Sociopath? (22 page)

He chuckled. “Well, it seems like you girls
thought of everything.”

That night, she slept nestled against him,
like a little cuddly animal. Rafe had never slept with a stuffed
teddy bear but he thought this was what it would have felt like if
he had.

In the morning, he taught her about oral sex,
both him for her and her for him, and then he kissed her and left.
She couldn’t wait to get dressed and meet the girls in the coffee
shop to tell them how wonderful it had been.

*

“So that’s the story of the fan club,
Chet.”

Chester was flabbergasted. “That is
un-fucking-believable! Jesus, Kid, I don’t even know what to say.
Puttin’ their names in a hat to see who gets to fuck you?
By-fuckin-laws? I went out and took a look and there’s a dozen
of’em today. Rafe, if you don’t take up full-time driving, you’re a
pure damn fool.”

*

It was Jeri that night whose name got
drawn.

“Thank God!” she said. “We bring along extra
shirts and as others hear about the club and join in, the odds of
getting drawn keep getting higher.”

He was right about her. She didn’t require
kid gloves treatment like Lida.

* *

Laney was spending her summer feeling
schizophrenic. On the one hand, there was her life as Cal’s steady
girlfriend. They went boating and to the movies and to parties with
their friends. She had strong feelings for Cal. He was a
sweetheart, a perfect boyfriend. Although they were part of the
“popular set” at school, all the other kids liked them, even those
who weren’t so popular. Neither was thought of as a snob because
they were nice to everyone. Teachers said they were ideal students,
an All-American couple. They both got excellent grades as well as
being involved in extracurricular activities. Cal played football
and was in the Drama Club. Laney was on the Cheer Squad and on the
student editorial board of the Benedict High School Scribe.

You couldn’t call Laney anything but
beautiful now. She was 5’7 and weighed 118 pounds with high, full
breasts, slender hips and long tan legs. Her pale blonde hair was a
curtain that hung down almost to her waist. Her generous smile and
the warmth in her sea blue eyes drew people in, like they knew she
was someone who could be trusted. Cal was handsome too with his
muscular football player’s body, close-cut brown hair and sincere
brown eyes. Both of them had lots of friends.

That was what she thought of her “normal”
life and there was only one cloud in that blue sky and it was, of
course, that no matter how much she liked Cal, no matter how hard
she tried, she felt nothing for him sexually. She hated that for
his sake almost more than hers. It didn’t seem fair to him to have
a girlfriend who couldn’t respond to him, although she didn’t let
him know that, naturally.

Then there was her other life, the Rafe part,
the not so normal part. He never came home on race nights but he
was there most week nights and when he opened his door and said,
“come on over here, Honey,” her heart just immediately started to
pound and shivers started shooting from her groin up into her
stomach. He could come up behind her in the kitchen and put his
warm hand under her shirt so it lay on her middle back, something
as simple as that, and she’d just go weak from desire. She wondered
how the effect of two kisses, Cal’s and Rafe’s, could be so
different. When you closed your eyes, a pair of lips felt pretty
much the same but when it was Rafe’s mouth on hers, she was
transported by joy.

She asked Rafe once if he was jealous of her
having sex with Cal. He’d just smiled and said, “who do you love,
Lane?”

“I love you, Rafe, “she told him.

“That’s why I’m not jealous, Sweetie.”

* *

“Dad?”

“Yes, Rafe.”

“You do remember that Lane will be sixteen
next week, don’t you?”

“Oh, hell, that’s right. I need to talk to
her about a car, I guess.”

“Yeah, I thought I’d better say something.
She probably wouldn’t have nerve enough to tell you herself even if
you forgot. I think she’s pretty intimidated by you.”

“But I don’t intimidate you, Rafe?”

“Yeah, Dad, you intimidate me too, but I
guess I’m more driven when I want something.”

Renny sighed. “Well, here’s what’s probably
going to happen, Son. She’s going to ask you to ask me if you can
take her looking for cars but the answer is no. She’ll go with me
or not at all. So you tell her that when she comes begging you to
be her front man. Got it, Rafe?”

“Got it.”

