Illusion of Luck

by Robert Burton Robinson

  “It’s 18E. Thank you so much.” She was careful to make her smile friendly, but platonic.

  He got up and began to walk toward his new seat. She sat down next to Crow.

  Then the man came back. “Forgot my headphones.” And before she could get them for him, he reached to the floor, rubbing his arm against her smooth, firm calf. Then he slid his hand across the top of her thigh and unplugged the wire from the armrest. “Thanks.”

  In her mind, she slapped him so hard that he tumbled to the back of the plane and bowled over a couple of flight attendants. But he had given up his seat for her, so she smiled and told him he was welcome.

  Chaucey turned to Crow and whispered, “So, what were you planning to do—just walk up and strangle him? Or maybe you were gonna knock him down and bang his head on the pavement until it split open and his brains fell out. Is that your plan?”

  “No…”

  “You took off work and hopped on a plane without telling me anything. And your dad thinks the two of us are on some kind of lovers’ retreat. What have you been telling your parents?”

  “Not that much really.”

  “Look, this guy is bad news. You could get yourself killed messing with him. What were you thinking?

  “I was thinking that I can’t stand for that cockroach to be running around free after what he did to you.”

  “Cockroach, huh?”

  Crow couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

  “This is nuts, Crow. He’ll never bother me again. So, just forget about it.”

  “But what about Greg Tenorly? And his wife—that redhead at the motel? I called Disney World and found out where they’re staying. I wanted to warn them. But they’re not answering the phone.”

  “Okay. When we get to Orlando we’ll try calling them again. If there’s still no answer, we’ll go to their room and tell them in person.”

  “Good.”

  “And then we’ll catch a flight back home. And you will NOT, under any circumstances, go after Barry Undermine. Right?”

  “I guess.”

  “No. You’ve got to promise.”

  She was waiting for him to say something, but what he really wanted to do was to kiss her. “Fine.”

  **********

  Delta Flight 1595 would begin boarding any minute. Sandy and Rebecca had just arrived in Atlanta thirty minutes earlier. He sat in the waiting area, watching for her to come out of the bathroom. Just five minutes of separation, and he was already missing her.

  When she came out and walked toward Sandy, he studied her carefully. What was it about her that made him want to be with her so much?

  A little girl was trying to catch up with her mother and siblings when she tripped and fell down and began to cry. Rebecca rushed to her side and reassured her until the mother could take over.

  She smiled and said ‘hi’ to an old man who looked like he didn’t have one friend in the world. Almost instantly the man had more spring in his step.

  How could a woman be so tough and blunt, yet so kind and loving?

  Sandy grinned at her. “Everything come out alright?”

  She punched him hard in the arm and sat down beside him. “You don’t really think Larry is in Orlando, do you?”

  “I hope not, but it’s possible. With the police after him, he’d have to be crazy.”

  “But, as we know…”

  “Yeah. He iscrazy.”

  “Did you try calling Greg again?”

  “Yeah. His cell phone is still off. But I left a message on their room phone.”

  “I thought you were afraid that leaving a message about Larry would spoil their honeymoon?”

  “Well, after a little more thought I figured Cynthia disappearing again would spoil it even more. And Greg would kill me if that happened and I hadn’t even tried to warn him.”

  “So, we’ll go warn them about Larry—and then what?”

  “I don’t know. Grab a room somewhere and—“

  “—wait a second. Grab aroom? As in a single room for the two of us?”

  “Sure. Why not? No sense in paying for two.”

  “Okay. Now I see what this trip is really about.”

  “We can get twobeds, if you like.”

  “If I like?”

  “Strike that. We will get two beds. Okay?”

  “Right. One to put our luggage on and the other for you to put yourselfon me.”

  He smiled slightly. “No, not at all.”

  “You dog,” she snarled, but only half-seriously.

  “Yes, I ama dog. I’ll admit it. And as such, I will jump your bones at any time of the day or night. But onlyif you want me to. I’m a gentlemandog.”

