by Mae Argilan
"What house?"
"Where my grandparents live." He stared through the stark treetops, then shut his eyes. "I’m so tired. I could sleep for a week."
"I know."
"At least you got a nap." He smiled at her.
"Ha, ha, funny man. I wouldn’t be bringing that up again, if I were you. Gosh, my feet are cold."
He picked her up, and carried her to the car. She slid across the back seat, and he got in beside her.
"Come on," she said. "I'll be your pillow. Just don't get used to it."
They peeled off their wet pants. He laid his head on her lap, and she covered them both with her coat.
"Roll over, away from me," she said.
"I have to snuggle into my pillow." He snaked his arm around her, and fingered her button flap. "I could never resist a woman in uniform."
"And they sayI'm weird," she said.
"That's what I'm counting on. Need some help getting out of that?"
"Where's that gun?"
He held his hands apart. "Frisk me. I'll give you a hint. It's in my shorts."
She laughed. "I thought you were just glad to see me."
"No way. That's a concealed weapon, I swear."
"Sh," Glenn said, and laid her hand on his head. "Go to sleep."
For the first time in months she drifted into slumber without the sight of Bobby’s tortured face popping up under her eyelids. She was asleep, just like that. Her thought factory shut down. Little dream-helpers carried picket signs that called for an immediate end of operations. Production of thoughts was outlawed. A cease-and-desist order was issued to all memory cells. And then, some scab sneaked across the line, and threw the switch. The machinery steamed into production, and the usual nightmare was manufactured, and dumped into her brain.
Glenn reared up, and smashed herself against the window. She scratched for the door handle, but couldn't claw it open. She swatted the glass with her open palm. It wouldn't go away. Then, she found the handle, and threw her weight against the door.
"Whoa," Geoff said.
The tunnel wall stopped her. The door wouldn't open more than six inches. Maybe she could squeeze out. She detected the scent of freedom, and was sure that if she wriggled hard enough she’d surface. Geoff’s hands hooked around her hips, and reeled her onto his lap. She flopped on her belly, and tried to swim past him to the other door. He held on. She writhed, and twitched, and gasped for air. She sat up, and fumbled for her clothing. Unable to locate her pants, she ran her hands over her face, then squinted at the window for signs of daylight. She tried to see out another window, but it was fogged. She continued the search for her pants.
Geoff reached for her. "You're embarrassed," he said. "I don't believe it."
"Am not," she said. "I'm frustrated because I can't find my stupid clothes."
"I've got ‘em."
She looked at him. "Give ‘em here."
"Not until you admit you're embarrassed."
"Puh-lease. What do I have to be embarrassed about?"
"Nothing. But, youare embarrassed. It's cute."
"Gee, Geoff, do you suppose you could be a little bit more annoying? I haven't completely lost all will to live." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I need a drink." She cranked the window down, and felt the air on her face.
"If you're not embarrassed, why are you avoiding me?"
"I'm not. I’m trying to forget." She rolled the window back up, and stared at the water streaks left by the steam. "Bad dreams. It has nothing to do with you, although your ego makes you think it must. Sometimes, I have bad dreams, and it makes me feel weird when I wake up."
"It doesn't make you feel weird to wake up with a half naked man?"
"It would take more than the sight of your boxers to make me run screaming."
"I'm glad to hear it," he said. "Here. Let me hold you. Women like that."
"You have a lot to learn about women. We are not all alike."
"Teach me," Geoff said.
She had to smile. Stretching along the length of him, she tucked her head under his chin. "Why do you want to make me talk about this?"
"It makes me feel close to you."
"You want intimacy? Let’s get real intimate. Tell me your middle name."
"I’ll give you a hint, it starts with ‘C’. And Bobby’s started with a ‘B’."
"I read it somewhere. Robert B. Duncan, B... B."
"Burns. Robert Burns, like the poet," he said.
