Nicole Duval - The breeders

Mario shrugged his bare shoulders as if done with the subject and returned to packing the big chunks of meat in the box.

"So what's that got to do with us? And why are you two tearing up the place like this?" Carolyn didn't quite understand. Perhaps, she thought, she was still groggy from the frantic session with the dogs. She couldn't seem to focus her mind clearly on anything yet.

"So he bit his Goddam cock off, that's so what!" Mario answered impatiently. "And he's being a prick about it. He squealed on us. Said he bought the dog from somebody right here in New York… and then he fainted before he could hang it on us. He's still out, far as we know."

"But how did Jason find out about it?" she was still confused.

"Well, there's this broad at the hospital, see. She was one of the nurses in the emergency room er somethin' and she's a pretty hoary old bitch. Ugly as sin and twice as broad. Got a hole in her the size of the Holland Tunnel. Well, she's got the hots all the time and she bought one of the boss's dogs a couple years ago. She's real hinkie over that dog, ya know, got a real fuckin' hang up on him. She overheard the guy spouting off and guessed it was one a' Jason's dogs so when the guy fainted and they got through sewing his prick up… what was his prick… she sneaked out and gave Jason a hurry-up call to blow the joint. Soon as the guy comes out of the anesthetic the doc's gonna find out about it and call the cops. Seems there's a law or somethin' about dog bites. Ya gotta report 'em all to the police or somethin'. I don't know. Well, it's gonna cause all kinds of a stink and they'll haul in the boss and shoot all his dogs. Seems there's a law against that too, f'Christ sakes!"

Carolyn frowned and shook her head. Her mind was still muddy. She had been through a lot and she was still hurting inside, hurting bad, and not thinking too clear. She sat down on the stool and tried to think things out. What about her? If Jason took the dogs and left, what would she do? Would they leave her behind? Alone? Free?

WOULD SHE BE FREE TO GO?

The thought was like lightning in her cloudy mind. Radiant and brilliant… and suddenly her thoughts were crystal clear. Yes, Jason was so concerned with the dogs that she could easily slip away! Mario might notice her absence but Jason would be frantic over the possible death of his beloved dogs – he would never notice. If she could get away from Mario's anxious eyes for ten minutes, just ten minutes without arousing suspicion, she could be out of this madhouse and gone! She looked at Mario. What could she do about him? Just then he noticed she was just sitting there and he scowled.

"F'God sakes, ya lazy broad, get off your naked ass and help me pack up this meat. We gotta get out of here… or do ya really want to end up in the hoosey for ten years?"

She stared at him. That was it! Her naked ass!

"But I'm cold! I don't have any clothes on and that meat's frozen and it's cold!" she complained loudly, wrapping her arms across her body and faking a shiver.

"Well, f'Jesus Christ on a crutch, can't ya put some clothes on, stupid?" He shouted at her. "Ya can't think of nothin' when yer tits are hanging out. Goddam women. Maybe Jason's right about women! Go put yer clothes on!!!"

Carolyn slid off her stool and managed to growl a reply at him.

"Alright! You don't have to be so nasty about it!"

She turned and hurried out of the door and up the hallway toward her room. When she heard the whir of the automatic electric lock click the door shut behind her, she leaned against the wall and laughed hysterically for a moment. She made it! Mario had practically handed her the key to freedom! But she had to hurry. They might miss her in a few minutes. In five minutes she had to be out of this house of horrors and well on her way. She took a deep breath and ran down the long hall to her room.

She wouldn't need much. A suit, something neat and proper that wouldn't attract anyone's attention. Her purse and make-up… and the money! It wasn't much, not as much as she had planned to take when she left, but it would be enough. It would be enough to buy a bus ticket, to buy a one-way ticket out of hell. She stuffed the money so carefully hidden in the back of the television set into her open purse and clicked it shut. The blue knit suit was in the closet. She had to hurry, hurry!

"Tamarack," Carolyn enunciated as clearly as possible for the ticket agent. "Tamarack, West Virginia. It's just a little place, just below Charlestown about twenty or thirty miles."

The ticket agent ran a stubby finger down the list of stops on his bus schedule, flipped over the page and ran down a second line of numbers.

"Oh yeah, here it is. Tamarack, West Virginia. Well, if you take the next bus – that's at 7:30 tomorrow morning – you will get in there about 4:30 tomorrow afternoon. It's not a regular stop, you understand, but the driver will let you off if you ask him to."

"Isn't there a bus tonight?" Carolyn asked hopefully. "I sure don't want to sit in the depot all night."

"Sorry, lady," the fat little man answered, "only one bus going that way a'tall. It's only a secondary highway, you know, t'ain't no highspeed toll road. It's 7:30 tomorrow or nothing. Less you want to take the plane into Charlestown and then a bus out of there maybe?"

"No," she frowned, "No, I'll wait for the bus. Thank you anyway."

"Yes ma'am."

Carolyn turned abruptly and bumped into the man standing behind her, apologized without looking up, and went into the Ladies Lounge.

A few minutes later, she pushed her way through the squeaking door of the women's room and walked slowly into the lobby of the half-deserted bus depot once more. Well, it was going to be a long night. She had better find a restaurant before she settled in for the night. It had been hours since she had eaten – not since early morning before Jason and the dogs and the opportunity for escape – and she was feeling a little queasy in her stomach. She wondered fleetingly if it was from lack of food or the let down after her flight to freedom. Whatever it was, she could sure do without it. She walked over to the cigarette counter. A tall attractive man in a business suit walked up beside her. Together they waited for the clerk to finish the word on his crossword puzzle and notice them.

"Oh," he finally realized he was not alone, "Can I help you, mister?"

"The lady was first." He smiled at Carolyn and touched his hat. She smiled back.

"I only wanted to ask if there was a restaurant near here that might be open this time of night?" She was looking at the counter man but her mind was on the handsome stranger. How pleasant to meet a man without a dog by his side, she thought bitterly, a man who isn't interested in your sex.

"I was going to ask the same thing," the handsome man laughed. He turned to the clerk and smiled. "Maybe you should be selling sandwiches instead of cigarettes."

"Matter o'fact I do," came his monotoned reply and he reached beneath the counter and came up with a pair of mangled sandwiches. "Lessee, I got one boloney with mustard and one salami 'n cheese. I make 'em up myself at home."

The tall man looked at the sandwiches then at Carolyn and smiled as if they shared a big secret. He put his hand on her elbow and turned her away from the counter.

"I do thank you," he chuckled, "but what we really had in mind was something more along the order of a nice medium rare steak. Isn't that right?"

Carolyn was caught up in his ready smile and nodded in agreement.

"Is there some place…???"

"Well now," the clerk sat back down on his stool and picked up the crossword puzzle, "There's always the Pickwick Hotel down the street if ya don't mind paying fancy hotel prices??"