Installment #23
Chapters 41 & 42
41
“You fucked him,” Diane said. “Didn’t you?”
Geri ignored the accusation. She held up her wrist, trying to catch the time on her watch the car’s dash lights. They tooled down the two-lane highway toward Eden in Diane’s blue Buick sedan.
“Tell me you didn’t,” Diane said. “Tell me.”
“Nice car,” Geri said, petting the leather seats and fake wood grain dashboard. “A lot nicer than your truck. Where did you get it?”
“Tell. Me. You. Did. Not.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right, your daddy’s car. For someone you hate so much, he sure left you a lot of nice stuff. Must have been trying real hard to make up for something bad.”
“You bitch.”
“Now that’s the spirit, Di.”
“Don’t you bring up my Daddy. Especially after you just…you bitch.”
“Look lover, some things just have to be done. Like right now, you need to step on it if we’re to beat Clockwork Vern out to the farmhouse. It’s almost midnight.”
“Don’t tell me to hurry up,” Diane said. “You’re the one who took her own sweet time back there. It damn well better be as much money as you say because, personally, I can’t think of enough money worth letting you fuck him.”
“Well, I can,” Geri said, smiling. “But right now, Di, I need you to hush your lovely, filthy mouth and put your foot into this Buick.”
“This jackass up ahead is going slow,” Diane said.
“Then catch him, pass him.”
Diane sped up, closing fast on the red taillights of the vehicle in their way. Getting closer, Diane let the Buick drift left to pass.
“Shit, slow down,” Geri said. “Hang back. That’s Vern.”
They drove in silence for a few seconds, Geri thinking.
“I’ll duck down. You pass him,” she said.
Geri slid down in her seat and managed to curl her petite body into a ball on the floorboard. She could hear the Buick’s engine roaring on the other side of the firewall. Geri felt the car drift left again, then snap back to the right.
“Pass him yet?”
“Keep down. No. A car came the other way.”
“Hurry up.”
“I am hurrying. It’s this damn road. It’s a no-passing zone now.”
“Damn it, Diane, we’re about to break half the laws in the whole goddamn law book. Traffic laws do not apply right now.”
“Don’t get smart with me. I don’t need it right now.”
Geri felt the Buick surge, drift left again.
“The son of a bitch,” Diane said.
“What now?”
“He won’t let me pass. He keeps speeding up, the fucker. To hell with this. I’ll ram his ass.”
“No! Wait. Pull back a little.”
Diane slowed the Buick and pulled behind Vern’s truck as Geri uncurled herself from the floorboard. The night was warm and the air blew in through the Buick’s open windows, whipping Geri’s red hair around her face. Again and again, she tucked the strands behind her ears but they wouldn’t stay back.
“We can’t wreck him,” Geri said. “Something happens, he gets hurt or something, I’ll never get my money.”
They were running alongside a recently harvested wheat field and Geri could barely make out the terrain in the darkness.
“What then?” Diane said. “You have to be there when he gets there. Right?”
“I should be, yeah. As far as he knows. Hang back.”
Diane slowed even more until Vern’s taillights shrank to red dots. Geri and Diane were coming up on the turn-off, a gravel road leading to the farmhouse. Catty-corner across the dim field, Geri could see the kitchen light she had left on earlier.
“Cut through,” Geri said.
“Cut through what?” Diane said
“The field.”
“What?”
“Kill your damn lights and make a beeline for that light over there. We’ll get there right after him; maybe before if you do it now. Just get me close. I’ll walk the last part while you wait in the car.”
“You’re serious,” Diane said.
Geri watched Vern’s taillights take the turn off.
“Yes I am. How serious are you, baby?”
Without looking at Geri, Diane cranked the steering wheel, sending the Buick into the ditch and back up the far side. Metal tore at metal as their car tore through a barbed wire fence and went bouncing hard across the field.
“I can’t believe you fucked him,” Diane said.
“You can’t? Well, believe this,” Geri said. “Walt may not be the only one getting lucky tonight.”
“Oh, this is really pissing me off.”
“Good,” Geri said. “Pissed off is how I need you if this is going to work.”
