Zeke (14 page)

The clerk blushed and fiddled with
a nametag that read Hi! MY NAME IS DORIS. “Aw, now, it was nothing. I’m just
glad you’re okay.”

“Well, I won’t forget you,” Zeke
said. “I mean it. Come on, Janie; I don’t feel like shopping now. Let’s get out
of here and let this nice lady get back to work.”

Sue faced Doris and delivered her
prearranged line. “Thank you for saving my brother.”

“Your brother?” Doris fairly
tittered. “Oh, you’re welcome, dear. Certainly.”

Zeke pushed Sue toward the door
while giving Doris a warm look over his shoulder. Once outside, they walked
quickly down the street for a block, and then jogged back to the vehicle. Sue’s
skin felt like ice and her heart hammered in her chest.

“Well?”

Sue pulled the dye from her pants
and handed it to him.

“Now, wasn’t that fun?” Zeke’s eyes
gleamed with a strange light.

Sue nodded, not trusting herself to
speak, as he started up the van and drove away from the park.

Zeke was tripping on some kind of
high from the encounter. He tapped the steering wheel with his thumbs each time
they stopped at a light. Finally, he seemed to settle some kind of internal
dilemma, and pulled into a convenience store. “You wait here,” he told Sue.

“But, I have to use the bathroom,”
she protested.

He turned a hard gaze on her. She
shrank back into her seat and he went into the store without her. Sue peeled
the paper from a piece of gum, slipped it between her lips, and stuck the paper
into her jacket pocket. Chewing slowly, she watched as the clerk pulled out a
phone book, wrote something down, and handed him a small slip of paper. Zeke
bought a pack of cigarettes and came back outside to the pay phone.

Sue rolled her window down in order
to eavesdrop. The sun came out from behind the veil of gray, highlighting
Zeke’s head for a moment. “He really does need the hair dye,” Sue mumbled
ungraciously, “those light roots just make the rest of his hair look dirty.”

Zeke’s voice yanked her from her
guilty thoughts. “Doris,” he purred into the phone. “Luther here. I just wanted
to thank you again for saving my life like you did. My sister and I want to
take you out to dinner tonight, kind of show you our appreciation. If you’re
free, that is.”

He paused to listen.

“Okay, we’ll see you at
seven-thirty then. Where should we pick you up?” He leaned over the phone.

Sue missed the rest of the
conversation since Zeke was speaking low. He laughed sensuously before hanging up,
and Sue felt a stab of jealousy. When he got back into the van, he threw Sue a
triumphant grin. “That worked like a charm.”

“Are we really taking
that
woman to dinner?” Sue asked petulantly.

Zeke laughed heartily. “I do
believe you’re jealous.” Then without warning, his features darkened and his
mouth drew tight at the corners. “Do you seriously think I would
lay a
finger
on that cow? Is that really what you think of me?”

“I never said that.” Sue snapped
her gum and turned to stare out the window.

“Dammit, Sue,” Zeke lamented. “Why
do you do these things? You make me crazy. I had a surprise for you but you’ve
pretty much ruined it now. You just have a way of draining all the joy out of a
thing.” He slammed the steering wheel with the palm of his hand, and Sue
jumped, but her posture remained stiff, cold. “Look at me, Sue.”

Reluctantly, she turned her head
and met his eyes.

“You ought to know I have higher
standards than that. That woman is a pig. I wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot
pole. Damn, you really know how to hurt a guy. It’s insulting.” He fumbled with
the pack of cigarettes, trying to find the cellophane strip to open them.
Giving up, he threw the pack at the windshield. It bounced off and hit Sue in
the chest before falling into her lap. It hadn’t hurt a bit, but the action
shocked her.

Sue relented and reached out to hug
him.

He shrugged off her arms and stared
darkly out the windshield.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” she
pleaded for forgiveness. “Please don’t be mad. Tell me about the surprise. I
really want to know. I love your surprises, Zeke. Please tell me.”

“Well, alright then.” He brightened
instantly, thrilled to share his new scheme. “I started thinking about this
earlier, but I didn’t know if I could pull it off. The surprise is: we’re gonna
have a real shower and something to eat, and all in the privacy of a nice home.
Thanks to Doris.”

