"Don't mention it. And I mean that literally. Kim would kill me."
"Don't worry."
"Casey too."
"Jesus, Steve."
"Okay, okay."
I walked out and closed the door behind me. First I tried the empty
room, though I didn't think that very likely. Steve would have heard
her if she'd come that far. Besides, there was nowhere to go but the
closet.
I was right. It was empty.
I walked down the hall, my footsteps sounding very big to me. For once
my habits paid off. I was staring down ahead of me. And there were
her sneakers right by the landing, off to one side. I'd walked right
by them before while my eyes were adjusting to the light. I picked
them up. So she was barefoot now.
I heard two sets of sounds just then. One set came from below, from
the first floor or the cellar. A voice. And then something metallic,
like something falling. Casey. Probably stumbling over something or
other.
The other sound was nearer. A scuffling in the master bedroom. It
could have been Kim, and then again it could have been mice. I opened
the door quietly and looked inside.
Something was different.
I couldn't figure what at first, but something. I listened. The
sounds had stopped.
With windows to the front and back the light was pretty good here. I
walked in. I still couldn't figure what it was that bothered me about
the room. I walked over to the box spring and looked behind the frame,
even though you couldn't have hidden a bag of groceries back there. I
was looking for what bothered me.
Then I saw it. The ceramic table lamp, sitting on the floor. It had a
shade now. Some droopy kind of thing. There had been no shade
Kim's beer-stained blouse.
I think I smelled it before I recognized it. I lifted it off the
works. Very cute, Kim, I thought. I bet you look just dandy in your
overalls.
I walked to the closet and opened the door, fully expecting to see her
crouching there. There was a scuttling in the darkness near the
floorboards. Just the mouse again, only this time he'd brought a
friend. They froze, waiting for me to do something.
I did.
I took Kim's overalls off the wire hanger.
I couldn't help laughing. Somewhere there was a naked woman running
around in socks and panties. Leaving me a trail to follow. It
seemed that Kim was making up her own game. ,. ^.... Meantime I was
piling up quite a wardrobe.
I shut the door and left the mice to whatever they were up to in there,
and walked out into the hall. There was only one room left, so that
had to be it. If Steven was right about her being upstairs, this was
where I'd find her.
A pair of socks were draped over the inside doorknob. I added them to
my collection.
"Okay, Kim," I said.
I listened. Heard nothing.
There were a number of options. The closet, obviously. Under or
behind the night table. Under the bed. Under the bunched up throw
rug.
The rug looked just as it did before. I lifted it anyway and was glad
I did.
In the moonlight Kim's panties looked to be a very light shade of
blue.
I listened again. The room was silent. I walked to the closet and
flung open the door. Wire hangers rattled at me like budget wind
chimes.
I closed it again. I got on my hands and knees and peered under the
bed. That was empty too, except for thick gray waves of dust. There
was nobody under the dresser and no way to fit in behind it. So where
the hell was she?
There was nothing left in the room.
Steven's either wrong or she got by me, I thought. Damn.
I heard a rattling sound behind me. The distance was odd. It sounded
muted, like it was here in the room with me but not here, exactly. A
shadow fell across me. I whirled around.
It was the second time I'd jumped tonight. And much worse than the
first one. Much worse.
She was framed in the corner of the window from the waist up, at an
angle, right shoulder low and right arm dangling limp at her side. She
seemed to sway, brushed by the wind. Her head lolled off to the right,
thrown slightly back. Her mouth was open and her eyes stared blankly
into the room.
The stocking cut deep into the flesh of her neck. It ran taut behind
her head to some point out of sight.
I felt a jolt inside me that was somewhere between adrenaline and heart
attack. Then suddenly I was at the window, flinging it up and open.
I reached for her, touched cool flesh.
She smiled.
"Gotcha," she said.
I looked down. She was standing on top of the woodshed. On tiptoe.
The end of the stocking was in her left hand. Both the outstretched
arm and the end of the stocking had been out of my line of vision. She
laughed and let the stocking fall, twirled it like a scarf, bumped at
me like a stripper.
I could easily have wrung her neck.
'
I settled for verbal abuse. It got pretty creative. All she did was
laugh. It was slightly hysterical sounding. I think she'd half scared
herself out there- it was that kind of laughter. Finally I ran out of
things to call her so I helped her back inside.
"I ought to leave you out there, you know that?"
"Poor Clan."
^B
"I ought to tie you up and leave you there."
"You wouldn't do that. It's chilly."
I looked at her breasts. The nipples were tightly puckered. "I can
see that. I suppose you'll want your clothes back too."
"Please?"
"Why not."
I handed them over. All except the panties. "These I'm keeping
I watched her dress. In the moonlight it was an extremely pretty
body.
"You scared the shit out of me," I told her. By now, though, I could
say it calmly.
"Sorry."
"Sorry my ass. You loved it."
"I did."
"How do you feel about bondage?"
"I love bondage!"
She finished buttoning her blouse.
I told her to sit on the floor and put her hands behind her back. I
tied them together with one of the ropes, not too tightly, but enough
so that she wouldn't be working them free in a hurry. I wanted this
one to stay put, exactly where I placed her. Not like Steven. I
wanted her to pay a little. I bound her feet. Then I picked her up
under the armpits and dragged her to the closet.
"Hey! Where we going?"
"You'll like it here. Nice and spooky." I opened the door. Then I
lifted her again and started moving her inside. She gave me some
trouble.
"Hey! Come on! Not in there. It's gonna be dark in there!"
"Sure is."
IDE AND SEEK
"Come on, Danny, please?"
"Sorry, sweets."
There was just enough room for her to stretch out a little. Standing
up was going to be tricky, though. Even if she did, she'd find that
the door locked from the outside.
"Danny! Daannnyyyyyy!"
I closed the door and threw the lock.
"Don't worry," I told her. "The mice are in the other closet,
remember? At least I think they are. Bye now."