"Robert Burns, the poet. And, you’re Geoffrey C. Duncan. Clyde, Cecil."
Geoff laughed. "You’ll never guess. What’s your middle name?"
"It starts with an ‘L’."
"The ‘L’ word. It must be Love, Glenda Love."
"No, it’s not Love. There’s no love in me," she said.
"I know. The ‘L’ stands for Lancelot," he said.
"That’s not a girl’s name."
"That’s right, I keep forgetting. You’re a girl." He touched the side of her face. "You have the most amazing eyes. Do you know what I see when I look in them?"
"Shutters?"
"Not when they have that soft sparkle. I see you with a child, a daughter. She has a golden ponytail, and she’s talking a mile a minute. Then, I walk in, and you say something like, ‘it’s about time you got home’. And I, of course, rescue you, pick the little darling up in one arm, and grab you with the other."
"This appeals to you?" Glenn asked.
"This is my dream. To come home to you every day."
"How come in this dream you don’t see me working outside the home?"
"I’ll tell you a secret about men. No matter how evolved we become, no matter how much we want to see our wives succeed, we still want her there when we come home. We go out, and plug away at a job for a boss we hate, day after day. But, it’s all worth it."
"How do you know this? You been married before?"
"My dad told me. After 25 years, he’s still crazy about my mom. That’s what I want, I guess. What they have," Geoff said.
"They have boys. I thought all men wanted boys, clones of themselves."
"You have a lot to learn about men. I want half a dozen girls, the spitting image of you, right down to that temper."
She put her head on his chest, and sighed. "Leigh. My middle name."
"Glenda Leigh. That would sound great with Duncan at the end of it."
"Let’s get something straight. I may marry you, I may even bear that brat pack of yours, but I am not taking on the name of my oppressor," she said.
"Aw, you feeling oppressed again?"
"It’s a matter of principle. Prentiss is my given name, my birth name. Duncan, well, that would be my slave name."
"You’ve been hanging around with Jacqmel too much. I don’t think I’m going to let you two play together any more," Geoff said.
"See what happens? You bear a man’s child, and the next thing you know he’s choosing your friends for you."
"Chaucer," he said, and groaned. "Mymiddle name."
She drew figure eights on his skin with her finger. "It’s grand sounding, but not very human. What was your mother thinking? From now on tell people it’s Cow. Say it like 007. Cow, Geoffrey Cow. And, they’ll laugh, and you’ll give them a fat lip."
"You sure do know how to win friends, and influence people."
"Yeah, it’s a gift." She lay still listening to him breathe. "I hope your parents are all right."
"They’re asleep in a hotel room in Jamaica. Let’s go there on our honeymoon."
She lifted her head. "Are you sure they got there? You saw them leave?"
"I said good-bye to them before I came into town to find you."
"So, you didn’t really want me to write a note to your mom?"
"Not really. But, you were so angry when you saw me, I had to come up with something to put you on the defensive. You did have a baseball bat, remember." He put his arm behind his neck. "What I said about Mom was true, though. And, it was rude of you
to run off like that."
"You saw them get in the car, and leave the house?" Glenn asked.
"You still on that? If you must know, I drove them to the airport."
"But, you didn’t see them get on the plane?"
"Technically, I can only vouch that they made it to the airport terminal an hour before take off. Is it important?"
"I don’t know." She gazed out the window.
"They said they’d call when they got settled. There should be a message on the machine. Let’s go find out."
"That’s not safe," Glenn said.
"You sound sure of that."
"I am." She sat up. "I’ve got to tell you something."
"Come here, and say it." He put his hand on her arm.
"I’d better be on the other side of the car when I tell you this." She pulled her shirt around her. "Promise not to hit me."
"I’d never hit you."
"Geoff!"
"Okay, I promise, cross my heart. I can tell by the look on your face, this is going to be bad." He sat up, and stared at her. "What have you done now?"
