Richard Laymon - The Traveling Vampire Show

Slim came back with the coil of an extension cord dangling from one hand. “Here you go,” she said.

“Thanks.”

I took it from her and pushed the dryer’s plug into the extension. Holding my towel with one hand, I stood up and followed Slim to an outlet near the door.

“Try this one,” she said.

I pushed the prongs of the extension cord into the holes of the outlet.

Slim said, “Ahhh” as the drier came to life.

Leaving our clothes in the drier, we went back to Slim’s house. I led the way, using my left hand to hold my towel secure. Slim carried the beer bottles.

In the kitchen, she set the bottles on the table. “Maybe you’d better give Lee a call.”

“ Oh, yeah,” I said.

Slim swept her hand toward the wall phone.

“Now?” I asked.

“Don’t you think you should?”

“I guess so,” I admitted. I frowned at the phone, reluctant to make the call.

“What’s wrong?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“We’d better make sure she’s all right.”

“Yeah.”

“And find out if she’s had any weird stuff happen.”

“How about if we wait and call later?”

“What’s wrong with now?”

“I don’t know.” I happened, just then, to glance at Slim’s legs.

She grinned. “It’s a phone call, Dwight. She won’t be able to see us.”

“I know, but…” I shrugged.

“Want me to leave the room?”

“No!” The word burst from my mouth.

Slim flinched.

“Don’t leave,” I said, trying to make my voice calm. “You’ll probably vanish again.”

“I told you, I haven’t vanished.”

“That’s your opinion.”

A glint of mischief in her eyes, she said, “I oughta know.”

“Don’t go anywhere,” I told her.

I stepped over to the phone, made sure my towel was secure, then lifted the receiver off its hook. I knew Lee’s number by heart. While I dialed it, Slim pulled a chair away from the kitchen table and sat down.

Lee’s phone started to ring.

With the table in the way, I didn’t need to worry about seeing anything lower than Slim’s belly.

I listened to the quiet ringing and we gazed into each other’s eyes.

It started out as that intense, curious, hopeful stare that we’d been giving each other so much lately. Our love stare, I guess. But then Slim’s gaze faltered, and so did mine. Soon, we were frowning at each other.

“How many times has it rung?” she asked.

“I don’t know, seven or eight.”

“Give it a few more.”

“She usually gets it in two or three if she’s home.”

“Maybe she’s in the bathroom or something.”

Maybe she’s busy, I thought, and doesn’t want to be bothered by a phone call right now and she’s wondering what sort of jerk is keeping at it this long.

As I let it continue to ring, I began to hope Lee wouldn’t answer. She was one of my favorite people, not only beautiful but one of my best friends, so I hated to make a nuisance of myself.

Finally, I hung up.

“Well,” Slim said.

“Yeah.”

“I wonder what that means.”

“Maybe she went somewhere,” I said.

“Or she’s taking a bath,” Slim said. “If she’s running the water, she might not even hear the phone. Or maybe she heard it, but didn’t want to get out of the tub.”

I pictured Lee lounging in her bathtub, wet and shiny.

“ I sure don’t get out to answer the phone,” Slim said, and I pictured her in her bathtub.

Starting to get excited, I sat down at the kitchen table across from Slim.

“Or she might’ve been on the toilet,” Slim added. “There’s no telling. Why don’t you call her back?”

I didn’t relish the idea of standing up just then. “Why don’t we give her a while?”

“Yeah. How about five or ten minutes? Maybe she’ll get done with whatever she’s doing.”

“Good,” I said.

“I’m sure she’s fine.”

“I hope so.”

“I mean, we had some weird stuff happen, but nobody did anything to us. We might’ve gotten a little scared, but we didn’t get hurt.”

I nodded in agreement.

“While we’re waiting…” She went silent and let a smile spread over her face.

It was a type of smile I’d seen on Slim before, but not very often. It had a slyness to it. It always meant trouble.

“Uh-oh,” I said.

Slim scooted back her chair. I tried to keep my gaze high as she stood up and turned around. Mostly, I succeeded.

“Where’re you going?” I asked.

Striding away, she looked over her shoulder. “Back in a minute. Don’t worry, I won’t vanish.”

“Please don’t,” I muttered.

I watched the black tail of her blouse drift against her rear end as she left the kitchen. When she was beyond the reach of the kitchen light, all I could see was a pair of walking legs. Soon, they were eaten by the darkness.

I was tempted to stand up and go after her, but I still had a towel problem.

“You okay?” I called.

“Fine.”

“What’re you doing?”

“You’ll see.”

On her way back, I saw her legs first. Then I noticed the pale shapes of her face and forearms. By her side, she was carrying something more pale than her skin.

It turned out to be a newspaper.

I looked away and tried to seem interested in the clock while Slim sat down and scooted her chair closer to the table.

Then I faced her and asked, “What’s the paper for?”

“Time to put my big plan into action.”

“What big plan is that?”

“Operation Rescue Rusty.”

I groaned.

Slim chuckled.

By the time she finished explaining, I no longer needed to worry about embarrassing protrusions of my towel. I sighed, pushed myself away from the table, and went to the phone. I was trembling slightly and my heart was pounding.

I dialed, then turned toward Slim.

She looked very pleased with herself.

I showed her my teeth and she laughed.

Over at Rusty’s house, someone picked up a phone. “Hello?”

I cringed. “Hello, Mrs. Simmons.” “Hello, young man.”

“Is Rusty there?”

“I’m afraid he’s incommunicado at the moment.”

“Oh. Yeah. I sort of thought so. I feel awful about what we did. You know, ditching Elizabeth.”

“You have no idea how much you hurt her feelings, Dwight. Frankly, I didn’t except such behavior from you.”

“I’m awfully sorry. Really. I just wasn’t thinking straight. I was so worried about Slim….”

“Well, yes. I can understand your concern, but it was no excuse. Elizabeth fully expected you to wait for her.”

“I know. I feel rotten about it. Anyway, I was thinking about doing something to cheer her up.”

Mrs. Simmons was silent.

“I thought maybe Slim and I might come over and take her with us to the movies.”

Mrs. Simmons remained silent.

“There’s a double-feature at the drive-in. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane’s playing with The House on Haunted Hill .”

“Haven’t you seen those movies?” she asked.

“The House on Haunted Hill. ”

“I thought so.”

“But that was a couple of years ago, and we missed our chance to see What Ever Happened to Baby Jane when it played at the Crown. Anyway, I’m pretty sure Elizabeth hasn’t seen either one of them, and Slim and I don’t mind seeing The House on Haunted Hill again. It was really good.”

“I’m not sure I want Elizabeth to see that sort of movie. They’re both supposed to be dreadful. I don’t want her coming home with nightmares.”