“Bloom-oop-duh-lie!” Darren celebrated.
“Thank you thank you!” Mavis shrieked once her feet touched the ground. She ran out the door.
Darren shrugged. “Zoo-lee-doop,” he said and then staggered out himself.
««—»»
“Look at all this stuff,” Carol remarked in amazement. Sheree stood nervously behind her in Esau’s filthy shack while her friend rummaged through an old termite-ridden dresser.
Carol held up a fat titleless book; it cover seemed to be some kind of lizard skin.
“Big deal,” Sheree said. “An old book.”
“Yeah? It’s written in Arabic. Why would that redneck moron have a book that’s written in Arabic?”
Sheree moaned wearily. “I don’t know—”
Carol clunked the book down, then picked up some other things from the drawer. “Look at this. It’s money but—”
Sheree’s eyes flicked to the drawer, which was lined with old coins and some bills.
“This money’s, like, real old.” Carol held up a worn silver dollar with the face of William Jennings Byran. The date read 1873. Several two-dollar notes displayed Jefferson’s face but had dates from the 1840's. Several dull gold coins in ten- and twenty-dollar denominations lay in the drawer.
“Big deal,” Sheree insisted. “So he’s a coin collector—”
“That hayseed? You got to be kidding.”
“Then maybe it’s his grandfather’s.”
“Sheree, some of these coins are much older than his grandfather can possibly be. This stuff must’ve been passed down from his family for generations.”
“Fine. Now let’s get out of here. He could be back any minute. And didn’t he say he had a brother?”
Carol gave it a sudden thought. “You’re right. Go wait by the door and keep an ear out. If you hear anything, whistle.”
“Carol!”
“Just go. I’ll only be another minute.”
Shaking her head, Sheree went out, stood at the front door. The acid was still streaming in her head, disorienting her. She felt as though she were standing on a trampoline as she tried to maintain her attention. She couldn’t imagine why Carol insisted on searching the shack; perhaps the LSD had brought out a kleptomaniacal impulse. Or maybe she was just a snoop. It was in a woman’s nature to snoop, she supposed…even if the woman had a penis.
Before she could further speculate, she thought she heard something. The faintest sound? Or just some aural glitch from the LSD?
Rapid tiny crunches…
Then Sheree froze, her eyes blooming. Carol had told her to whistle if she heard anything, but there was no time. That’s how fast it happened.
That’s how fast the figure appeared.
Sheree remained planted in shock as what she first thought must be a wraith emerged from the woods. A ghost, yes, like a death-camp ghost—that’s what it looked like: a tall, skeletally thin girl with short brown hair. Completely naked. Her wrists were tied together, her hands covering her pubis. The insides of her skinny white legs were smeared with blood, and her eyes, though wide, looked dead.
The figure, fast as a sprite, ran wildly past Sheree, muttering, “Fox! Fox! They put a fish in my vagina!”
And then she was gone.
Was…that…REAL? Sheree wondered. She blinked hard, sucked in deep, deep breaths. It seemed real. But—
At the same moment, slightly louder yet slower noises drifted toward her. It was now perplexion that paralyzed more than fear.
Another shape drifted from the darkness.
A shining brown man, with a belly sticking out like a soccer ball. He walked as if palsied, skinny legs struggling to support the disproportionate weight of the abdomen, and he, too, was naked. And—
WHEW! Sheree thought.
If this was a hallucination, it was a damn stinky one. This brown man smelled worse than a sewer. Oddly, only his face was white—blanched white—like the skin of the girl who’d just jogged by. The rest of his body seemed smeared with…
Is it…shit? Sheree wondered.
It was a shit-covered man!
He stopped in his tracks at Sheree’s presence. He looked right at her.
“Brab-nab-lee-gab,” he said.
Then he hobbled away.
Sheree silently stared after him.
When Carol grabbed her arm, Sheree almost screamed out loud. “Did I just hear a voice out here?” Carol asked.
“Uh…”
“Sheree? What’s wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
Sheree slowly shook her head. “You don’t want to know what I just saw.”
“Not the redneck’s brother!” came Carol’s fierce whisper.
“No. No, I don’t think so.”
“What, then?”
Sheree steeled herself for what she was about to let pass her lips. “I saw a naked skinny girl who said there was a fish in her vagina.”
Carol gawped back.
“Then,” Sheree continued, “I saw…a shit-covered man.”
“A shit-covered man?”
“Yes. Yes.”
Carol’s bulging breasts jiggled beneath her tight top as she chuckled. “Wow, I guess the acid was stronger than I thought.”
“It’s not the acid,” Sheree declared. “I really did see it.”
Carol could barely contain her laughter. “A girl with a fish in her pussy and a shit-covered man? Oh, Sheree, that’s rich!”
“But, but, but—”
“You’re fucked up,” Carol insisted and grabbed her arm. “Come on. I need to show you this.”
— | — | —
Chapter Ten
Not one, not two, not three—
It was four 20-gallon coolers Ashton and Bob brought back to the Winnebago.
Coolers full of big fat live jumpin’ Crackjaw eel. Some of them were a yard long and over five pounds apiece; they could be easily cleaned, fileted, vacuumed-packed and frozen for import to Japan at five dollars per six-ounce portion. What they’d caught in a few hours, in other words, equated to thousands.
Just in a few hours.
“We’re gonna buy this fuckin’ lake,” Ashton said. “Or make some kind of deal with those crackers. This lake might as well be full of gold.”
But Bob wasn’t paying much attention. He was looking out the Winnebago’s small window. “I’m worried. It’s almost midnight. Where are the girls?”
“They’re probably out walking in the woods somewhere,” Ashton suggested. “Probably talking girl-talk.” Ashton pulled open the fridge. “Beer?”
“Naw, no thanks.” Bob glanced seriously at his brother. “Ashton, I’m really worried—”
“Well stop worrying, and have a beer.” Ashton thrust a Holsten into his brother’s hand. Then he huffed and puffed, dragging the one of the coolers of eel toward the auxiliary refrigerator in the back of the vehicle.
“Hey, Ashton, I think they went over to the island.”
Ashton frowned. “What?”
“The girls. They must’ve gone over to the island. ’Cos that cable-boat thing isn’t at the pier on this side. It’s over there.”
“So? They’re going for a nature walk.” Ashton giggled. “Maybe they’re making whoopie.”
Bob’s lips pursed as if he’d just sucked a lemon wedge. “It’s too late for them to be walking around this place. I’m taking the boat over.”
Ashton grinned wide. “Hey, they’re consenting adults, and if Carol’s cock is as big as you say, I think Sheree’s pussy might have some interest in it.”