  “Really? A gentleman dog. Now I’ve heard everything.”

  “And I know many commands, such as ‘stay,’ ‘fetch,’ ‘rollover,’ and ‘pounce.’”

  “Pounce. Is that the one where you—“

  “—yes. So, don’t say it now, in front of all these people.” He grinned.

  “Sandy, you are one sick puppy.”

  He laughed. He certainly was one sick puppy. And he was in puppy love. Or maybe even peoplelove.

  **********

  Sandy and Rebecca stopped off at the restrooms and then headed for Disney’s Magical Express. Their plane had landed at 5:38 PM—right on schedule. The free bus ride would deliver them to Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, where Greg and Cynthia were staying.

  “Won’t be long now. It’s only 35 minutes,” said Sandy.

  Then they saw the lines.

  Rebecca said, “Yeah—once we actually get on a bus.”

  They had been standing in line for just a few minutes when she noticed Sandy staring at the most beautiful woman in the room. “Why don’t you take a picture?”

  “I think I know her—and him. But I can’t place them.”

  Rebecca took a closer look. “That can’t be Chaucey Reed.”

  “Yes! That’s it. And that’s her neighbor.”

  “Or boyfriend.”

  “Nah. Hecouldn’t be a boyfriend,” said Sandy.

  “I wonder if they’re here for Larry. Let’s go find out.”

  Before Sandy could try to stop her, she was ducking under roped aisles to get there. He followed her, feeling guilty all the way, knowing that at any moment some tired, irate vacationer with four young kids would holler, “Hey, you! No breaking in line, Buddy!”

  “Thanks for saving our place, Sis.”

  When Chaucey felt the arm around her shoulder, she nearly elbowed Rebecca. But she recognized the face from somewhere. And the guy seemed familiar too.

  Rebecca spoke more softly. “We’re Greg and Cynthia’s friends. We were with Greg the other night at your apartment.”

  “Oh, yeah. So, that’s her name—Cynthia.”

  “What are you guys doing here?”

  “Crow read Barry’s latest chapter and thought he had come here to Disney World.”

  “Yeah,” said Rebecca. “That’s the reason we’re here too.”

  “Barry’s gonna be sorry he ever messed with Chaucey,” said Crow.

  Sandy said, “By the way, his real name is Larry. Larry Luzor.”

  “How appropriate,” said Chaucey.

  “Yeah,” said Rebecca. “But it’s spelled L-u-z-o-r.”

  “I don’t care how you spell it,” said Crow. “I just want to teach him a lesson he’ll never forget.”

  Chaucey grabbed him by the arms and made him look her in the eyes. “You mean you want to catch him and hand him over to the police. Right, Crow?”

  “Okay. Fine.”

  Rebecca whispered into Crow’s ear. “Yeah, and while we’re waiting for the police to come, I’ll give him a swift kick in the groin.”

  Crow pictured it and grinned.

  Chapter37

  It was nearly 7:00 PM. Greg and Cynthia had spent the entire day at Disney-MGM Studios.

  “You still want to do room service for dinner?” He opened the door to their
room.

  “Yeah. That sounds fine. But I’m not very hungry right now.”

  “I understand.” He smiled slyly. “We’ll play around for a while. That’ll work up an appetite.”

  “Actually, I don’t want to play around right now.”

  Was she kidding? It was only the second day, he thought. She can’t be bored with sex already.

  Cynthia put her arms around him, pulled him close and looked deep into his eyes. “I don’t want to play around. I want to get serious.”

  “Okay…I’ll try to do better. Just tell me what you want, Baby.”

  “No, Silly. You’re doing just fine. Perfect, in fact.”

  “Then, I don’t get what you’re talking about.”

  “I want to have your baby.”

  Greg gulped. “Well, I want to have your baby too—I mean, I want to have a baby with you too.”

  She smiled. “No protection tonight.”

  “No argument here.” Greg was ready. Morethan ready. “But I thought you wanted to wait a while to have kids.”