*

“Rafe?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think Dad would let you take me to
look for a car?”

“No, he already told me he won’t. Lane, I
know being with Dad stresses you out but if you want a car, you’re
just going to have to stiffen your backbone and go with him. He
won’t eat you, Honey.”

“He just makes me so nervous.”

“Here’s what you need to do, Lane. Know
basically what you want before you go. He doesn’t have a lot of
patience with dithering. Don’t tell him you don’t know or you don’t
care.”

“What kind of car do you think I should
get?”

“I don’t know, Lane. Have you seen anything
you like?”

“Dawn has a Malibu. Hers is used but I like
it. It’s not big but it’s not small. I think it’s pretty.”

“You definitely want a car and not an SUV or
a truck?”

“Yes, I want a car.”

“Well, then tell him all that. Tell him
you’re thinking of a Malibu. He might take you to look at some
other models too to make sure that’s what you like best. If it is,
stick to it.”

*

He called her into the study. It was a place
she could only remember being in maybe three times in her whole
life. All the kids had always known this room was off-limits to
them when Renny wasn’t there unless they asked permission to do
something specific, like get one of the guns out of the gun safe.
The long wall across from the doorway was broken by a bank of
windows surrounded by bookcases. The windows looked out over a
flowered green lawn dotted with trees, stables farther off in the
distance. At one end of the room was the ornate walnut fireplace
with the family portrait above (sans Rafe and Lane), fronted by a
cinnamon colored leather sofa and two burgundy club chairs. At the
other end, was Renny’s impressive mahogany desk. The room also
contained, in addition to the gun safe, curio cabinets filled with
Vincennes memorabilia - a pair of dueling pistols that had belonged
to Jean-Paul, Renny’s great great grandfather, military medals
awarded to past Vincennes soldiers, mementos from family travels
far and wide. Hanging on the walls were pictures and framed
certificates and other documents, like a letter sent home from the
Civil War after Manassas by Alain Vincennes. It was a masculine
room characterized by fine wood paneling and colored in brown and
burgundy and forest green.

“Come on in, Lane, and have a seat
there.”

She took one of the two chairs in front of
the desk. She reminded herself that all her brothers and sisters
had to go through this same routine before they got their cars and
so far as she knew, they all emerged whole. Renny was even able to
talk Dad into his Corvette and she didn’t want anything so
expensive as that!

Her father smiled. “Relax, Lane. I’m not an
ogre. You don’t have to be afraid of me.”

“I never thought of you being an ogre, Dad,
more like God.”

He chuckled. “Well, if I’m God, then I’m in
my “Lord giveth” mode today. Tell me what you’re thinking in the
way of a vehicle.”

Remembering Rafe’s advice, she tried to sound
decisive. “Well, I don’t know a lot about cars but I’m leaning
toward a Malibu. My friend, Dawn, has one and I like it. I don’t
want a tiny car but I don’t want a huge one either and the Malibu
is in the middle. I don’t care about it being super-fast. I want
something that is comfortable to drive. I just want a basic, nice
car, you know?”

“Well, I have to say that you’re more easily
satisfied than your brother. Why don’t we go around and take a look
at some other cars that are similar to the Malibu to see if you
find anything you like better. If not, then a Malibu is certainly
doable.”

Realizing that, of course, it was his own
damn fault his youngest daughter was so in awe of him since he’d
made so little effort to pay her any attention, he made that effort
now, extending himself to win her over. Someone had once said about
Renny that he could “charm the shine off a new pair of shoes” and
Lane was certainly easier than that.

*

“He took me out to lunch at Jepson’s and then
we spent most of the afternoon going to dealerships looking at
cars. In the end, I still liked the Malibu the best. (The mint
green Malibu now sat in its spot in the garage next to the ‘Vette).
He was really nice, Rafe. He explained all about different options
to me and talked about when all the older kids were little and how
him and Mom met and fell in love. He told me he was proud of me.
You were right about him knowing more. I thought he barely knew I
existed but he knew all about my grades and the Cheer Squad and
writing for the Scribe and even about Cal.”