"Now remember, I didn’t have any choice. I was forced into it. And, I’m not supposed to tell you about this under any circumstances. I could be executed for treason. So, I’m really taking a big risk confiding in you. Remember that."
"I’m really gonna hate this." He rubbed his eyes with both fists.
"You know the night I came to your house?" She drew her knees under her coat. "I didn’t come for the exact reason that I said I did."
"I knew it. I had a gut feeling," Geoff said.
"I came there," she said, and took a breath. "To bug your house."
14
Glenn watched Geoff get angry, then calm. He made a lunge for her, and she screamed.
"Sh," he said, pulling her to him. "I’m not going to hurt you."
"You’re just saying that."
"No, otherwise I would have grabbed you when I was furious. Now I’m just feeling kinda mean, but if you don’t fight me I’ll be able to control it." He pulled her onto his lap. His arms crisscrossed her, and rested on either side of her neck. "I assume we’re talking about miniature microphones?"
"Remember the overnight case I had with me that night? I put a microphone in the kitchen phone, you know, inside the mouthpiece. I didn’t want to go upstairs, because I was afraid you’d catch me, so I only bugged the downstairs. You know that thermostat on the wall of the family room? There’s one in there. And, one in the front room. They think it’s important to keep an eye on your visitors." She turned her head so she could see his face. "You know that overhead light in the dining room? Light fixtures are risky, because you’re counting on the light bulb not needing to be replaced, but that was the only place high enough."
Geoff stared past her, at the car door. "Up high?"
"That one is a small video camera, with a fisheye lens."
"Camera." Geoff closed his eyes.
Glenn decided not to apologize. She laid her head on his shoulder, and focused on the upholstery of the car roof as she waited for what he was going to do to her.
"Anything else?" He bent his knee, and she felt the strength of his thigh against her ribs.
"I really am just a photographer. All I agreed to do was take pictures of the front and back of the house, but they needed pictures of the interior, to show the exits, all the doors and windows. For protection. Like I said. The AFIB was afraid your family is the target of Arab extremists."
"So, why didn’t they tell us? We would have cooperated."
"You’re asking me to explain government logic. All I know is what they told me: if they had a blueprint of your house, inside and out, they could protect you without alarming you. I agreed to take pictures, that’s all. Then, at the last minute, they handed me this overnight case, and told me the rest."
"Wait a minute. If my mom hadn’t invited you to stay... how did you know she was going to do that?"
"I didn’t, but there wasn’t time to formulate a complicated plan. So, once she asked, I had to go for it. That was supposed to be the end of it. I don’t know how it came to this." She rolled her eyes across the interior of the car, then closed them. "I have to pee."
"What?"
"Let me out, I have to go to the bathroom." She fastened two shirt buttons, and climbed over him, stepping into the frigid water with her bare feet. "Come with me. To keep watch. I’m scared."
She pulled him around the edge of the concrete culvert to the dew-drenched grass.
"The dome light," she said.
"What?"
"The light, the light, the light." She took his arms, and shook him. "The dome light in the car. There’s a camera in it."
Geoff glanced over his shoulder. "Naw, couldn’t be."
"Think about it. What if they let us get away?"
"We got away because we were smart."
She made a face. "Smart? Dressing me up like a cop?"
"You thought it was smart at the time."
"That’s when I thought we had outsmarted them. What did that guard say? Something about them having your car."
"But, he was lying," Geoff said.
"What if he wasn’t?"
Geoff thought about it. "You mean they bugged my car, and let us get away?"
"Think about it."
"That would mean that they," his eyes met hers. "Oh, Glenn, they’ve been watching us?"
She pulled the fabric of her shirt together at the neck. "I’m not saying that. Just suppose. I was thinking. When we get back in the car, I’ll check the dome light. See if there’s a shadow."
"Can they really make cameras that small?"
"Look at the tiny ones they snake through your intestines to look for polyps. No bigger than a pencil eraser."