  “I thought so too. But then I realized today that there’s no reason to wait.”

  “Really? When did that happen—during the Beauty and the Beast show? Were you thinking that even though I’m a beast we can still live happily ever after and our children will turn out okay? Or, did you figure it out when we were free falling in the Tower of Terror? Maybe you realized life is short, so better have the kids now—before we get in a freak elevator accident.”

  She stuck out her tongue and then smiled. “I don’t know. I guess I was being cautious because my first marriage failed, and I wanted to be sure. But you’re no Troy. I was so glad I didn’t have kids with him. But, now I’m ready. No doubts. I want Greg Tenorly to be the father of my children.”

  “Children?”

  “Two kids—like we talked about.”

  “Yeah. A boy and a girl would be great.”

  “Or maybe three or four.”

  “Whoa. Three or four? I don’t remember talking about that.”

  “Well, that’s just a contingency—you know, in case we don’t get a boy and a girl with the first two.”

  “So, do you have any kind of limitin mind, Mama Tenorly?”

  “Limit?”

  “Yeah. Suppose we have four boys and you still want a girl. What’s the cutoff number? Six? Eight?”

  “It wouldn’t take that many tries…surely.”

  Greg looked as if he had just watched a monster truck demolish his prized 1965 Bonneville. His libido had suddenly been rendered undriveable. How would they support that many kids? How old would they be when the last one finished college?

  “It’s okay, Sweetie,” she said. “We don’t have to think that far into the future.”

  His head was nodding along numbly in agreement.

  “We definitely want to have at least one child, right?”

  “Yeah.” He seemed to be coming back to the present.

  “So, let’s just think about that one child when we make love tonight.”

  “Okay.” The juices were beginning to flow again. “I can do that.” He began to smile.

  “Great. So, why don’t you go ahead and take your shower? I’m dying of thirst. I’m gonna go fill up our ice bucket. You want a soft drink?”

  “No, thanks. Ice water sounds great.”

  Cynthia walked out with the ice bucket.

  Greg went into the bathroom. He turned on the shower and began to undress, thinking about the prospect of several little redheaded girls running around the house. They would be so cute.

  “Daddy, could we please go to Dairy Queen tonight?”

  How would he ever be able to resist them? He’d say ‘Yes’ to everything. But that would be okay, because Cynthia would say ‘No’ when necessary.

  “Daddy, will you buy me a car?”

  “Dad, I want to go to Harvard.”

  Ouch. But they would be so sweet—just like their mommy.

  And what about boys? He could roll around on the floor with them, play football in the yard, and practice throwing a baseball. Gee—they would want cars and college too. But it would be nice to have at least one of each. A sweet little girl with long, shiny red hair and a cute, but tough, little boy with…

  Greg frowned at his balding head in the mirror. Well, maybe the boy would have his mother’shair.

  **********

  Cynthia pushed the button, and ice cubes began to rumble out of the machine into her bucket.

  “How did you do on the Tower of Terror?”

  It was the young hippie-looking man with a ponytail from earlier in the day. He was putting money in the Coke machine.

  “Oh. We did fine. In fact, it was my favorite ride of the day.”

  An older gentleman walked up behind Cynthia with his ice bucket and stepped up to the machine when she was finished.

  “So, you didn’t get queasy at all?”

  “Nope.” Enough small talk with this guy. She had a horny husband waiting for her. “Well, nice to see you again.” She walked away.

  Halfway back to the room Cynthia heard the young man calling to her, so she stopped and turned around.

  “I think you dropped this.” He held out a twenty-dollar bill. “I found it on the floor by the ice machine.”

  What was that odd scent—his cologne? It seemed familiar to her. “No, it can’t be mine. I didn’t have any money with me. But thanks.” She started to turn.

  He grabbed her arm and whispered into her ear. “I’ve got a gun in my pocket, so do exactly as I say, Cynthia.”

  She jumped back a bit.

  “Easy.”

  Pipe tobacco. Larry’s pipe tobacco—that’s what she was smelling. He looked so different without the beard.

