Carver Pike - Scalp

“Oh, Lord,” he said. “Ma’am… I’m sorry.”

“Oh, shit!” she exclaimed as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Her pink panties were soaked through and Hal only caught a quick glimpse of them before realizing he needed to look beyond her and over at her friends. Next to the woman, was a stark naked man who was about the same age as the blonde. He covered up his pecker with a cupped hand.

These kids sure didn’t have any shame. He wouldn’t be caught dead stomping around naked in front of his friends, and these two were cavorting around as nude as they came out of the womb.

The other two people seated on the beach were fully dressed. Hal thought he recognized the young man as one of the guys who worked at the local bait and tackle shop. Next to this couple were two small tents. One was orange and the other blue. These couples were planning to spend the night if not the whole weekend.

“Damn,” the guy said. His name was Kip. Hal was pretty sure of it.

“Kip, that you?” Hal asked.

“Yes, sir,” he replied.

Kip was a handsome young man with a bit of a mullet. Believe it or not, they were coming back in style. His long, black hair flowed loosely in the back. Sitting beside him was a pretty brunette.

By now, the blonde and her boyfriend were both frantically getting dressed. Hal kept his eyes on Kip and the brunette so they could have some sense of privacy.

“Y’all know you’re not supposed to be out here?” Hal asked aloud to nobody in particular.

“I know,” Kip said, “but Gus never bothered us before.”

“You mean you’ve done this before?” the girl seated next to him asked. “Becky,” she called out to the blonde, “I knew we shouldn’t have trusted these assholes.”

“Hey, come on now,” Kip said. “I ain’t ever done this before. Lenny has but not me.”

Lenny, who now had his shorts on, defended himself as the blonde Becky slapped his arm.

“You made it seem like it was your first time camping out here, Lenny,” Becky said.

Lenny pinned her arms down and wrapped her up in a hug. “I’m a jerk. I know.”

The girl squealed. Hal realized he’d seen Lenny before too. He worked the drive-thru at one of the fast-food restaurants in town. Becky worked there too. Hal hadn’t recognized her at first because she always wore a hat at work, but she was a flirtatious one. She always winked at him when she handed him his food. Only the brunette was a stranger to him.

“So, Gus knows about this?” Hal asked.

It didn’t surprise him. The old man had probably snuck through the trees and jerked off watching these cute young women bobbing around on the beach.

“He should know,” Lenny replied. “I paid him fifty bucks to leave us alone.”

“Fifty bucks?” Hal asked. “That’s steep.”

He almost asked why they didn’t get a hotel room for that amount, but then he remembered hotel rooms weren’t all that cheap anymore. Plus, nothing beat the great outdoors when it came to spending time with a woman.

You can’t skinny dip in a hotel room.

“We ain’t bothering nobody, man,” Kip said. “I know we’re not supposed to be out here, but we ain’t gonna cause any trouble. We’ll just be out here tonight and tomorrow night and then we’ll be on our way.”

Hal was working tomorrow night too. He wasn’t sure who was on the day shift though.

“This is my post now,” he informed them. “It could cost me my job. I don’t know who’s working the day—”

“Arnold works the day shift and he has my other fifty bucks,” Lenny said with a chuckle. “Come on, man. Really. This cost me a lot. I don’t make all that much.”

“I know you don’t, buddy,” Hal said.

Fast-food workers weren’t paid top dollar. He felt bad for the kid. He’d been in his position before, trying to impress Sheila when they were young twenty-somethings. It was a night not too unlike this one that resulted in baby Susanna being born.

“All right,” Hal said.

Both young men squeezed their fists and whispered something along the lines of, “Hell yeah.”

“I’ve got twenty bucks on me,” Kip said. “For your kindness.”

“You keep it, buddy,” Hal said. “But be careful out here, all right? You know there’s snakes and bears and all kinds of critters. Y’all armed?”

Kip reached into the orange tent and pulled out a shotgun. He held it up for Hal to see clearly.

“Good,” Hal said. “Just don’t be firing that thing for fun. Alcohol and guns don’t mix.”

“Yes, sir,” Kip said. “And thank you again.”

“Kip,” Hal said with a nod. He turned to each of the others and said their names with a tilt of his park ranger cap. “Lenny. Becky. Ma’am.” He still didn’t know the brunette’s name.

“Rachel,” she said.

“My name’s Hal. Y’all be careful, have fun. Behave.”

They all laughed. Hal wasn’t expecting them to listen, but the parental side of him felt the need to say it.

As he walked back to his truck, he cracked a smile.

Oh, to be in my twenties again.

“We goin’ back in the water?” he heard Becky ask.

“Damn right we are,” Lenny replied.

Hal laughed.

Man, ain’t that the life.

Annie Freemont hated her husband, Jeb. She hated Jeb Junior too. In fact, she hated every male Freemont. Only her daughter, eleven-year-old Jessica was worth a damn, and all she did was lie around and play with her phone. “Mommy, watch this. Mommy, watch this. Mommy, watch this.”

So help me God if I have to watch one more video of some idiotic kid doing something dumb to amuse the masses…

Something slimy slid between her fingers and she squished it between her fingernails, feeling the crunch as it split in two. Green pepper. Annie always put green peppers in her meatloaf. She knew it was what made it kind of runny, but she didn’t care. That was the recipe she found online nearly five years ago, and it was the one she was sticking with. Her mother never did pass down any of the family recipes, so she was creating some of her own.

“This one’s gonna be good,” she said aloud knowing nobody was listening.

Jessica giggled at the table behind her.

Another one of those stupid videos.

“Jess,” Annie called out.

Her daughter ignored her or didn’t hear her. Both were unacceptable.

“Jessica!” she shouted.

“Yes, Mama?”

“Hand me that seasoning salt.”

“Mmmkay.”

Annie reached one slimy hand out to accept the bottle from her daughter when she glanced out the kitchen window and into the front yard. The patio light didn’t work like it was supposed to. Jeb never got around to fixing anything. He loved to claim how he was a maintenance man extraordinaire, a real Mr. Fix-It. Yet, he didn’t fix a damn thing around here.

And here he was, staggering drunk through the yard. The moon showed his silhouette as he did, what, make his way to the shed to fiddle with his riding lawnmower again? It seemed he was always out there playing around with that thing. She was pretty sure that wasn’t what he was doing at all. More than likely, he was watching pornography and jerking off.

Lord knows he never uses that thing of his on me.

It had been nearly a year since the last time they’d made love. Making love wasn’t the right term to explain it at all. Poking around in the dark was a better description.

“Your daddy’s goin’ out to the shed again,” Annie said aloud as she accepted the seasoning salt, flipped it upside down, and doused her gooey meat concoction.

And he didn’t even turn off the damn TV… again.