His choice of stations aggravated her, but it also gave her something to listen to and kept her from thinking too much about her situation. She didn’t want to do that. She wanted to be happy traveling with Zeke, experiencing life and seeing the sights, but even the glorious scenery couldn’t entirely dispel her doubts. His mood swings were so hard to take.
Just outside of St. Rose, Zeke started taking back roads. About ten minutes later, they came across an abandoned schoolhouse. It was a squat, single story, blond brick building with broken windows, nearly obscured in places by vegetation gone wild. Zeke stopped in front of the entrance. Sue could just see a farm off in the far distance surrounded by rolling fields. She wondered briefly about the people who lived there. She imagined good, solid, salt-of-the-earth folks, probably settled around a wood burning stove, the wife perhaps knitting a hat, the husband in overalls checking the grain markets at the kitchen table, a steaming cup of coffee at his elbow. Windows covered with homespun curtains, sensible furniture with arm doilies and lots of pillows. Photographs on the mantle, and rows of home-canned vegetables in the pantry. Ordinary folks. Homey. Stable. The total opposites of adventurers like her and Zeke. The image made her smile as she reminded herself that farmers today lived in the modern world, not the one she’d been picturing.
“This is the place I was looking for.” Zeke smiled, his annoyance with her apparently gone. “But, before we go inside, we have to run into town. I need cigarettes and I’m hungry. After that, we’ll come back and have a look around.”
He drove on down the road, following the sign to Earlton, population 12,905. Sue tried to read her book while he drove, but her thoughts wandered. Thinking of Doris and her house, the violation of her property, the outrage she must have felt when she got home, the despair over losing so many of her things. It was wrong what they did, but nothing could be done to change it now. With an effort, she pushed the guilt away.
Earlton was on the edge of the national forest, an area Sue would have liked to visit, but Zeke was in a hurry. He pulled into the first convenience store he found. He dashed inside, while Sue waited in the warmth of the van. Zeke came out of the shop with a cup in each hand and a plastic bag dangling from one wrist. She opened the vehicle door for him. He handed her one of the drinks.
“I got you a mocha cappuccino, sweetie,” he said. “You know how much you love those.”
She made a face, but put the cup to her mouth and drank a little. Why does he keep pushing this stuff off on me?
“Something wrong?” he asked. His voice carried a warning tone.
“No,” she answered quickly, wanting to sustain his good mood. “It’s just a little hot. Also, I’m sorta hungry, Zeke.”
“Well, you’re in luck then.” He tossed the bag to her. “There’s smokes and a couple of chicken salad sandwiches. Now, shut up, eat your food, and drink your cappuccino.”
Sue choked up, feeling like she used to when scolded as a child. She nearly gagged on the sugary drink, wanting nothing more than to spit it back into the cup.
As they drove back to the school, Zeke munched his sandwich and chatted. They pulled into the overgrown drive and he circled to the back of the building, bouncing over the weeds and rough ground. Putting the vehicle in park, he turned to look at her. “Okay. Let’s get in the back while we finish our meal.” He stepped over the empty ice chest and moved to the rear of the van with Sue following.
Sue settled in beside Zeke and he pulled her next to him, putting an arm around her shoulder. He set his cup down, swallowed the last of his sandwich, and leaned back close to her. She finished her own food and pretended to take a sip of her beverage.
“I have something to tell you,” he said, fiddling with the ends of her long hair. “Hear me out on this. You know how I told you my hair didn’t match what was going on inside me?”
Sue nodded. She liked it when he played with her hair. It was such an affectionate gesture, one that implied a proprietary relationship.
“Well, your hair doesn’t match your true inner self either,” he said. “This ordinary brown color isn’t you. You’re hot like a fire. You have a flame in you, a heat.”
Sue was flattered. Truthfully, she hadn’t ever noticed the flame until she met him. But she thought she could see it now. He had a way of bringing it out.
“Inside you there’s a sharp edge, like a piece of broken glass. Whatever it is, it cuts into me and makes me crazy sometimes. It’s a beautiful thing, though. It’s like you don’t even know the power you have.”
