Weekend (16 page)

"Who started on Robin to drink?" Park asked.

"You did," Sol said.

"I encouraged her," Park said. "But I did not start.."

"Angie started it," Lena said, thoughtful.

"I asked her if she was running for sainthood, that's all," Angie said. "But she said that she had to drive.

Then So! put on that Carpenters record."

"I did?" Sol asked.

"Then Bert came out of the bathroom," Kerry said, "and I had to go."

"But I got there first," Lena said. "Andyou went into the kitchen."

"I went with Bert," Kerry said defensively.

"This is incredible; our memories are snowballing," Park said. "I can actually remember all this happening. Kerry got up and Lena chased after her. Wait! You weren't in the living room, Lena. How did you get to the bathroom before Kerry?"

Lena hesitated. "I came out of the kitchen."

"So you had been alone in the kitchen?" Park asked.

"Yes."

"What did you do in there?" Park asked.

"Nothing. Oh, I cleaned off my dress. Sol had rolled over when I was sitting on him and I had spilled a drink on myself. I never did get that stain out."

"Sol, Sol," Park muttered. "I remember him leaving during this time, too."

"I saw him go down the hall," Shani said. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together. Talking helped, it gave her less time to worry. The insistent rattling had quietened. The snakes seemed to be listening.

"Here we go again," Sol sighed. "I went down the hall looking for a head. I didn't find one."

"Because we only have one bathroom in our house," Angie said.

"Then what happened?" Park asked.

Their momentum stalled. A minute went by. Shani realized she could not feel her feet. She offered what she could. "I fell asleep, then. When I woke up, everyone was back in the living room. And you were saying, Park, that it was our God-given duty to get Robin drunk."

"I did say that," Park admitted. "But you were probably only asleep a minute or two. Everyone came right back. And then…" He shook his head, frustrated. "And then Sol was giving Robin the beer. This is no good. We're skipping over the most important part. The beer came from the kitchen, and that's where the insecticide was. Who went into the kitchen is crucial."

"Give me everything we've got so far," Sol said, scratching his chin. "Something's coming back to me."

"You, Kerry and Lena fought," Park said. "Angie brought beers out of the kitchen. Bert was in the bathroom. Lena went into the kitchen. We started on Robin to drink. You put on the Carpenters. Bert came out of the bathroom and put on another record. Kerry and Lena ran into each other at the bathroom door, Kerry coming from the living room, Lena coming from the kitchen. Lena ended up using the bathroom. Kerry went into the kitchen with Bert. About this time, you were looking for another bathroom."

"I went into the kitchen!" Sol said suddenly.

"Were Kerry and Bert still there?" Park asked.

"Bert came back into the living room and went to sleep on the floor," Angie said.

Sol was straining. "Man, I'm not sure, but I think Kerry was alone."

"And what was our sweet Kerry doing?" Lena asked slowly.

Kerry stuttered. "I was… getting a… a drink."

"Sol?" Park asked.

"Yeah, that's right. Kerry was fixing drinks."

"Did she give you a beer in a mug?" Park asked.

"Yeah, or I took one. I think I just picked one."

"Very interesting," Park said. "Where were you at this point, Lena? Were you still in the bathroom?"

"I think so."

"No," Angie said, excited. "I remember seeing you come out and go into the kitchen!"

"Are you sure it was at this exact time?" Park asked. They were closing in, but whether it was on the truth was another matter. They had Kerry, Sol and Lena in the kitchen. Robin was waiting in the living room. The snakes were also waiting.

"Yes!"

"Oh, yeah, Lena came in," Sol said. "I had forgotten."

'"That's right, I did," Lena conveniently agreed. She appeared off-balance, perhaps from surprise, probably from guilt.

"What happened next?" Park asked.

"We didn't stay in the kitchen," Sol said. "We went into the living room."

"Did you take the beer with you that Kerry had prepared?" Park asked, unable to mask the emotion in his voice.

Sol didn't hesitate, "No."

"What do you mean, no?" Park asked, irritated. "A minute ago you barely remember going into the kitchen. How come you're suddenly so positive you didn't carry out a glass of beer? Youmust have brought it into the living room."

"If he didn't," Shani said, "we're back where we started."

