Fly the Rain (6 page)

She worked her fingers downward and
unbuttoned his jeans. Then she unzipped them.

“
Oh, Baby.” He was
hyperventilating with excitement.

“
Now, stand up—very
carefully, so I can pull your pants down.”

But he did not follow her
instructions. He
jumped
up, immediately losing
his balance.

All it took was the slight nudge of her left
elbow to send him overboard.

“
Help! I can’t swim—my hands
are tied!”

“
Maybe this will help.” She
picked up the tequila bottle and threw it at him. When it hit his
skull, it cracked. Not the bottle—the skull.

His cries for help ended abruptly, and he
disappeared into the dark water.

Lucky throw, she thought.

Chapter
7

There was a soft knock at Greg and Cynthia’s
bedroom door.

They froze in place, moving only their
eyes—to check the glowing numbers on the alarm clock. It was nearly
1:00 AM.

“
How late do we have to wait
to make sure we don’t get interrupted?” whispered Greg in
frustration.

“
I’m sorry,” whispered
Cynthia.

Greg rolled to the side, and Cynthia got up,
slipped on her robe, and went to the door.

“
I’m sorry to bother you,
Honey,” said Beverly, “but I’m having trouble going to sleep. Do
you have any more of those over-the-counter sleeping
pills?”

“
I think so, Mom. Just a
second.”

Cynthia went into the bathroom, and checked
the medicine cabinet. She found the bottle of pills, and took it to
her mother. “Hope this helps.”

“
I’m sure it will. Sorry I
woke you up.”

“
It’s okay, Mom.” Cynthia
closed the door, and took off her robe. She slid between the
sheets, and snuggled her naked body up against Greg’s. “I’m sorry,
Sweetie.”

“
Baby, you know I love your
mom, but—“

“—
I know. It really spoils
the mood when she does that.”

“
It’s not just when she
comes to the door. It’s
knowing
that she could knock at
any moment. And as much as you turn me on, it really…”

Cynthia had begun to nibble on his ear.

Greg forced himself to continue. “We’ve got
to do something about this…”

Cynthia slung her leg across him, and got on
top. Then she gave him a hot, moist kiss.

His senses were overwhelmed by her mouth,
her hands, her smooth warm body. He didn’t even care that she had
purposely derailed his train of thought.

She whispered into his ear, “I want to have
your baby, Greg.”

“
I know. I want to
give
you a baby.
But, take it easy—you’re about to make me—“

“—
it’s okay. It’s late. Let
it go.”

Oh, God, thought Greg. What did I ever do to
deserve this amazing woman?

**********

Billy-Eye checked his watch
again. It was after 6:00. Why did they have to be late every
morning? Especially
this
morning.

Craig and Lenny walked
into
The Biscuit
with their heads held low. They knew they were going to be
chewed out again.

Judy saw them coming in late, as usual, and
shook her head, but didn’t say a word.

When Billy-Eye looked up and saw his sons
standing there at his booth, he jumped up.

Lenny thought the old man was going to pull
a Moe, and slam their two heads together, like Curly and Larry.
They deserved it—they were his stooges. Why couldn’t they ever
learn to be on time?

But instead, he grabbed one in each arm and
bear-hugged the breath out of them.

“
What?” said Craig,
confused.

“
You’re alive!” said
Billy-Eye.

“
Well…yeah,” said
Craig.

“
Come on,” said Billy-Eye.
“Sit down. Let’s have a great big breakfast together.”

“
Okay,” said Lenny. Bring on
the food.

“
What’s going on?” said
Craig.

Billy-Eye’s chin quivered slightly as he
spoke. He was still not over the thought that one of his sons had
been taken from him. “A guy dropped in for some biscuits a few
minutes ago, and was saying that his brother-in-law went out early
this morning for some fishing, and found a body.”

“
Where?”

“
The Sabine
River.”

“
A
dead
body?” said
Lenny.

Craig sneered at his brother. “Well, it
wouldn’t be much of a story if the man was alive, now would it,
Lenny?”

“
So, I was worried about you
boys,” said Billy-Eye. “I assumed y’all were asleep in your rooms
when I left the house this morning. But then I started
wondering.”

“
Was it anybody we know?”
said Lenny.

Craig punched him in the
arm. “Daddy just said he thought it might be one of us. He
doesn’t
know
who it was.”

Lenny rubbed his arm. “Oh.”

Judy brought them each a cup of coffee, and
took their breakfast orders.

“
Okay, now let’s get down to
business,” said Billy-Eye. “Have you got the band auditions all
lined up?”

“
Yes, Sir,” said Craig.
“We’ve got eleven bands.”

“
So, you’ll do the whole
thing on Friday night?”

“
Yes, Sir. The first band
will start at 6:30, and the last one will finish just before
midnight. Then I will decide on the winner and make the
announcement.”

“
No, Sir,” said Billy-Eye.
“
I
will
decide the winner.”

No, thought Craig. What if
he doesn’t pick Cindy’s group? Then Craig would
never
get into her pants. “I
thought you were going to leave that up to
me
.”

“
I was,” said Billy-Eye.
“But then I started thinking about how easily you’re influenced. I
won’t stand for any favoritism. We want the best band.”

Craig scowled at his brother. “Lenny—you
rat! You told him, didn’t you?”

“
Told me what?” said
Billy-Eye.

“
Nothing,” said
Craig.

“
Good. Then it’s understood.
You boys will have everything in tip-top shape by the time I get
there at around 5:30.”

“
Yes, Sir,” they said in
unison.

Craig stomped on Lenny’s foot.

Lenny grimaced, but said nothing.

“
So, who’s this girl,
Craig?” Billy-Eye took a sip of his coffee.