Zeke’s voice was melodic and Sue found herself silently agreeing with him.
“I want you to cut your hair. Short and punky. And it should be red; it should blaze,” he pronounced.
“Okay. I guess I can do that.” Still, she felt an instant of sadness. She had always had long hair. It was just who she was, something that defined her.
He sensed she wasn’t a hundred percent behind the idea and continued to cajole. “It’ll be so sexy, babe. A whole new look. Then your outside will match your inside. You’ve been like a dormant volcano most of your life, calm on the outside, while inside there’s all this energy and fire just waiting to erupt.”
Sue liked that image, and the idea of changing her hair grew stronger. At the next stop, she promised she would get some red hair dye.
“Let me cut your hair for you,” Zeke said, excited. “I’ll make it look nice. We’ll cut it before we dye it, keep it, so we can always look back on your natural color and remember how restricted and dull your old life was. How’s that sound?”
“I like it,” she said shyly. She thought of Zeke with the scissors, sculpting her new style. Leaving his signature on her, like an artist. She found the idea thrilling. She couldn’t put this feeling into words, so she hugged it to herself secretly. But somehow, he knew.
“It gets to you, doesn’t it?” Zeke asked, intuitively. “Almost like getting my name tattooed on your body or something. It’s sort of the same thing.”
“Yes,” she breathed. “Can you cut it now?”
“I don’t have any scissors,” he said with regret. “Wait…I can use Big Ben. That’ll work better anyway, then we can get a real funky look, all uneven and shit. But let’s go inside to do it. Grab a plastic sack to put it in.” Zeke didn’t intend to leave any evidence of their presence, especially a lot of Sue’s hair. But he kept this to himself.
Sue took Zeke’s cigarettes from the bag they’d just gotten and climbed from the van. Zeke followed her and pushed her jacket into her hand. The morning sunlight was weak as water, and the cold air slashed through her clothes like a scythe. They hurried through the weeds into the back door of the school. She hoped he would be quick about it, because she already missed the warmth of the van.
He led her through a corridor with gaping holes in the plaster walls and clusters of ceiling tile scattered on the floor. They passed several small dark rooms before reaching a large classroom with a wall of windows, most of which were broken. Zeke kicked an old rusting trashcan over by the windows and flipped it upside down so she could sit. Once he got her settled, he sucked gently on her neck for a moment, raising a light hickey. He breathed deeply, then unsheathed his knife. He grabbed handfuls of her hair and started hacking, handing her the locks to place in the bag on her lap. When he was finally done, he stood in front of her and studied her appearance.
“Perfect,” he announced, and pulled her to his chest. “I wish we had the dye right now. It sucks to have to wait.”
She felt his heart beating against her breast, the warmth of his embrace. She hugged him, but he didn’t hug back, just stood there with his arms loosely draped around her.
“We’ll get the dye next time we’re in town,” Sue said. “Zeke?”
He’d fallen into a moody silence. He stepped back from her and slipped the knife into his coat pocket. Instantly, her heart sank; worry crept into her gut. Did he not like her hair now that it was short? Did he regret doing it? Or was something els
e wrong?
“Everything okay?” she asked timidly.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” he snapped, his eyes cool and distant.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Just wondering. Don’t you like my hair?” She raised a hand and explored her new haircut. His hateful tone brought her to the edge of tears.
“Hell yeah, I like it. That’s the problem.” He glowered. “I think I did too good a job.”
He walked toward the doorway, and stopped with his back to her. “Wait here for a minute,” he said without turning around, then slipped out the door. She could hear his shoes crunching on the broken glass and debris as he walked down the hallway. Soon, she caught the sound of the van door slamming shut. Hugging herself for warmth, she paced a few times near the windows, feeling spooked by the press of the overgrown weeds outside, their tangled stems and branches forming a barrier between her and the world. She hoped Zeke wouldn’t stay away long. There was a deep and persistent coldness in this place, like it had always been freezing and would never be warm again. She shivered.