"I didn't carry the beer out," Sol said. "I'm positive. I remember now going into the kitchen and telling Kerry I would give her a ride home if Lena and Robin didn't take her home soon. Then Lena came in. I wanted to get the two of them apart as quickly as possible but I suddenly started having trouble with my balance. Must have been that quart of Jack Daniels Bert and I drank that night. Anyway, Lena gave me a hand back into the living room and I sat down beside Robin. Once I was off my feet, I felt okay."

"He's right," Angie nodded. "I remember them stumbling back into the living room. Lena was practically holding him up."

"Let's get back to the glass of beer that Kerry fixed," Park said, anxious to keep them on track. Sol was wrong; Park would make an excellent lawyer - if he lived. "You said you picked it up, Sol, but you were having trouble staying on your feet. Before Lena helped you into the living room,what did you do with that beer ?"

"I gave it to Lena to hold," Sol said, matter-of-factly. Then the enormity of his remark hit home, not merely in his own face, but in Lena's.

"That's right," Lena gasped. "You gave it to me. And when you were seated, I gave it back to you. Then you gave it to Robin. And then…"

It was not necessary to complete the sentence. Kerry was suddenly the centre of their attention. In the hellish light, her face was a mask of anxiety. "So I… I was alone… in the kitchen. So was… Angie. So was… Lena. Robin drank… just a little. She wanted to stop. She said, 'It tastes awful.' But Lena said,

'Finish it.' Lena made her finish it!"

"That's right!" Shani said.

"Yeah!" Angie said.

"Wait a second!" Lena snapped. "What I said or anyone else said is not important. It's where the glass came from that matters. Why would I want to poison my own sister?"

"You know very well why you might have wanted to," Park said. "For the other half of the inheritance.

But I agree that—"

"That's crazy!" Lena interrupted.

"We know the liar she is," Kerry said, her voice gaining strength as the tide so swiftly turned. "She set me up in the pep rally. We all know that. But she denies it to this day."

"And I'll deny it again!"

"You spilt the Coke on me!"

"So I did! And, to tell you the truth, I did it on purpose. You were being such a jerk that day. But that's all I did! I didn't replace your dance pants with paper ones, though I wish I could take the credit."

"Liar! You didn't even care when Robin got hurt! You even tried to poison me!"

"Yeah, you were poisoned all right. The doctors pumped your stomach and didn't find a trace of insecticide. You were just prepping a martyr's alibi!"

"You made the nurse leave! Now that you're doing the dialysis, it's suddenly not working. You failed the first time, but you don't quit. You're trying to kill Robin again!"

They were like two rabid dogs. Influenced by the boiling hatred, the snakes hissed loudly, banging their heads on the trembling lid of their cage. Park and Sol tried to intervene, but they couldn't get in a word.

For once, Kerry was matching Lena curse for curse, and Lena had forgotten that it was beneath her dignity to stoop to Kerry's level. Yet suddenly both choked off.

Someone was banging on the door.

"Who is that?" Park exclaimed. "Help! Yes, we are here!"

The aluminium pole began to rise, taking with it the lid. A snake's head reared above the edge of the Plexiglas container. Kerry screamed. Angie screamed. Shani did not feel the bite of her teeth into her lips or tongue, but she tasted the blood.

"Help!" they yelled.

The doorknob rattled. It was locked. They began to knock on the windows. The curtains were drawn back. A jolly face peered in.

"Bert!!!" they shouted.

"Hi ya, guys!" he called from what seemed miles away. Still inside the container, two snakes began to slash at each other over the partitions. Candles toppled and went out. A single flickering flame held off the darkness.

"Break down the door!" Sol yelled.

"Are you playing a game?" Bert wanted to know.

"Break down the door!" Park repeated, pointing and gesturing with his free hand. One snake decided to leave its cage. It was bigger than the others. It liked the way Shani looked. It slid towards her. Shani tried to back into the wall.

"Guys, oh, guys," she stammered. She wasn't wearing shoes and her jeans were paper thin.Don't hurt me

. Its tongue snaked out of a mouth set with jagged teeth opening wide. An oozing brown fluid dripped from its fangs.Don't kill me . Of all the possible horrors she had ever imagined in the darkest moments of her life, none was the equal of this.Please don't .