42
Standing outside the closed door of the farmhouse, Vern paused and wondered which piece of his grandparents’ furniture would have to be moved back to its place once he stepped inside.
He kept each piece of furniture where it had stood every day of his grandmother’s married life—from the day she and Vern’s grandfather, newlyweds, had moved into the house he had built for her to the day she had collapsed in the hothouse, following her husband in death. She went within a year of Vern’s grandfather’s passing. Going with Jesus, she called it.
Vern kept the furniture in place as much out of respect for them as for his own comfort.
He was growing tired of Geri’s lack of respect.
Always moving the end tables and the oak coffee table and even the sagging sofa. Moving the sofa, that was meant to rankle him, he was certain of it. The little button pusher. Truth was, Vern was tired of many of Geri’s enchantments but when he opened the door to the lit living room he was surprised to see nothing out of place. Vern carried Geri’s ice cream to the kitchen, cautious, checking out the house as he went.
“You would not believe the jerks on the road tonight, Vern said.
He talked loudly so she might hear him no matter where she was hiding in the house.
“Some jackass was trying to race me on Old Mill Road. Kept trying to pass me in a no-passing zone. I wouldn’t let him. For his own good. Jerk. Then I ran him off the road. Geri? Can you believe that? Geri? I got your ice cream.”
Vern jumped when the screen door off the kitchen banged shut and Geri came in.
“Hey, Vern.”
“Where the hell have you been?”
Geri crossed the kitchen floor, stopping to peck Vern on the cheek as she passed, and then continuing on into the living room where she plopped down on the sofa.
“I got your ice cream like you like,” Vern said, following her into the living room. “Your face looks better. Feel better?”
“Much.”
“Want a spoon?”
“Forget the spoon,” Geri said, patting the sofa cushion next to her. “Come sit by me.”
Vern moved to the sofa but sat on the far end.
“I said, where were you?”
“Easy, baby, don’t pop a gasket,” Geri said. “I was in the cellar.”
“The cellar? The root cellar? What were you doing down there, canning tomatoes?”
“Just looking.”
“Looking for what?”
“Our money, silly,” Geri said. “I thought maybe you stashed it down there in a trunk or in a hole back behind a loose brick or something. Why are you so far away? Scooch over here.”
“I told you the money’s hidden – well hidden – at the yard. You don’t believe me?”
“I do, I do. I just thought, you know, maybe. Hell, I don’t know what I thought, baby. It’s silly. Just silly.”
“Uh-huh. So you broke the lock?”
“Huh?”
“The padlock. To the cellar. You busted it?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry baby. I was just curious. It was so silly, like I said. Come over here,” Geri said.
She lunged, catching Vern’s forearm, dragging him closer.
“Yeah, silly,” Vern said into her face. “I’m curious too, you know? There is no padlock on the cellar door. Never has been. So, yeah, I’m curious. Where were you again?”
“Very nice,” Geri said laughing it off. “You’re right. I wasn’t in the damn cellar. I was just outside the door, waiting for you. I was thinking about going down there but hell if I didn’t feel like looking for the money. I hate basements anyway. Damp…moldy…spiders…to hell with that. I’m sorry but I was trying to get you to tip me, tell me if it was there. That was bad of me. Bad girl.”
“Don’t start with the money. Just get off me about it. It’s time when I say it’s time.”
“I know, baby, I know. I don’t need it all right now. Just a taste.”
“You need some?” Vern said. “What sum of some?”
“Five large.”
“Five grand? What on earth for?”
“My Daddy. He’s up in Casper. Sick. Weak heart. Got a ton of medical bills.”
“You talk to him?”
“Yeah. Today. I know I wasn’t supposed to use the phone but I had to call. I knew he wasn’t well. I just didn’t know how bad.”
“Uh-huh. Five thousand?”
“Afraid so.”
“I don’t know, Joni. I—”
“—It’s Geri, remember? C’mon, it’s my Daddy. I love my Daddy. I’d do anything to help my Daddy, Vern.”