Time passed, and still Zeke did not come back. Finally, Sue could wait no longer. Her teeth were chattering and her disappointment over his bad mood had turned to outright fear. She walked outside to the van and opened the door.
“Zeke?” she called quietly. “Sweetie, I’m cold. Are you coming back? I’ve been waiting like you told me to.”
His head popped up from behind the seat, eyes sleepy.
“Oh, damn.” He yawned. “I fell asleep. I’m sorry, baby. Come back here and I’ll warm you up.”
Sue was shocked and hurt that he left her waiting inside that cold empty building while he took a nap in the nice, warm van. How could he just forget about her like that? Fury at his thoughtlessness fought against relief that his dark mood had apparently passed. Relief won the battle, and she swallowed her anger, but it wasn’t easy. She had to remind herself that Zeke was not an ordinary man. He was creative and artistic, which explained his eccentric behavior. Pasting a smile on her face, she pulled the door shut behind her. Twisting a knot in the top of the sack, she carefully placed the bag of her hair on the back seat before joining Zeke on the mattress. He pulled her under the blanket and started undoing her clothes. She lay still and compliant, her hands and fingers too cold to participate as Zeke undressed her.
“Let’s talk about you and your English professor,” he whispered. His words took her away, again. He painted delicious and sensual pictures of her having sex with a scholarly, bearded teacher over his cluttered desk in front of the entire class. She found it enjoyable, so much so that she didn’t even bother to tell Zeke that her English teacher was actually a rotund gray-haired woman on the verge of retirement.
Ernie the Truck Driver
“It almost looks like it could snow,” Zeke exclaimed, looking out the windshield at the lowering sky.
It had been two days since they broke into Doris’s house. Since then, they traveled steadily, stopping only when something of interest caught Zeke’s attention. After they’d left the country school, they had spent a lot of time taking photos in the quaint little town of Belle Springs, before stopping at a campground somewhere south of Nickel, New York to spend the night. In the wee hours, Zeke had pried open several vending machines to relieve them of their cash burdens while everyone slept, sneaking out before the theft could be discovered.
They drove aimlessly that day, Zeke making many side trips off the highway to check out small towns and gawk at the Adirondacks, seemingly going in circles. They had parked behind a warehouse in Wilkes that night, leaving in the cold pre-dawn hours and picking up breakfast at a McDonald’s drive-through.
Now sitting in a rest area, Zeke plugged his laptop into the cigarette lighter and hunched over the keyboard.
Sue slumped in the passenger seat chewing a hangnail. “Are you online?”
“No, I’m looking through my files. Why?”
“No reason. I just wondered how you’d get the internet way out here.”
“Well, I can’t. You have to a service provider for that, and I don’t.”
“Shoot. I was hoping I could check my email.”
“Oh, Susie. Who’s going to send you an email anyway? I’m right here beside you.”
Whatever. “So, what’s our plan?”
“We need to start heading back south. There’s this old abandoned asylum in West Virginia I want to explore. Rumor has it a troll lives down in the basement.”
“Trolls aren’t real,” Sue said dully. She continued to worry her fingernail.
“Maybe not,” Zeke said playfully. “But, maybe they are. Let’s go find out. Wouldn’t that be a trip? Exploring an old mental hospital?”
“It does sound kinda cool,” Sue agreed, wanting to do something besides sit in the damn van all day, every day.
“Okay, hospital it is.” Zeke stared at the screen.
He must have planned this trip, must have made up some sort of agenda to which Sue was not privy. She suspected their travels were not as random as he pretended. He closed the laptop and glanced at her.
“Take off your pants,” he said as he started the engine. “I want to feel you while I’m driving. Turn sideways and spread your legs for me.”
“I’m cold,” Sue said, but she undid her jeans and removed them.
“I’ll turn the heater on high.” Zeke pulled back onto the highway.