"Be very still," Flynn whispered. The others watched and waited in silence. The snake reached the end of her foot, began to slide up the inside of her leg.

"No," she wept. "Nooo." Above all else, she knew she couldn't move. A powerful blow hit the door. It remained firm.

"It won't bite you if you don't move," Flynn said.

Shani closed her eyes. Squirming skin was near the bottom of her sweat shirt.Nice Shani . A sandpaper tongue licked her belly button. A moist snout slid around the curve of her abdomen, its contracting body encircling her like a belt.Soft Shani . Her heart shrieked. Her held lungs pleaded for release.Cute Shani .

"A second more, be still," Flynn said. "It's leaving."

A rattle shook a foot from her nose.Go . Its head crawled over her hand on the floor. She was a statue.

She was made of stone.Be gone . There was no reason for it to bite her.Far away . Sleek muscles tightened against her side, then relaxed. Its tail scraped her lower vertebrae. She exhaled slowly. It glided back towards the cage, seeking more exciting game.Don't come back .

"You can relax," Flynn said.

She opened her eyes. The snakes were at war with each other. Incredibly, none of the others had left the confines of the cage. Her snake returned to the front line, hacking at its brothers.

She shook her head, went to speak, found she couldn't.

There was a deafening crack. The splintered door fell to the floor. Bert ploughed in.

"Where did you guys get all these snakes?" he asked, decked in orange swimming trunks, five inches of rain, ten pounds of red mud, and the most inappropriate grin.

"Bert, quick, put the door over the top of the bin!" Park ordered, bent in a hunchback posture lest he have an encounter similar to Shani's. Kerry was screaming again.

"You want me to hurt the snakes?" Bert asked.

"They want to hurt us!" Park said. "Just do it!"

"Don't let any of them bite you," Sol added.

It was bad advice to have given Bert. As he picked up the door, he apparently began to have second thoughts about the playfulness of the snakes, for he remained close to the entrance. From there he tried to throw the door onto the container.

"No!" Park screamed, too late.

The Plexiglas cracked in a thousand pieces and the remaining candle was extinguished. In the feeble light that filtered from upstairs, they saw the snakes that were still alive — the majority of them — go wild, snapping at anything that moved. Kerry's screams tore in her throat and she began to whimper miserably.

"Got quite a few of them, I did," Bert said proudly. "What do you want me to do now?"

"Go to the garage!" Sol said. "Get bolt cutters!"

"There is no garage!" Park said.

"What happened to the garage?" Bert asked.

"Get the pokers from the fireplace," Flynn said, in a firm voice.

"Gotcha," Bert nodded and left.

They waited and worried. If the snakes had not been their own worst enemies, every member of their dinner party would have been dying by now. Yet there was still time. Several of the snakes had decided that the recording studio was no place to be and were exiting through the door in search of more peaceful territory. They would be all over the house.

Bert was back in a minute with a thick metal prong. He went to hack at Angie's handcuff, but she stopped him.

"Do Sol before me," she said.

"That's a brave girl," Sol said.

"I just don't want him to break my wrist," Angie explained.

Sol eyed Bert's upraised poker, then glanced at the rattlers, probably trying to decide which was more dangerous. "You hit my hand, buddy, and I'll kill you."

"Okay," Bert said. That sounded fair to him. Employing all of his considerable strength, he slashed down with the bar. The ring interlocking the handcuff cracked. Sol stood and took the poker from Bert, shoving him towards the door. But the way was blocked as more snakes slithered into the hall.

"Do me!" Kerry pleaded.

"Just a second." Sol dug at Angie's bolt, prying it loose.

"You're hurting me," Angie complained.

"Do me!" Kerry whined. Angie's handcuff broke off the wall. Sol leapt to Kerry's aid. A moment later she also was free. The two girls huddled together. Due to the passing snakes, they were unable to leave.

There were seven reptiles left in the room. Four of them were converging on Lena.

Sol took care of Park next. But his path to Flynn, Lena and Shani was barred. "Throw me the poker,"

Flynn said. Sol did so, Flynn catching it expertly in his free hand. Using his foot as a fulcrum - which must have hurt - he transformed the poker from axe to lever, and pulled his ring out of the wall. Now he was faced with a hard choice. Lena's situation was critical, but she was next to impossible to get to.