“
Which one?”

Billy-Eye chuckled. His pulsating belly made
the booth table shake, spilling a little of Craig’s coffee.

Craig picked up his cup and wiped the sides
and bottom with his napkin. “Her name is Cindy. She’s the drummer
in an all-girl band.”

“
Blonde, right?”

“
Yes, Sir.”

“
Okay. Now I know who
will
not
win.”

“
Daddy!”

Billy-Eye laughed so hard that he began to
cough. Finally, he regained control. “I’m kidding. The best band
will win—even if it ends up being Cindy’s band. I want what’s best
for the business. We’re gonna be paying a lot of money for that
band. And we’ll be depending on them to develop a following, so we
can sell T-shirts and posters and all kinds of souvenirs.” He took
another sip from his cup. “We’re gonna make a fortune, Boys.”

**********

“
Well, I thought you were
gonna just sleep all day,” said Val sarcastically. She was in her
recliner, sipping one last cup of coffee before driving over to
Wal-Mart to work her shift. Her favorite game show,
The Price Is Right
,
came on at 10:00 AM, fifteen minutes before she had to leave for
work.

“
I needed the rest. We’ve
got a long practice session today.”

“
Where are y’all
practicing?”

“
Right here in the living
room.”

“
No, you’re not!”

“
Why not? We won’t hurt
anything. And we’ll be done before you get home.”

“
You’ll play too loud, and
make my neighbors mad.”

“
Val, I promise—we’ll hold
it down.”

“
And I don’t want any guys
using my bathroom. They pee all over the floor.”

“
There are no
guys
, Mother. It’s
an all-girl band.”

Val knew she would regret what she was about
to say. “Alright. But you’d better take care of my house and my
things.”

“
I will.”

“
If anything goes
wrong—“

“—
it won’t.

**********

Cindy Banya arrived early, and quickly set
up her drums, and began to warm up.

E. Z. Bender was next. She unpacked her
guitar, fired up her amp, and began to work on a few riffs.

Sondra had stepped into the kitchen for a
drink of water when Cindy and E. Z. suddenly went silent. She
popped her head into the living room to find out why.

Boomer Hertz was standing in the doorway
with her bass amp in one hand and her guitar in the other. Cindy
and E. Z. were just staring at her.

Cindy was confused. Sondra had said this
would be an all-girl band. Who was this guy in the sleeveless
muscle shirt, with long, frizzy brown hair?

The 32-year-old had a stocky build. Her arms
bulged, but her chest didn’t. She was clearly not somebody you
wanted to mess with.

“
Hey, Boomer,” said Sondra.
“Glad you could make it.”

“
Yeah, well this had better
be worth the trouble,” said Boomer.

Or what? wondered Cindy. She was afraid of
the answer.

Boomer sat down her amp, and plugged it into
an outlet. She popped the latches on her guitar case as though she
were a mechanic opening a monster-sized toolbox. Then she whipped
her bass out of its case, and strapped it on like King Arthur’s
Excalibur.

E. Z. wouldn’t have been surprised to hear
that the she-man had cut a few people down to size with the
thing.

Sondra picked up her guitar.
“Let’s warm up with Wilson Phillips’
Impulsive
.”

By the end of the song, all four of the
women were smiling inside, and thinking the exact same thing: We’re
gonna blow ‘em away.

Chapter
8

“
Looks good, Boys.”
Billy-Eye knew he had been taking a big chance leaving the final
details for his sons to handle. He had not even visited the place
all week. It was Friday, 5:30 PM—thirty minutes before the grand
opening of
Billy-Eye’s Arcade and Dance
Barn
.

The arcade room had been
arranged nicely—although not the way Billy-Eye would have done it.
But still, it was good. The two popcorn machines were ready to go.
High school aged workers were ready to hand out bags of the stuff.
The first group in the competition was warming up on the bandstand.
A stand-alone blackboard to the right side of the drums had the
name of the band written across it in white chalk:
The Triangulators
.
Each band would be responsible for putting their name on that
board.

“
Glad you like it, Daddy.”
Craig beamed. Finally, he had done something right.

“
So, what do you think? Will
we have a full house tonight?” said Billy-Eye.

“
Sure,” said Lenny with a
naïve smile.

“
Hopefully,” said Craig.
“They get in free, get to hear eleven bands, and get all the free
popcorn and coke they want. I’m sure the kids have heard our radio
ad.”

“
Maybe we should have made
the games free too,” said Lenny.

“
Hey, we can’t give
everything
away,”
said Billy-Eye. “We’re only charging a quarter for the games as it
is.” He walked back out into the main hall. “Is the refrigerator
all stocked up?”

“
Yes, Sir,” said Craig.
“It’s loaded with frozen pizzas, hot dogs, and condiments. And
we’ve got plenty of hot dogs buns and candy.”

“
And the soda
fountains?”

“
Ready to go.”

“
And I see you got the ice
machine set up.” Billy-Eye smiled. “Great. I’m proud of you
boys.”

At 5:50, two of their female
employees unlocked the main door and walked out. There was a line
of about 150 kids waiting to get in. The two girls each had a bag
full of red plastic cups, printed with the
Billy-Eye’s Arcade and Dance Barn
logo.

“
What’s your
name?”

“
Cassandra Smith,” said the
first girl in line.

The employee wrote the girl’s name on a cup
with a magic marker, and handed it to her. “Hang onto your cup if
you want free soft drinks. If you lose it, you’ll have to pay a
dollar to get a new one.”

Cassandra looked at the cup.
With the cool logo, it was a free soft drink cup
an
d a souvenir.
“Okay, thanks. Are y’all about to open the doors?”