“With some guys,” he said pleasantly, “you have to say it twice.”
I dug out my wallet and put a five and three singles on the desk. Hobbs opened a drawer, pulled out a green cash box, and lifted two quarters from it. “And fifty makes eight,” he said.
I took the fifty cents and said, “Where’s the cabin?”
“I’ll show you. Come on.”
He surprised me by picking up the bag, and then Anne and I followed him down a dirt path to one of the white, red-shuttered cabins. He pulled a chunk of wood with a key attached to it from his trouser pocket and unlocked the door. He stepped inside, put the bag down, and then opened the windows. I looked around the cabin, and I saw Anne was doing the same thing. It was clean enough, with a double bed against one wall, a dresser against another, and a maple butterfly-back chair near the foot of the bed. He continued opening windows, and I said, “No shades on the windows?”
“Won’t nobody look in,” he said.
“Mmm.”
“Well, that’s it. Everything okay?”
“Fine,” I said half-heartedly. “Where’s the bath?”
“No bath. Shower and toilet up at the office.”
“I see.”
“You got a sink there in the corner. I’ll send a girl down with towels and soap for you. The bedclothes are fresh, changed this morning.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Not at all.” His eyes leaped to the top of Anne’s halter. He smiled and added, “The pleasure was mine.” And then he was gone.
When the door closed behind him, Anne said, “What a scurvy character. Did you see the way he undressed me?”
“That’s why I was Victorian.”
“Oh.” Anne shrugged. “Well, I’m still sleepy.”
“Sleepy? I’m ready for cremation.” I opened the valise and pulled out one of Anne’s skirts and two of my dirty shirts. I draped these over the three windows in the room, and then pulled down the covers on the bed. I was unlacing my shoes when I heard the whine of the pickup truck outside. I went to the window, drew back the shirt covering it, and looked out.
Hobbs was behind the wheel of the truck. He backed it off the gravel patch, and I said, “Zach the Ripper is leaving.”
“Good,” Anne said. “I wanted a shower, but I’ll be damned if I’d go up there with him around.”
I watched the truck leave the grounds. “He’s gone,” I said. “Go take your shower.”
Anne yawned and nodded. She took off the skirt, shorts and halter, and then walked across the room and kissed me gently on the mouth.
“Go away,” I said.
“I’m going.” She pulled on a robe, took her soap dish from the valise and grabbed up a towel. “I’ll be right back.”
“Fine.” I took off my trousers and stretched out on the bed, fully intending to wait for Anne to come back before corking off. I guess I was tireder than I thought.
I remember her coming back to the cabin. I heard the rustle of clothing, but I didn’t open my eyes. Sleep was light upon me, but heavy enough to make movements hazy, sounds unclear. I heard her light, bare-footed tread across the cabin, and then I felt the mild ocean breeze caress my bare legs as she pulled the covers back. And then she was beside me, her body cool on the surface, warm underneath. I reached over, my eyes still closed, and took her into my arms. I thought I heard her giggle. I held her tight, and she fitted the curve of my body, and I fell asleep with my arms around her.
When I woke, the sun was casting its last feeble rays through the shirt I’d hung on the window. For a moment, I didn’t remember if Anne had come back or not. I felt her body close to mine then, and I sighed and closed my eyes once more. I rolled over, and she rolled with me, and I felt her breasts tight against my back. I tried to shake the sleep from my mind, but I’d been driving for a long time, and I fell off again. I must have slept for a good four hours. When I woke the second time, the cabin was dark.
I looked over at Anne beside me, and I touched her upturned breasts and whispered softly, “Anne.”
She didn’t answer. I rubbed my eyes and then passed my hand over the flat hardness of her stomach. She stirred and moved closer to me, and then she suddenly lifted her head and clamped her mouth to mine and kissed me desperately. I held her close, kissing her ear and the curve of her neck. She moved expertly against me, her hands traveling over my body.
“That’s it, baby,” she said. “That’s the way.”
I drew my head back. The voice. The voice hadn’t been Anne’s! I threw the covers back, and I swung my legs over the side of the bed. I crossed the room to the light switch in the wall, and I snapped it on quickly.
The girl in the bed sat up, blinking her eyes against the light. She was a brunette, with large, well-formed breasts and a pretty face. She smiled and said, “Am I okay?”
“What is this?” I said.
“Oh come on now, mister,” she answered, the smile still on her face. “You know damn well what it is.”
“Where’s my wife?”
“Your wife?” She looked at me, startled. “Your wife? Come on back to bed, mister.”
I walked over to the bed, and I grabbed her by the wrist. “What’s this all about, sister?”
“Come on, make easy with the wrist,” she said.
“What are you doing here? Where’s Anne?”
“Who the hell is Anne? Hey, leggo the wrist, will you?”
“Who sent you here?”
“I found my own way. I looked in, and you were alone.” She smiled engagingly and sucked in a deep breath. “I figured you might want company.”
“You figured wrong, sister. Pack up and beat it.”
She threw her arms around my neck, shaking my grip on her wrist. She leaned forward, and her breasts dipped with the sudden motion. She parted her lips, and her eyes narrowed. “Come on,” she said. “I’m good. I’m real good.”
“I’ll bet,” I said, shaking free of her. I crossed the room and put on my trousers. “I’m going up to the office. You’d better be gone when I get back.”
The girl’s eyes narrowed. “You goddamn fairy,” she hissed.
“Have it your way, sister. But get out.”
I slammed out of the cabin and followed the trail down to the office. In the distance, I heard the thunder of the surf, the cries of the hawkers on the boardwalk. I opened the screen door to the office and walked in without knocking.
Zach Hobbs was sitting behind the desk. He looked up when I came in, and he smiled broadly. “Evening, Mr. Riley,” he said.
I walked to the desk and I leaned over it, my palms flat on the wooden top. “Where’s my wife, Hobbs?”
“Your wife?” he said, his eyebrows raising.
“I read the story and I saw the movie,” I told him. “Don’t make like I didn’t come here with a wife. You know goddam well I did. Where is she?”
“Sure you did,” Hobbs said. “A nice looking woman. I remember.”
“You should, all right. Where is she?”
“She left,” he said simply.
“What do you mean, she left? What are you trying to hand me?”
“She left. She came up to the office and said something vile about you, and then she took off.”
I reached across the desk and grabbed a handful of Hobbs’ shirt. “Don’t give me that, you bastard,” I said. “Anne wouldn’t...”
“Relax, Riley,” he told me. “Next time don’t play with another babe when your wife is out taking a shower.”
“Another...”
“Yeah, that’s what she said. Found you in the cabin with another broad, dead asleep. She came up to the office and asked me when the next bus out was. I told her. Then she took off.”
“You’re lying, Hobbs.”
“All right, I’m lying. She’s your wife. What the hell do I care?”
“Who’s the girl in my cabin?”