“I told you he wasn’t as bad as you
thought….as long as you never cross him. Just be careful what you
say about us, Lane. He can interrogate you without you even
realizing it’s happening and he can solve a puzzle from the
smallest clues.”

“We didn’t even talk about you, Rafe. He just
asked how I was getting along without you and I said fine.” She
made a face.

* *

The fan club was beginning to get attention
(there were 24 members now). In one of the towns where Rafe raced,
the newspaper featured them in an article (naturally, they didn’t
tell everything about the club in that interview) with a big
picture of Rafe surrounded by all the girls in their “we ‘heart’
Rafe” teeshirts. The Benedict Sentinal picked it up. “Local Driver
Rates his own Fan Club”. It went on to say that “Rafe Vincennes
hasn’t quite hit the big time yet in motorsports though he seems to
be well on his way, but he does have something that is usually
reserved for only the best-known drivers, his own fan club.
Vincennes, who graduated from Benedict High year before last and is
currently attending Princeton University…..blah, blah, blah.”

*

At the annual Benedict Consolidated School
District conference, Linda Dee had bought a newspaper to read at
breakfast. When she saw the picture, she hit the ceiling. She
passed it around to the others, saying, “if you want to see
something disgusting, look at this, this travesty!” She moaned, “am
I going to spend the rest of my life having my nose rubbed in Rafe
Vincennes?”

A sadder but wiser Melanie Britt looked at
the picture and remembered. She was fully prepared to become Mrs.
Stark in June but still, even now if Rafe happened to drop by, she
wasn’t sure she’d have the strength of will to resist.

Jeb Kroner felt a stirring of envy. Rafe
Vincennes seemed to lead a charmed life, surely it was a life every
man dreamed of but so few were ever able to bring to reality. He
wondered how many women had been part of Rafe’s harem by now.

Rhonda Fisher worked at keeping the fond
smile from her face, for Linda Dee’s sake. There was something
perverse inside her that admired Rafe’s outlaw qualities.

“Someone told me years ago that Rafe
Vincennes would leave school and we’d all just forget him but I
don’t think we’ll ever be allowed to do that, do you?” Miss Dee
asked them.

One by one, they shook their heads no, they
didn’t think so either.

* *

The racing season was over for Rafe. It was
almost time to return to Princeton. Chester watched him say
good-bye to the Fan Club (now 22 members strong). One by one, they
all gave him a hug and a big kiss, all promising to return when he
did next summer.

After Rafe went back to school, the women got
together for a final good-bye until next year. During the course of
it, they ingested quite a lot of adult beverages. They thought it
was a kick to get in the pool with their teeshirts on, then have a
photo taken of all of them with the “I ‘heart” Rafe” clinging
revealingly to their bra-less breasts . They made enlarged copies
for themselves and sent one to Rafe at school via e-mail. Just for
fun, they sent another to Chester who posted it on the bulletin
board in his office where it became the source of much interest to
drivers, staff and vendors alike. Rafe moved his copy in his “save”
folder but didn’t give it much thought after that.

~ ~ ~

About six weeks after he got back to
Princeton, Rafe received a request/command from Professor Helene
Barnes via e-mail to come to her office the next evening at 7:00.
He wondered what it meant. He’d heard from some of the girls that
she regularly preached against them ever going with him. He
certainly didn’t take now, or ever intend to take, any of her
Women’s Studies courses. As far as he knew, he’d never even met
her. Whatever she wanted, it probably wasn’t to strew rose petals
in his path.

Walking to her building the next night, he
was looking forward to this get-together. Rafe liked challenges and
Ms Barnes just might prove to be one. He was familiar with the
strategy employed by superiors such as bosses and teachers to make
the pecking order clear at the beginning of a meeting like this
one. Typically, the inferior knocked on a door, to be summonsed in
by their better, who then proceeded to order them to take a
particular chair while they themselves assumed the authority
position behind the desk. Rafe intended to disrupt that strategy.
When he rapped on the door and heard Helene call out for him to
come in, he rattled the knob as if it wouldn’t open.

“What the….,” she muttered. He grinned when
he heard her heels clicking on the hardwood floor.