Geri threw herself into Vern’s chest, burying her face in the crook of his neck. Vern couldn’t tell if she was crying. Her chest was rising and falling. She might be crying. She made a noise that could have been a whimper.
“Vern, my Daddy’s sick.”
Her voice sure is cracking, Vern thought. He felt something wet from her cheeks soaking into his shirt, maybe tears. He felt her heart pounding against him. Vern put his hands on Geri’s shoulders and squeezed gently, comfortingly. Lightly resting his chin on her head, he surveyed the room again. Not a piece of furniture out of place.
“Aw hell,” Vern said. “All right. I’ll get it. First thing in the morning.”
“No baby, tonight,” Geri said into Vern’s chest. “I need to mail it tonight.”
“What?” Vern said. He pulled back, putting some space between them so he could see her.
No tears, just sweat.
“Nope,” Vern said. “I’ll get it in the morning, like I said. I’ll wire it to him for you. Just write down his address because I’ll never remember it.”
“What? Wire it to my Daddy’s house? Why not just put a big sign on the roof that says Geri’s here?”
“That would be okay. Nobody here knows you as Geri. Except Walt. And Diane.”
“Point is, Vernie, it would look suspicious if you wired money to my Daddy. Besides, I need to mail it myself. Make sure it gets off. You can understand, can’t you? Think about having me as your daughter. I wasn’t always so nice to my Daddy. It’s something I need to do.”
“Well, just how do you figure on doing that?”
“Do it tonight. Nobody’s up in this sleepy little town. Hell, I could walk down Main naked and not a soul would be up to see me. I know because I done it before.”
Vern raised his eyebrows.
“Don’t ask,” Geri said. “Anyway, you go get the five, come back for me, and I mail it.”
“Why do you—”
“—Vern, this is about me and my Daddy,” Geri said, throwing herself into his chest again. “I need this.”
Vern sat silent for a moment. Geri watching him. Waiting him out.
“All right, all right,” he said. “I’m sorry. I’ll go get the money.”
“Then come back and get me.”
“Then I’ll come get you,” Vern said. “This is insane.”
“You’re sweet to do this for me, Vern. You’re a nice guy.”
Geri hugged Vern, then worked her way up to his ear, whispering. “I like nice guys. I like to be nice to nice guys. Hurry back.”
With a finger, she flicked Vern’s nipple through his thin shirt. Then Geri hopped up and went back into the kitchen where Vern could hear her rummaging through the silverware drawer.
“I said hurry back,” she called. “But you need to get going first.”
Vern made a beeline for the front door, then stopped. He turned once more to look around the neat, clean living room. He pulled the wet spot on his shirt away from his chest. He was about to ask Geri if she needed an envelope when he heard her call from the kitchen again.
“Got any envelopes, Vernie?”
In the kitchen and out of Vern’s sightline, Geri was biting her lip, trying not to laugh. She was shaking her head. She was shaking it at Diane, who was standing just inside the backdoor.
“Look in the back bedroom,” Vern said.
He looked at the doorknob in his hand as he yelled back at Geri, “The closet. Bunch of nice stationery and crap in there.”
“Okay,” Geri said. She clipped the word short. She was trying not to moan as Diane’s arms slipped around her and Diane’s slick tongue searched the folds of her ear. When she heard Vern close the door on his way out, Geri turned to kiss Diane.
“At least you didn’t have to screw him,” Diane said.
“Not yet, Geri said. “But the night is young. Miles to go.”
“Damn it, Geri,” Diane said, backing away.
“You are a possessive little hottie, aren’t you?” Geri said, giggling.
She planted her legs solidly apart, locked eyes with Diane.
“Okay, you know the deal,” Geri said, cocking her head to one side. “Not the sore side. Jaw still hurts. Around the eye a few times should do the trick. Once in the mouth would be good too. My lips swell up easily.”
Diane uncorked a perfect right hook into Geri’s tender jaw, sending her all the way back against the sink.
“Damn it, Di. I just pulled a friggin tooth out of there. Did I not just tell you don’t hit this side?”
“You did, Diane said. “And did I not just tell you how pissed off I am?”