“Slim.”
Rusty groaned. “Tell her everything, why don’t you?”
As if taking up the suggestion, Slim told Bitsy, “They tried to pull me into their car a few weeks ago.”
“What for?”
Rusty said, “What do you think, dipshit?”
“Cut it out,” Slim told him.
To Bitsy, he said, “You better not breathe a word of this to Mom or Dad.”
“I won’t.”
“Sure you won’t.”
Turning toward me, Slim said, “I’m not so sure anymore.”
“About going?”
“Yeah. It’s bad enough, Stryker and his gang. But now these guys. It’s getting a little too creepy.”
Rusty went into his chicken impression, tucking his hands under his armpits, flapping his elbows up and down and going, “Bwok-bwok-bwok-bwok! ”
“Up yours,” Slim told him.
“Meow!”
“Shut up,” I warned.
“I think maybe we’d better call it off,” Slim said.
“No!”
“Yeah,” I said. “I wanta see the Vampire Show as much as anyone, but it isn’t worth getting killed over.”
“Well, I’m going. You guys wanta chicken out, that’s your problem. Fuck ya. And the horse y’rode in on.” He jammed an open hand toward Slim. “Gimme one a those tickets.”
“You don’t want to go by yourself.” Slim said.
“Oh, no? Y’wanta bet?”
“Hey, man,” I said.
“Go to hell.”
“Let’s just all go back to the car and get out of here,” Slim said. “We can go to the drive-in.”
Rusty shook his head. “Not me. I’m going to the Traveling Vampire Show ... with or without the rest of you chicken-shit pussies.”
“You want to go, go.” Slim jammed a ticket into his hand. “No skin off my butt.”
“Thanks,” Rusty muttered.
“It isn’t worth it,” I told him.
“I’m not scared.”
“The hell you aren’t.”
Slim said to him, “You don’t have to prove anything.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, you do,” I said.
“Fraid not.”
“Yeah, right.”
He gave me the finger, then headed for the dirt road.
I muttered, “Damn it.”
“You’d better go with him,” Slim said.
“Huh?”
She called out, “Rusty, wait! Dwight’s going with you.”
“I am?”
Rusty stopped and turned around. “You coming?” he asked.
“Just a minute,” Slim called. To me, she said, “We can’t let him go by himself.”
“Sure we can.”
She shook her head. “Besides, what about Lee?”
Lee had temporarily slipped my mind.
“Whether that was Lee in the pickup or not,” Slim said, “she’ll probably turn up at the show sooner or later and she’s expecting us to be there.”
“She can hook up with Rusty,” I said. It sounded feeble even to me.
“Suppose the Cadillac twins decide to go after her?”
Grimacing, I nodded. “Yeah,” I muttered. “Maybe I’d better go. I don’t want to, but...”
“Duty calls,” Slim said. In the dim grayness of the forest, she seemed to smile at me. “Anyway,” she added, “I know you want to see the Vampire Show.”
“Don’t you wanta see it?”
She shook her head. “Not hardly. Look, you go to the show and take care of Rusty. I don’t think the Cadillac twins are likely to bother you guys if I’m not with you. They might not even recognize you. So just go on ahead. Find Lee. Enjoy the show. Bitsy and I’ll wait for you in the car.”
“I don’t know,” I muttered.
“Yes, you do.”
“What if something happens to you and Bitsy?”
“We’ll be fine. The car’s well hidden. It’ll be a hell of a lot safer for us than going to the Vampire Show, I know that much.”
“Maybe you should drive on home.”
She shook her head. “We’ll wait.”
“We’ll wait,” echoed Bitsy.
“Here’s your ticket,” Slim said. She held it out for me.
As I took it, she stepped in against me. She put an arm around my back, pressed her slender body against mine and kissed me. I felt the warmth of her belly, the soft push of her breasts, the gentle pressure of her lips. But only for a moment. Easing away from me, she whispered, “Be careful.”