We're headed for one ninety-five..."

Sharon nodded. "If that's acceptable."

"Done." Raymond extended a hand and Sharon shook it, followed by Jean.

"Mortimer, can I use your phone to order a wire transfer?" Raymond knew he wasn't leaving with anything until the women were paid.