Richard Laymon - Blood Games

Then came Finley’s voice, ‘Say cheese.’

And the low voice answering, ‘Cheese.’

‘The good, the bad and the ugly,’ Finley said.

Abilene got over feeling sick when she saw herself with Harris in Benedict Park. They were pretending to be those characters in the ‘Mess Hall’ story. Soon, she was down on the ground with Harris on top of her.

She was there again, feeling the twigs and leaves under her back, feeling the weight of Harris’s body, feeling the way his trapped erection prodded her through her panties.

‘You should’ve gotten an Oscar for this,’ Vivian said.

Cora laughed. ‘That’s not acting.'

Helen nudged Abilene. ‘Getting hot?’

‘I was till the peanut gallery chimed in.’

‘Want me to rewind?’ Finley asked.

Cora chuckled. ‘We’ll promise to be quiet. We’ll just sit here and watch you pant. ’

‘I could be home with him right now.’

‘Getting a taste of the real thing,’ Finley said.

‘Here comes that asshole, Baxter,’ Helen said.

Abilene watched, growing apprehensive, as Baxter killed Harris and took her away in the car, as he dragged her into a clearing and tied her under a tree, as he tormented her with the knife.

‘Couldn’t you maybe fast-forward through some of this?’ she asked when Baxter started licking her chest. ‘This is a stroll down Memory Lane I could do without.’

‘Yeah, but you really nailed him good,’ Finley said as Baxter started kissing Abilene. ‘You wouldn’t want to miss that, would you?’

‘Finley.’

‘Okay, okay.’

Finley was on her way to the TV when Baxter broke the strap of Abilene’s bra and grabbed her breast and she kneed him in the thigh.

In fast-forward, Baxter pulled her skirt up, yanked her panties down, was flung backward by Helen, and barely hit the ground before Helen, Cora and Vivian, dressed as zombies, pounced on him.

‘Hey,’ Helen protested. ‘We’re missing the good part.’

‘Fine with me,’ Vivian said. ‘It was awful, beating up on him like that.’

‘Fucker deserved it,’ Cora said.

But Finley didn’t stop fast-forwarding until the TV showed their farewell party at Belmore. They were lounging around the living room of their apartment on Spring Street, dressed for bed and holding champagne glasses. ‘Just act natural, babes,’ Finley advised them. ‘You look great. What was your big idea, Viv?’ Later, she said, ‘One of these days, we’ll get together and watch all this stuff and have a few laughs.’

‘Was that a threat or a promise?’ Cora asked.

‘I came through, right?’

‘I wouldn’t have minded missing some of this,’ Abilene said. ‘I think it’s great,’ Vivian said. ‘Most of it, anyway.’

‘Come on,’ Helen protested, ‘we’re missing stuff.’

Finley got up and rewound.

The farewell party came to an end. Then it was the next morning, and they watched tape of their tearful departures.

Finley appeared on the screen. She had removed the gorilla head, but still wore her formal green gown. ‘And thus ends,’ she said, ‘the saga of the Belmore girls. But it was not the end of the Daring Young Maids, or our adventures. True to our word, we gathered one year later. This time, we were far from the hallowed halls of the university, and eager to take our bites out of the Big Apple.’

‘What com,’ Cora said.

They watched Vivian struggle to yank a suitcase off a carousel in the baggage claim area at Kennedy. Then she and Finley were apparently in the back seat of a taxi. There were views of the driver’s head, and some scenery along the way to Manhattan. They’d been the last of the group to arrive. Finley was ready with her camera when Cora opened the door to their room at the Hilton.

‘We oughta fast-forward through this,’ Cora said. ‘Hell, it was only last year.’

‘And it’s getting late,’ Vivian said.

‘Don’t be party-poopers. There isn’t all that much.’

‘Have you got my wedding on here?’ Cora asked.

‘But of course.’

‘Let’s just move on to that.’

‘Fine with me,’ Helen said. ‘This New York stuff’ll just remind me of what you people did to Wayne.’

‘We didn’t do anything to him,’ Cora said.

‘He’s not on the tape, anyway,’ Finley explained.

‘Even so, it’s making me think about him.’

‘Okay, okay.’ Finley went to the TV and pushed the fast-forward button on her camcorder. Scenes of their days in New York City flashed by.

‘It would’ve been stupid to let him into the room,’ Cora said.

‘He was a nice guy.’

‘Maybe he was and maybe he wasn’t. We were just playing it safe.’

‘Maybe we misjudged him,’ Abilene said. ‘But who knows what he might’ve done if we’d let him into our rooms?’

‘He could’ve been a rapist,’ Vivian explained.

‘Helen had her hopes pinned on it,’ Finley said. ‘But I would’ve called firsties.’

‘That’s not funny,’ Helen muttered.

Finley, shaking her head at the television’s speeding images, said, ‘It was almost a waste of tape. Nothing happened. It’s like looking at a travelogue.’

‘Maybe my choice of activities will turn out to be more interesting,’ Cora said.

‘I sure hope so.’

‘He was a nice guy,’ Helen muttered.

‘Let’s have some quiet,’ Cora announced as the scenes of her wedding began.

The next morning, they rented a Pathfinder recreational vehicle, loaded their sleeping bags, luggage and supplies, and headed north across the Golden Gate.

Following Abilene’s directions, they took the tum-off to Mill Valley. She pointed out some of her favorite places as they drove through the town. Her parents had moved to Flagstaff three years ago, but she wanted to see the old house. Unfortunately, the final stretch of hillside road was too narrow for the RV. ‘No big deal,’ she said.

‘Looks like Wolfe was right,’ Vivian said.

She laughed. ‘Can’t go home again… not without a tiny car, anyway.’

They retreated to wider roads. ‘Anybody want to visit Muir Woods or the top of Mount Tam?’ she asked. ‘They’re on the way.’

‘Have you got your heart set on it?’ Cora asked.

‘I’m gonna bring Harris over here on our honeymoon. Give

him a guided tour of where I spent my callow youth. Unless you guys are interested, we can skip ’em.’

‘I guess I’d rather get on over to the coast,’ Cora said. Abilene navigating, they made their way along twisty roads and down the side of Mount Tamalpias to the town of Stinson Beach. In a shop there, Cora selected a wetsuit and a surfboard. ‘I’m the only one gonna surf?’ she asked.

‘You can count me out,’ Finley said. ‘I’ll record your wipeouts for posterity.’

‘I’ll borrow yours if I get the urge,’ Abilene said. ‘Which I doubt.’

‘I’m not going in the ocean,’ Helen said. ‘There’s sharks out there.’

‘This’ll do it for me,’ Vivian said, holding up a string bikini.

‘You’re planning to wear that in public?’ Abilene asked.

‘If Cora’s right, there won’t be any public. Right?’

‘That’s the idea,’ Cora agreed. ‘That’s why I decided we should go north. Miles and miles of deserted coastline. If we stop in the right places, we’ll have the water to ourselves.’

‘Because it’s too cold for sensible people,’ Abilene pointed out.

‘That shouldn’t bother any of you pansies,’ Cora said. ‘Sounds like I’ll be the only one going out in it.’

She purchased her surfboard and wetsuit. Vivian purchased her bikini. Then they returned to the RV and headed north on Pacific Coast Highway.

They stopped for lunch in Bodega Bay. Helen was thrilled. This was where Hitchcock’s The Birds had taken place. Their table at the restaurant overlooked the very same stretch of water that Tippi Hedren had been crossing in a motorboat when a bird had swooped down and pecked her head. ‘I can’t believe I’m actually here,’ she said, and took an eager gulp of her Bloody Mary.