Alan Cook - Honeymoon for Three

“Please deposit one hundred dollars for the first three minutes.”

It wasn’t $100, of course, but to somebody as parsimonious as Alfred, the operator’s request sounded like a small fortune. He carefully counted out the correct change from the coins in his hand and placed them in the appropriate slots of the pay phone. Someday when he was rich, he would live in a big house with two telephones, not a dingy apartment without any.

The coins chimed as they dropped, and the operator, satisfied, put through the call. After three rings, a female voice said hello.

“Hello, Mrs. Singleton?” Alfred used his most persuasive voice. “This is Alfred. Alfred Ward. I went to high school with Penny. I just arrived in California, and I thought I’d look her up. I was wondering if you could tell me her address.”

“Alfred? Your name sounds familiar. Were you on the basketball team?”

“No ma’am. Listen, I’m on a pay phone-”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to run on. Penny lives in Lomita. I’ve got the address right here somewhere.”

“If you’re talking about the apartment on Narbonne, she just moved out of there.”

“She did? I can’t keep up with that girl. Well, she’s going on a trip. And in a couple of weeks she’s moving into a brand new place. In a city with a funny name. Terrence or something like that.”

“You mean Torrance?”

“Torrance. Yes, that’s it.”

“Do you know what her address will be there?”

“No. She’s hasn’t told me.”

“You said she’s going on a trip?”

“Yes. I think she’s going to visit some of the national parks, like Yellowstone. She’s always loved the outdoors.”

“Do you think she’s already left?”

“Maybe. School starts pretty soon.”

Alfred thanked her and hung up. He heard the click indicating that the phone had eaten his money. Mrs. Singleton hadn’t mentioned Penny’s boyfriend. Penny wasn’t telling her everything. Of course, Penny was going on the trip with him. Her roommate was no longer in the picture.

He had to find her boyfriend’s apartment. Fast. But how? What did he know about this guy Gary, other than that he was tall, thin, and probably had an innie bellybutton. All the girls liked guys with innie bellybuttons. He drove a green Volkswagen Beetle. Not much of a car. Alfred thought back to the Sunday morning breakfasts he had eavesdropped on. Penny had been excited about this Gary person from day one. She had told her roommate all about him.

She had confided that he lived in Monterey Park and worked for IBM. Alfred walked to his car, which was parked near the phone booth. He kept a lot of maps in his glove compartment. He sorted through them until he found one of the greater Los Angeles area. Monterey Park was east of downtown L.A. He went back to the phone booth and dialed Information. When an operator answered, he asked her whether IBM had an office somewhere in the East Los Angeles area.

After a twenty-second silence, the operator reported in the affirmative. Alfred wrote down the number. He hung up, his heart beating faster. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so hard, after all. Los Angeles only had one area code. He should be able to call the IBM office for a dime. He dialed the number.

“Good morning, IBM.”

“May I speak to Gary…? His last name has slipped my mind.”

“Do you mean Gary Blanchard?”

“Is he a tall, thin guy with short hair?”

“Yes.”

“That must be him. Is he there?”

“He’s at a customer’s office. May I take a message for him?”

“So he’s working today.”

“Yes, he’s working. May I take a message for Gary?” She sounded impatient.

“Uh, do you know when he’ll be back in the office?”

“He didn’t say. May I take a message and have him call you?”

Persistent bitch. “No thanks. I’ll call back.” He hung up.

Gary was still walking on a cloud. He had finished his last day of work at IBM for two weeks-two weeks of fun and adventure with Penny. And oh yes-he was getting married. Well, most people got married sooner or later. Why not now? Living together in their own place would certainly save on rent.

He parked his car in his reserved spot in the apartment lot. It was a big apartment building, but fortunately, it had plenty of parking. They would be able to leave Penny’s car here until they returned. Gary retrieved the mail from his box and walked to the apartment on the second level.

As he entered, Penny ran to him and gave him a big hug and kiss. Now that was the way to be greeted when returning from the job wars.

“How was your day?” Penny asked.

“Outstanding, because I knew it was the last one I had to work for a while. How was yours?”

“Good. I got all the maps we need from the Auto Club, and I have a pile of information about the parks.”

“I hope it will all fit in the car.”

“If it doesn’t, we’ll strap it to the roof.”

Penny had prepared dinner for them in the small kitchen. She didn’t claim to be an expert chef, but she had cooked for Gary several times while they were dating, and he had survived. He appreciated her efforts.

“Have you seen Steve?” Gary asked.

“No. He hasn’t shown his head.”

“Well, don’t worry about him. He’s probably shacked up somewhere.” Steve sometimes didn’t show up for a couple of days at a time during the summer when he wasn’t teaching school. He would also supplement his teaching income by selling sets of pots and pans to suggestive teenage girls for their “trousseaus.”

Gary told this to Penny, and she said, “Speaking of trousseaus, I don’t have one. I haven’t had time to get one together. I noticed that you purchased a dozen T-shirts and pairs of underpants.”

Caught, Gary could only laugh. “I’ve been meaning to buy some things and this seemed like a good opportunity.”

They sat down to dinner at the table beside the kitchen. The menu consisted of hotdogs with all the toppings, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob, along with a celebratory bottle of cheap champagne. Gary couldn’t have been happier with it. He opened the champagne bottle with a pop and bounced the cork off the refrigerator. It reminded him of shooting woodchucks with a. 22 on the farm back home.

He filled two water glasses-he didn’t have champagne glasses. “To us.”

“To eloping.”

They clinked glasses and drank.

Halfway through the meal, Gary noticed that Penny had become very quiet, which was unlike her. She was usually as bubbly as the newly opened champagne. He was about to make a quip about it, to attempt to lighten the suddenly oppressive atmosphere, when she spoke.

“Gary, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Uh-oh, here it comes.” Gary was trying to keep it light.

“I received a couple of notes at the Lomita apartment.”

“Notes from old boyfriends?”

“I don’t know.”

The way she said it sobered Gary up. He gave her his full attention as she described the circumstances of receiving the notes. She went and retrieved them from the envelope.

“I also had several phone calls from somebody who didn’t say anything.” She placed the notes in front of Gary. “He just breathed into the phone.”

Gary studied the pieces of paper and the scribbled words. He didn’t know whether to be concerned or not. They looked like the work of a prankster, but one could never tell.

“Did you show these to the police?”

Penny shook her head. “I showed them to the apartment manager and a few tenants. That’s all.”

“You didn’t show them to me.”

“I was afraid you’d wonder what kind of a crazy girl you’d gotten mixed up with.”