The Traveling Vampire Show(20)

 

Then one day I crashed.

 

For some reason, Lee wasn’t wearing a bra that day. Maybe they were all in the wash. Maybe she was too hot. Who knows? Whatever the reason, I noticed it the moment she walked out of her house. Nothing showed through her bright red blouse, but her breasts seemed to be moving about more than usual. They were loose underneath the blouse, no doubt about it.

 

After noticing that, I tried to keep my eyes away from her chest as much as possible.

 

Maybe ten minutes later, I was driving along a narrow road through the woods, Lee in the passenger seat, when I finally just had to look.

 

I glanced over at her.

 

Between two buttons of her blouse, the fabric was pursed like vertical, parted lips. Looking in, I could see the side of her right breast. Her bare breast, smooth and pale in the shadows. Not very much of it actually showed—a crescent maybe half an inch wide, at most.

 

But much too much.

 

All of a sudden, I couldn’t hear a word Lee was saying. I kept steering us along the road, smiling and nodding and turning my head to look at her—first at her face to make sure she wasn’t watching me, then at the curve of her exposed breast.

 

I felt breathless and hard and guilty.

 

But I couldn’t stop myself.

 

Suddenly, she yelled, “Watch out!” and flung her hands out to grab the dashboard.

 

My eyes jerked forward in time to see a deer straight ahead of us. I swerved and the deer bounded out of the way and I missed it just fine. But then I couldn’t come out of the turn fast enough. I took out a speed limit sign.

 

We weren’t hurt, though.

 

Next thing I knew, Lee and I were standing side by side in front of the truck, looking at its smashed headlight.

 

“I’m really sorry,” I said.

 

“That’s okay, honey,” she said. “These things happen.”

 

“Danny’s gonna kill me.”

 

She patted me on the back and said, “No, he won’t. We’ll just keep this between the two of us.”

 

“But he’ll see the damage.”

 

“Let’s you and I just forget you had a driving lesson today. Danny’ll think I’m the one who crashed. That’ll suit him just fine, anyway.” She smiled at me. “You know how he loves to whine about ‘women drivers.’ ”

 

“I can’t let you take the blame,” I protested.

 

“I insist.”

 

“But...”

 

“If he finds out you did it, he’ll tease you to death and he’ll broadcast it to everyone he knows. You don’t need that.” Then, giving my shoulder a friendly squeeze, she added, “Besides, it’s my truck. If I say I was driving it, I was.”

 

Lee never told on me.

 

For the next week or so, Danny had a lot of fun at her expense. I was tempted to confess, but then everybody would’ve known Lee had lied. That would’ve made things worse all the way around.

 

Anyway, that’s the kind of woman Lee was. I could count on her to help me retrieve Slim and Rusty, and she wouldn’t blab about it.

 

I just hoped she’d be home.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Nine

 

 

I stayed fairly calm most of the way to Lee’s house, but the sight of her pickup truck in the driveway turned me into a nervous wreck.

 

She’s home!

 

I felt a lurch of panic.

 

Even under the best conditions, I sometimes chickened out about visiting Lee. That may seem strange, since we were such great friends. But you’ve got to understand how beautiful and special she was. As much as I liked being with her, I hated the idea of intruding on her. I wanted her never to think of me as a nuisance.

 

I didn’t much want her to see me shirtless and sweaty and filthy, either.

 

All of a sudden, I changed my mind about asking for Lee’s help. Instead of heading for her front door, I kept on walking.

 

Maybe I would just go home. If I told Mom the truth, she would take me out to Janks Field. Then she’d tell Dad all about it, and he ...

 

“Dwight?”

 

My heart jumped. I turned my head and saw Lee in the doorway, holding the screen door open.

 

“Oh, hi,” I called as if surprised to find her in this neck of the woods. “What’re you walking away for?” she asked.

 

I stopped. “I’m not”

 

“How about a Coke?”

 

I shrugged. “Okay. Thanks.” I hurried across her front lawn.

 

She stood there, holding the door and watching me, a look on her face as if she knew everything but considered it more fun to play ignorant.

 

Not dressed for company, she was wearing an old blue chambray shirt—probably one of Danny’s. The sleeves were rolled halfway up her forearms and the top couple of buttons weren’t fastened. Her shirt wasn’t tucked into anything. (Maybe she wore nothing it could be tucked into.) Her legs were bare, and she didn’t have on any shoes or socks.