Sue turned in her seat and opened her legs, goose bumps making the little hairs stand up. She hadn’t shaved in days and felt embarrassed. The gloomy weather wasn’t helping her mood either. Didn’t the sun ever shine anymore? Dutifully, she tilted her pelvis to give Zeke full access. He reached over to touch her, keeping his eyes on the road.
“You like that, don’t you, baby?” he asked, his breath coming quicker.
“I love it,” she replied. But, the truth was she could hardly feel it. They had been doing it so much lately that it seemed like she was desensitized.
A semi-truck pulled loudly alongside them in the other lane, and Sue leaned back so she could look up at it. She was shocked to see the driver staring down at her with a smile on his wide face. She threw her hands over Zeke’s probing fingers, attempting to cover herself, and turned to him with a look of horror. “He can see right into the van!”
“Good.” Zeke winked at her, nudged her hands aside, and spread her legs wider.
A rush of heat coursed through her at the idea of exposing herself to this stranger. In an instant, she felt mischievous and wanton, a sensual free spirit.
“Let him watch,” Zeke urged, his eyes darting from the road ahead and back to her crotch. “Here, turn around and let him see you.”
Sue’s heart pounded inside her as she opened her blouse and turned in the seat so the driver could get a better look. She scooted onto the ice chest between the seats, leaned back into Zeke’s shoulder, and raised her hips, giving the trucker a wide-open view. The nerve endings in her skin were going crazy. The driver signaled excitedly for them to pull over.
“Let’s do it. Okay, babe? Let’s give him a taste,” Zeke said, rubbing his crotch.
“What? No!” Sue sat back down in the seat and pulled her blouse over her chest. “He’s old and gross. I don’t want to do anything with him. It was fun letting him look, but I don’t want him to touch me.”
“Then do it for me, sweetie,” Zeke pleaded. “Please. I need this. It’ll be wild.”
The trucker stayed right beside them, still gesturing for them to stop.
“Won’t you be jealous?” Sue asked, voice shaking.
“No, I know it’s me that you love. Remember, we talked about this. I want you to do it,” Zeke insisted. “I want to watch. You’re so sexy, baby. You’ll be like a movie star. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, but it would mean so much to me. And, think about it, here’s an adventure just presenting itself to us. We don’t want to let this chance pass us by. Please?”
“Fine. I’ll do it, but I won’t l
ike it,” Sue finally said, hoping Zeke was just testing her loyalty and would change his mind before anything happened. She signaled to the trucker to follow them, and Zeke sped up and swung around the semi, looking for an exit ramp.
They passed a sign telling them the next exit, a mile ahead, had no services. That’s what they think, Sue thought bitterly. She shrank down inside her shirt, but didn’t button it up. What was the point?
Zeke pulled onto the exit ramp and the semi stayed close behind. They turned right at the end of the ramp. There was a small town off in the distance, but nothing but gray country roads and dead fields at this point. Zeke parked on the side of the road and the semi pulled in behind them; its brakes wheezed and locked. Sue watched through the rear window as a squat roll of a man climbed down from the cab, hitched his jeans, and waddled toward the van. Zeke opened the door and got out. The two men conversed for a few minutes, then Zeke came back to talk to Sue.
“We’re gonna go up into his truck. He has a sleeper,” Zeke said. “Put your jeans and shoes on; don’t bother with your panties.” He reached back behind the seat and grabbed his camera.
“Pictures, Zeke?” Sue was uneasy, but she began pulling on her jeans.
“No one will see them but us,” he promised. “I really appreciate this, babe. I mean it. I love you so much.”
She hesitantly followed Zeke to the truck. The door popped open and a chubby grizzled face looked down at her with what was probably supposed to be a sexy look but came off as a perverted leer.
“Come on up here, little lady,” the trucker said. “Your fella, too. There’s plenty of room.”
“It’s warm in here,” Sue observed as she climbed inside. Zeke followed her.
“Damn straight,” the trucker said. “Nice and cozy.”
“Remember what I told you, Ernie,” Zeke said. “Lots of tongue to get her in the mood.”
“Oh, yeah.” Ernie licked his lips, and yanked his pants down.
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