At ten, Abilene and Helen would leave the stockroom, sneak out of the bookstore, and open an outside door to let the other girls in.
At five after eight, however, Helen whispered, ‘I’ve gotta go.’
‘What?’
‘All that root beer.’
‘You’re kidding.’
‘I’m gonna explode.’
‘Go in your cup.’
‘Abbyyyyyy.’
‘I mean it.’
‘I can’t. I need a toilet.’
‘Oh, man. The custodians are probably in the building.’
‘Please.’
‘Okay. There’s probably a john in the hallway. But be careful. If anybody spots you
‘You’re coming with me, aren’t you?’
Abilene hadn’t planned on it. Though she’d consumed as much root beer as Helen, she’d intended to either hold on until ten o’clock or use a cup.
‘I don’t want to go alone.’ The pleading tone of her voice reminded Abilene of Helen’s experience in the shower room at the start of the school year: the lights going off, the hand touching her.
‘All right, I’ll go with you. We’ll take our flashlights.’ Abilene led the way. She inched open the door. The bookstore was dark except for a faint glow of lights coming in through the windows along one wall. Stepping out, she turned on her flashlight. As she walked around the counter, she heard the stockroom door bump shut. ‘Crap.’
‘What?’
‘Did you unlock it?’
‘Huh? Oh, no.’
‘There goes our hideout.’ She thought about the A & W bags and cups. No big deal. ‘You didn’t leave anything, did you? Other than the stuff from the A ’n Dub?’
‘No. Did you?’
‘Nope. Thank God.’
‘They’ll know we were in there.’
‘They’ll know someone was. No way to figure out who, though.’
‘Can you get fingerprints off that stuff?’
‘You can. But we aren’t gonna murder anybody. I’m sure the cops wouldn’t go to the trouble.’
‘Sure hope not.’
Following the bright beam of her flashlight, Abilene went to the door of the bookstore. Then she shut off the light. She turned the knob and eased the door toward her.
The hallway was dark.
‘Fantastic!’ she whispered. Leaning into the hall, she looked both ways. The only lights came from the green glow of Exit signs at each end. She stepped out. ‘Don’t let it lock.’
‘Got it.’ Helen came into the hallway behind her. ‘Maybe the janitors have already left.’
‘They might be upstairs, I guess. But you’d think they’d light up the whole building if they were here.’
‘Maybe they have Wednesdays off.’
‘Or they haven’t arrived yet. Come on. Let’s make it quick.’ She and Helen hurried through the hallway, checking the doors with their flashlights. Near the center, they came to a door marked LADIES. Abilene pushed it open, and they entered the dark restroom. Helen rushed into the first stall, Abilene into the next.
As she shone her light on the toilet, a groan came from Helen. ‘What?’
‘No t-p,’ Helen muttered, and rushed past her to the third stall.
Abilene’s stall had a roll of paper. The toilet seat looked clean, but she didn’t want to sit on it. Her dispenser of paper seat covers was empty. So, after latching the door and pulling down her pants, she squatted above the seat without touching it.
She was scared, trembling. She couldn’t relax enough to go.
From the sounds she heard, Helen was having no such problem.
Then she heard the distant clamor of a closing door.
It sent ice sliding up her back. It sent her urine squirting into the toilet bowl.
‘Oh, my God,’ Helen murmured.
‘Kill your light and be quiet,’ Abilene warned. She switched off her own flashlight. But couldn’t stop peeing, and neither could Helen. Though the splashing sounded awfully loud, she doubted that it could be heard from the hallway. If someone came into the restroom, though… ‘Whatever you do,’ she gasped, ‘don’t flush. Stand on the seat when you’re done. And make it quick.’
‘Do you think they’re coming here?’ Helen sounded ready to panic.
‘Who knows?’ She finished. She groped some toilet paper, dried, stood up straight, pulled up her panties and shorts, and climbed onto the seat. One hand held the flashlight. The other held the waistband of her loose shorts. She wished she had a spare hand to press against a wall of the stall; her perch on the seat felt too precarious for comfort.
This isn’t such a hot idea, anyway, she thought. If it’s the custodial staff, someone’s bound to come in.