"This is really creepy. Okay, suppose there is a shadow? What do we do?"
"We have to act like we’re not conscious of it," Glenn said.
"Fat chance. We’re gonna have to ditch the car, no question," Geoff said.
"One more thing. I was going to ask you this before, but I thought it was silly. Did you do something with the tapes? The bag of tapes. I threw them in the back seat. But, when we went back there they were gone. I figured you put them in the trunk when I wasn’t looking. You did, didn’t you?"
"I didn’t put them anywhere. Didn’t we take them to the dorm with us?" he asked.
"No. Tell me you’re joking. You put them in the trunk," Glenn said.
"You think they took the tapes, and left a camera? Man. We have to go back inside."
"So, we go back. Get dressed," she said.
"Our shoes are soaked. How about we drive to my grandparents’, and put our things in the dryer? Then, I’ll take Gramp’s car. While they’re watching my car on the street, we’ll get away."
"And, go where?" Glenn asked.
"We’ll worry about that later."
They got in the front seat where he started the engine.
"I’ll get us some heat," he said. "Our shoes and socks are never going to dry like this. We’d better get to a clothes dryer." He touched her face. "Come here, I’ll warm you up."
Geoff’s hands went under her shirt, and pushed her down on the seat so she was staring at the ceiling. He leaned toward her, and nuzzled her ear.
"See it?"
She grabbed two fistfuls of his hair, and positioned his face in front of hers. He read her lips as she mouthed the words, "Too dark."
He pressed himself down on her. He scooped her head in one hand. The fingers of his other hand caught the door handle, and he opened it. The light came on, and she looked at it through his hair. He buried his face in her throat, and eased her head back. His kisses made a path over her chin, and stopped at her lips.
"Let’s go someplace more comfortable," she said.
He sat up. "Give me a minute."
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and breathed out. When he took hold of the steering wheel, he looked dazed. Glenn fumbled into her clothe
s while he drove. In two minutes he braked in front of a brick, two-story colonial.
He looked sad as he turned to her. "Let’s go."
Colesville Road had swollen up over the last 50 years from a tree-lined suburban two-lane to a major six-lane highway. Any other time of day there would have been a string of traffic, snarled and knotted, and frayed at the ends. But, the sky was beginning to whiten, and there was a feeling of post-apocalyptic nothingness in the air. It took Glenn a while to gather her shoes. One of them was shoved under the front seat, and the laces were stuck on something. She had to put her cheek on the carpet to jiggle it loose. In the meantime, Geoff had gone to the front door, and returned.
"We’ll have to go in the back way," he said. "What are you doing?"
"Checking your transmission fluid, and brake pads, Sir. Need anything else while I’m under here?" She pulled the shoe out, and handed it to him. "Gimme a minute to make sure there’s nothing else hiding under here. Nope."
Her hand passed over something flat and square. She slipped it under her coat. Geoff stood staring at his car. She put her arm around him.
"We’ll get it back," she said.
He nodded, and made his way around the house. In back, down three cement steps, was a white-washed wooden door with a rusted knob.
"It’s locked. Hand me that file over there."
She picked the tool up off a pile of dirt. "This?"
Geoff braced himself against the door, lifted the knob in his right hand, and inserted the point of the file between the wood doorframe and latch. He sprung the lock, and went inside.
Glenn slid her bare feet across the basement floor. It was as cold as it was outside, and twice as dark. She felt for his jacket, found it, and clung to the cotton waistband. She stubbed her toes, but kept hopping along until he stopped abruptly. He snapped on a lamp in the laundry room.
"What if my shoes shrink?" she asked.
"I don’t think we’ll be here long enough for that to happen. Better take off your jeans, they’re soaked at the cuffs."
He’d already stripped his off and put them in the machine. She stared at his legs, long and muscular like a soccer player. For an instant, she relived the experience of being captured between them.
"You just want to see my butt again," she said.