  “I don’t want to kill you, but I will if I have to. Because if I can’t have you, nobody can.”

  Their door was twenty feet away. Why hadn’t she walked faster or just ignored the pony-tailed man? There were probably a dozen or so people in the lobby below. They would hear her cries for help. But would she be dead by the time anyone could get to her?

  **********

  Greg finished drying off, and looked through the new sleepwear Cynthia had bought for him. He picked out a pair of red silk boxers with an industrial-looking label across the front that said ‘Warning: Highly Flammable.’

  As he walked out of the bathroom, he heard someone knocking on the door.

  “I hope you remember the password,” he said in a loud singsong voice. Holding in his stomach and flexing his muscles, he would model his new boxers for her.

  But when he flung the door open, he was shocked to see Sandy and Rebecca. And Chaucey Reed and some guy—maybe her friend from the other night. “What are y’all doing here?” He stepped back, grabbed his robe, and put it on.

  Sandy laughed. “It’s a funny story, Man.”

  “Well, come in for minute.” As happy as he was to see his old buddy, he had more pressing matters—like pressing himself up against his wife, thank you very much. But he would not be rude—as long as they left soon.

  Rebecca said, “So, are y’all having a good time?”

  “Oh, sure. We spent the day at Disney-MGM, and rode all the rides and saw most of the shows.”

  “Which park are y’all going to tomorrow?” said Sandy.

  “EPCOT, I think.”

  “Rebecca and I might be there too.”

  “Really?” Greg was beginning to think he had missed a lot of what went on between his friend and Rebecca while they were looking for Cynthia.

  “Yeah. And we could meet up with y’all for lunch and a couple of rides. If it’s okay with you.”

  “Sure.”

  Rebecca jumped in. “But we don’t want to impose.”

  “No, no,” said Greg. “That would be fine.”

  Sandy noticed the red light flashing on the hotel room phone.

  Greg saw the concern in his eyes. “What?”

  “Have you listened to
any of your messages?”

  “No. We just got back to the room about fifteen minutes ago.”

  “So, then you don’t know about Larry?”

  “What? Did the police catch him?”

  “No.” Sandy had assumed, and was hoping, that Cynthia was in the bathroom. “Greg, where is Cynthia?”

  “She went to get some ice. Wonder what’s taking her so long?”

  Sandy’s face went from concerned to panicked. “Greg, we think Larry might be here in Orlando.”

  Greg ran out the door and down the hallway. The four visitors followed him. When he got to the ice machine, he began to freak out.

  “Check every hallway, every floor! I’m going to the parking lot! We cannot let him get away!”

  Chapter38

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “To our little love nest,” said Larry, as he shifted into third gear.

  Cynthia could only hope that Greg was following the Jaguar.

  “You know the police are looking for you.”

  “Well, I wish them good luck. Because they’re gonna need it.”

  “You understand that I don’t want to be with you.”

  “Yes. You’ve made that very clear.”

  “Then what are you planning to do? Are going to rape me, Larry? I really thought you were more of a man than to do something like that.”

  “Save your breath, Honey. Psychology won’t work on me.”

  “So, is that all this is about?”

  “It doesn’t matter what you say, Cynthia. Whether you’re a willing participant or not, it’s gonna happen. And I’ll rememberit the way I want to.”

  “You’re sick, Larry. You really do need help.”

  “No, you’ve got it all wrong. I’m not sick. Remember? I’m lucky. Lucky Larry.” He laughed.

  “How can you still think you’re lucky? I got away from you once already.”

  “But now I have you back. I have the love of my life.”

  “I’ll never love you.”

  “Sure you will. Tonight you’ll do a strip tease for me and beg me to get undressed. Then you’ll tell me how much you love me over and over again, as you satisfy me in every way. It will be the night of our dreams, Baby.”

  There had to be a way out of this mess, she thought. “And then what? You’ll just let me go?”

  “That’s the plan. If you do everything I ask you to do, you’ll be back with Greg by morning.”