The restroom was certain to be a place they cleaned, and hiding in the stalls wouldn’t do any good at all.
From beside her came a gasp. Then a heavy, thumping splash. ‘Shit!’
‘Shhhh.’
‘Oh, yuck.’ Splashing, dripping sounds. ‘I stepped in it.’
‘Shhhh.’
The restroom door sighed open, and the light came on.
‘Go ahead to my office. I’ll be along in a minute.’
Hardin!
‘Yes, ma’am.’
We’re dead
, Abilene thought.
Footsteps approached, heels clacking on the tile floor. Abilene held her breath.
Hardin entered the first stall.
The one without toilet paper!
Abilene heard the latch of the door clack into place. Garments rustled. The toilet seat creaked quietly. A long honk of blowing gas resounded through the room. ‘Fucking chili,’ Hardin muttered.
Abilene, terrified, didn’t even come close to laughing. She prayed that Helen felt the same way. If the girl should crack up now… but she didn’t.
Then came a tinkling sound, another roar of chili thunder.
‘Damn bitch,’ Hardin said.
The girl she’d sent ahead to her office? Abilene wondered who she was, what she’d done. Must’ve been something damn serious for Hardin to be nailing her at night. Damn serious, like maybe wearing a short skirt.
This could ruin the whole plan,
she thought.
And felt like an idiot for worrying about the plan.
You’re doomed, and you’re worried about the damn plan
.
Any second now, Hardin would see that she had entered a stall with no toilet paper. Then, she’d come next door to try her luck.
Make a break for it now? While she’s still sitting down, her door latched?
Run like hell?
What about Helen? The move to escape would take her by surprise. She had farther to go than Abilene. And she wasn’t nearly so quick on her feet.
Abilene might make it, but Hardin was sure to throw open her door in time to spot Helen.
Then it was too late.
The latch of Hardin’s door clattered. A quiet squeak announced the opening of her door.
Footsteps.
Oh God, oh God, no no no!
The sound of the footsteps receded.
Hardin was walking away!
Abilene heard the restroom door swing open. The lights went out. A moment later, the door bumped shut.
She stood motionless, gasping air that was rank with the aroma of used beans and onions. No sound came from Helen’s stall.
After a while, she whispered, ‘Are you all right?’
‘My right foot isn’t.’
Abilene laughed. Helen started to laugh.
‘Did you hear what she said?’ Abilene asked.
‘Gutter language.’
‘She didn’t wipe, either.’
‘She didn’t flush.’
‘Didn’t even wash her hands.’
‘What a hog!’ Helen gasped.
‘Thank God she’s a hog. That’s all that saved us.’
Abilene stepped down from the toilet seat. Flashlight clamped under one arm, she fastened her shorts, opened the door and stepped out of the stall.
A moment later, Helen came out. ‘What’m I gonna do about my foot?’
Her right sock, sodden, drooped low around her ankle. Her tennis shoe looked soaked.
‘It’ll dry. Come on, let’s get back to the bookstore.’
‘You want to go ahead with it?’
‘We’ve gone this far. We’ll just have to make sure she’s out of the building by ten.’
Abilene turned on her flashlight. She hurried for the restroom door. Helen followed, one shoe squelching.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘I may’ve puked,’ Vivian said, ‘but…’
'May’ve?' Helen interrupted.
‘At least I didn’t step in a toilet.’
‘Of Yeller Foot,’ Finley said from the hood of the car, and grinned into her drink.
‘Viv was bombed when she blew her supper,’ Cora pointed out. ‘What’s your excuse?’
‘It was dark,’ Helen said.
‘And we were scared out of our wits,’ Abilene said. ‘I nearly fell in, myself.’
‘It was the smell that made me lose it,’ Vivian said.
‘You shouldn’t have been sniffing my shoe,’ Helen told her.
‘Yeah, well…’ Vivian chuckled softly and took a sip of her drink.
‘That was a hell of a night,’ Cora said.
‘We were a wild ’n crazy bunch.’
‘What do you mean were, Hickok? Pass the bottle, huh?’
Abilene picked up the bottle of margarita mixture and wandered around, filling all the glasses. Only a bit remained. She chugged it, then returned the empty bottle to the box.