“Doris? What do you mean?”

“Hand me my smokes, and I’ll
explain it to you.”

“Sure.” Sue passed them over,
wondering what he was up to.

Zeke backed the van out of the
parking space, and pulled into traffic. Driving slowly, he watched the street
signs closely, then made a right turn several blocks down. “There’s her house.”
He pointed at a white cottage with small front porch. They drove on by. “She
won’t get off work until five-thirty this evening, so we have plenty of time.”

Zeke pulled into the alley. They
passed back yards, trashcans, sheds. At the end of the block was a small
single-story apartment complex with a parking lot in back. Zeke parked there,
grabbed the box of hair dye, and hopped from the vehicle.

Sue followed him. Cool sunlight
filtered through the scraps of remaining fog, but did little to warm them as
they walked. Once they reached Doris’s back yard, Zeke looked around and
grabbed Sue’s hand, leading her toward the rear of the residence, trying for
nonchalance. A trim lawn separated the house from the alleyway. Evergreen
hedges lined either side of the uncluttered expanse. A narrow sidewalk led to
an enclosed back porch.

Zeke searched the surroundings for
a few minutes, turning over a couple of rocks and a garden gnome by the back
step, but found no key. He jiggled the storm door handle and found it loose,
but locked.

“Hold this.” He thrust the box of
dye into Sue’s hand.

Bracing himself, he applied some
pressure, to no avail. Finally, he attacked the dilemma with Big Ben and
hurriedly worked it open, popping the tiny spring-loaded latch while leaving
telltale marks of the knife’s blade on the frame. They stepped inside and Zeke
pulled the storm door closed behind them.

The interior door opened easily, Doris
trusting the outer entrance to keep away intruders. Sue and Zeke slipped into
the house, and turned the lock.

“As long as we’re out of here
before the fat hag gets off work, we should be okay.” Zeke pulled a lacy
curtain aside to peer out, but saw no activity in the neighborhood.

The house was cluttered but clean;
knickknacks and Americana decor crowded every surface. And books. Shelves and
stacks and boxes of books, mostly romance novels, it seemed after a quick
glance. “Looks like Doris is hurtin’ for some lovin’. Not likely to get any
either.” Zeke smirked.

Sue looked around nervously and
gave a small, hesitant laugh. “Yea. I guess.” She herself owned many of the
same books, but she would never admit it.

“First things first.” Zeke ripped
open the box of dye as he went in search of the bathroom. “Fix us something to
eat while I’m doing this,” he called out.

Sue went to the refrigerator and
removed a leftover ham, some potato salad, and Miracle Whip, and set it all on
the counter. She found a knife and cut thick slices of ham, which she heated in
the microwave for sandwiches. A couple of Cokes completed her preparations. The
meal was on the table by the time Zeke entered the room. His hair was plastered
with black dye and he wore a woman’s robe to protect his clothes. They sat in
the kitchen and ate until they were full to bursting.

Afterward, Zeke found a supply of
grocery sacks and calmly started to fill them with food from the cupboards and
fridge. “Don’t just sit there, help me.”

They ended up taking quite a bit of
food, some magazines and books, a couple of blankets, and some toiletries.
While Zeke was in the shower, Sue went through the roll-top desk, looking for
anything they could use. She actually found three credit cards but decided not
to mention them, scared they would be caught the minute they tried to use them
and worried Zeke would want to do just that. In what proved to be a junk drawer
in the bedroom, Sue uncovered a stack of twenty-dollar bills. After counting,
they came to the tidy sum of eight hundred and forty dollars. Sue almost put
the money back, but then she remembered the way Zeke had acted on the phone
when he had spoken to Doris. Even knowing he was faking, Sue decided to take
the money. To hell with the fat cow, she thought with disdain, thinking she has
a chance with my boyfriend. She also decided not to let Zeke know about the
cash and slipped it deep inside her purse.

When it was Sue’s turn to shower, she
luxuriated in the hot water flowing over her body. She thought this might be
the first time she had really felt warm since leaving home. As she rinsed the
lather from her hair, Zeke burst into the room.

“Looky what I found.” His voice was
full of mirth. “Looks like Doris really
is
a lonely woman.”

