“How much?” I asked.
“Don’t bet, you guys,” Slim said. “Somebody’ll end up losing....”
“Yeah,” Rusty said. “He will. You wanta go in with me?”
“You’ve gotta be kidding,” Slim said.
“Come on. You’re always loaded.”
“That’s’cause I don’t squander my money foolishly.”
“But this is a sure thing.”
“How do you figure that?” Slim asked.
“Easy. This Traveling Vampire Show? Valeria’s the main attraction, right?”
“Sounds like she’s the only attraction,” I threw in.
“And we all know it’s bullshit, right? I mean, she’s no more a vampire than I am. So she has to be gorgeous or you’d end up without any customers. I mean, you might be able to get away with having her be a fake vampire. Nobody’s gonna expect a real one of those, anyway. But.
“Some people might,” I broke in.
“Nobody with half a brain,” he said.
“I’m not so sure of that,” Slim said.
We both stared at her.
“Maybe vampires do exist,” she said, a sparkle of mischief in her eyes.
“Get real,” Rusty said.
“Can you prove they don’t?”
“Why would I wanta prove that? Everybody knows they don’t exist.”
“Not me,” said Slim.
“Bullshit.” He turned to me. “What about you, Dwight?”
“I’m with Slim.”
“Big surprise. ”
“She’s smarter than both of us put together,” I said. Then I blushed because of the way she looked at me. “Well, you are.”
“Nah. I just read a lot. And I like to keep my mind open.” Smiling at Rusty, she added, “It’s easy to have an open mind since I’ve only got half a brain.”
“I didn’t mean you,” he said. “But I’m starting to wonder.”
“To set your mind at ease, I doubt very much that Valeria is a vampire. I suppose there’s a remote possibility, but it seems highly unlikely.”
“Now you’re talking.”
“I also agree that, since she probably isn’t a vampire, she’d better be beautiful.”
Rusty beamed. “So, you want to back my bet?”
“Can’t. You’ll need someone to take a good, objective look at her and decide who wins. That’d better be me. I’ll decide the winner.”
“Fine with me,” I said.
“I guess that’ll be okay,” said Rusty.
“Don’t look so worried,” Slim told him.
“Well, you always take Dwight’s side about everything.”
“Only when his side is the ‘right’ side. And I have a feeling that you might win this one.”
“Thanks a lot,” I told her.
“But I promise to be fair.”
“I know,” I said.
“So what’re we gonna wager?” Rusty asked me.
“How much money do you want to lose?” I asked him.
I wasn’t very confident about winning, anymore. He’d made a pretty good argument; if Valeria isn’t a vampire, she has to be beautiful or there’d be no show. But I saw a hole in his case.
Valeria didn’t have to be a real vampire for the show to work. She didn’t need to be incredibly gorgeous, either. The Traveling Vampire Show might be successful anyway ... if it . was really and truly exciting or scary.
“Let’s leave money out of the wager,” Slim suggested. “Suppose the loser has to do something gross?”
Rusty grinned. “Like kiss the winner’s ass?”
“Something along those lines.”
I frowned at Rusty. “I’m not kissing your ass.”
“It doesn’t have to be that,” Slim said.
“How about the loser kisses hers?” He nodded at Slim. Her ass? The loser?
Slim’s face went red. “Nobody’s kissing my ass. Or my anything else, for that matter.”
“There goes my next idea,” Rusty said, and laughed. He could be a pretty crude guy.
“Why don’t we just forget the whole thing?” I suggested.
“Chicken,” Rusty said. “You just know you’re gonna lose.”
“We might not even get to see her.”
“If we can’t see her,” Slim said, “the wager’s off.”