‘Let’s knock it off after this round,’ Cora said. ‘We’ve still gotta explore the second floor. Don’t want to be falling down any stairs.’,
‘Have to stay sharp,’ Finley said, ‘in case we run into an ax-murderer.’
Helen took a gulp. ‘Besides, this stuff is murdering my diet.’
‘Ah, live it up,’ Finley told her.
‘Yeah,’ Abilene said. ‘What Frank doesn’t know won’t hurt him.’
‘He’ll know if I come back a blimp. He wasn’t exactly overjoyed about me coming here in the first place.’
Finley laughed. ‘What, was he afraid we’d corrupt you?’
‘He thinks the whole thing’s crazy. He knows you’re all crazy.’
‘Harris wanted to come along,’ Abilene said.
‘Should’ve let him,’ Finley said. ‘We could use a guy around, here.’
‘Sorry, I don’t share.’
‘Spoilsport.’
‘He couldn’t get away from his job, anyway.’
‘God,’ Cora said, ‘let’s not even think about letting guys come along. I mean, the whole idea’s to get away and get wild.’
‘We’d have to behave,’ Helen said, and downed the rest of her drink.
‘We’d have to wear clothes,’ Cora added.
‘Not necessarily,’ Finley said.
‘And they’d end up trying to run the whole show,’ Vivian said. ‘They’d be telling us what to do from the get-go. Who needs it?’
Cora nodded, scowling. ‘That’s for damn sure. And I don’t know about Frank and Harris, but I know for sure Tony gets the hots for Viv every time he lays eyes on her.’
‘No accounting for taste,’ Finley said.
‘If he was here, he’d be tripping all over himself staring at Miss Gorgeous.’
‘It’s you he married,’ Abilene reminded her.
‘Yeah, but look who he danced with at the reception.’
‘You had a broken foot,’ Vivian said.
‘That’s beside the point. Anyway, I just think it’d ruin everything if we let the guys come along on these things. Next thing you know, we’d be dragging along a herd of ankle-biters.’
‘Anybody knocked up yet?’ Finley asked.
‘God forbid,’ Cora said.
‘Not yet,’ Helen said.
‘Me neither,’ said Abilene.
Vivian shook her head.
‘Well, that’s something, anyway. We’ve gotta do this every year. No matter what. Just us. No husbands or loveiboys, no kids. They stay home.’
‘We oughta take a pledge,’ Finley said.
‘We don’t need no steekin’ pledges,’ Abilene said. ‘We should just be glad we’re all here right now, and not worry about the future.’
‘We’ve gotta worry about the future,’ Cora said. ‘Because you wanta know why? Because it’s adventures like these that’ll keep us from turning into a bunch of old ladies.’
‘Speak for yourself,’ Abilene said.
‘I mean it. You’ve gotta do something a little nuts every once in a while. Get away from the job and paying bills and going to the grocery store and doing dishes and spending your nights in front of the boob-tube. You know? That stuff wears you down. Pretty soon, you forget what it’s like to have fun.’
‘I have plenty of fun.’
‘Not like this, Hickok.’
‘Yeah,’ Helen said. ‘When was the last time you were really scared?’
‘About half an hour ago.’
‘See?’
‘I don’t think you have to be scared to have fun.’
‘It’s the freedom,’ Vivian said. ‘That’s the important thing. When we’re off like this, we can do whatever we want. We don’t have to watch ourselves, worry about what anyone might think of us. We’ve been through so much together. We can really be ourselves.’
‘You babes sure get talky when you’re looped,’ Finley said.
‘I’m not looped,’ Vivian said.
‘She’s not looped,’ Helen agreed. ‘She hasn’t puked yet.’
Cora stood on the bumper of the car, and jumped down. She plucked her clinging T-shirt away from her rump. ‘Come on, let’s stop gabbing and explore the rest of the lodge.’
Finley picked up her camera. She hopped to the ground.
Abilene drained her glass. She set it inside the box, then stepped to the hood of the car. While the others rid themselves of their glasses, she slipped into her blouse. It was dry except for a moist area in the center of its back where Cora’s rump had been.