Sue peered around the shower
curtain. Zeke stood in the doorway, towel around his waist, and a large
flesh-colored object in his hand.

“What is that?” Sue asked,
unaccountably disturbed by the sight of the object.

“You really are precious.” He
laughed as he approached her and flung the curtain aside, allowing water to
spray everywhere. “And so naive. Now, be a good girl, bend over, and put your
hands against the tile.”

“Why?” Sue’s voice barely carried
over the sound of the running water as it dawned on her exactly what he was
holding. He was right to make fun of her. She
was
stupid.

“Just do what I say.” An evil gleam
danced in his eyes. He rifled through the medicine chest until he located a jar
of Vaseline.

“Oh, no. I really don’t think I
want to do this.” Sue clenched her muscles.

“Sshhh!” He popped the lid off the
Vaseline.

“Can’t we just do it the normal
way?” Sue begged, a hitch in her voice.

“We will.” Zeke was extremely
aroused now. “After.”

Sue’s squeals of discomfort echoed
off the hard tile walls.

Later, in bed, he held her tightly
in his arms. The fresh soapy smell of his skin mingled with a darker, musky
scent. Sue clung to him, catching her breath.

“You’re amazing.” Zeke gently
brushed wet hair back from her face. “I’ve never felt anything like that
before. I love you so much; you’re not like anyone else. I knew it when I first
laid eyes on you. I even went home that night and told my mother I met this
beautiful girl and she’s different. She’s something really special.”

“You told your mom about me?” Sue
was unreasonably moved. “I didn’t know that.”

“Well, hell yeah I did,” Zeke
declared. “I’m head over heels in love with you, Susie Q.”

“I love you, too,” she said
hoarsely, hugging him tightly. Her doubts about Zeke fled and she was reassured
her decision to leave with him had been the right one.

They lay curled around each other
for a short time; Sue watched the cat clock over the dresser as it ticked. Its
tail swung back and forth, punctuating her internal conflict. Even after
professing unwavering devotion and love for him, she couldn’t help but hope the
episode with Zeke in the bathroom was an isolated incident and would not become
a regular part of their lovemaking. As a sexual experiment she supposed once
was okay. But she’d hated it. She’d cried the entire time, not stopping until
they’d moved into the bedroom where his skilled touch had turned the pain into
a pleasure of sorts.

After a short rest, they got up and
showered again. The vibrator lay like a drained weapon in the sink, silent now.

“Battery must be dead,” Zeke
observed.

They dressed quickly. Zeke
remembered the drugs in the medicine cabinet and picked through them. Sue held
her purse open, catching the various-sized bottles as he tossed them to her.

“What kind of pills are these?” Sue
asked, peeking in her purse.

“Just miscellaneous. You never know
when something will come in handy.” They grabbed the rest of their goods and
sneaked out the back door, leaving it wide open. Stashing their take in the
van, they left Assaria in the rearview mirror.

Zeke drove in the direction of the
abandoned school where they’d spent the night, but passed on by.

“I had some big plans for that
school,” he said regretfully as they left the old building behind. “But now I
think it’s best to move on. The cops just might check this place out when Doris
makes a report. We’re criminals, Sue; we’re on the run, really going
underground since we broke into a house and stole shit. Plus,
you
shoplifted that hair dye. Yes, sir. Now we have to watch out for the long arm
of the law.” He tossed his head back and laughed raucously.

I’m a criminal?
Sue shook
her head, resisting the thought.
No, no. It was just harmless fun, a prank.
Wasn’t it?
A wave of regret washed over her as she thought about the cash
in the bottom of her bag and everything else they’d taken. No, it wasn’t just
hair dye. She wished she’d left the money behind. Doris was obviously saving it
for something important. In fact; she wished she’d never laid eyes on the
woman. But, wishes were just that. Sue hung her head in shame.

“We’ll come back here someday and
check out that school better. I bet there’s lots of secrets hiding around that
place,” he stated. “We’ll let a little time pass first. For now, we’ll just
mosey on down the road.”

Sue squirmed uncomfortably in her
seat, and worry nagged at her. She stared at the passing fields as the sun
descended behind the hills in the distance, and wondered what kind of person
she had become.