Sex Happens

by Carol Soloway

  CHAPTER 35

  Unable to sleep, Alex turned over and stared at Luke, sound asleep beside her. Without sex to blur her vision and short-circuit her brain, she thought about their relationship. Their differences were too vast. She and Luke weren’t right for each other. But a cabin in the woods with two other hunters was definitely not the time to end the relationship.

  She tossed and turned and then decided to get up and go to the kitchen. Maybe a cup of herbal tea would help her fall asleep. As she approached the kitchen, she came to a halt.

  Wearing only boxer shorts, Clay quickly turned away from her.

  Uncomfortable in the tiny kitchen with Luke’s best friend clad in his underwear, she started to turn back to her room.

  “Didn’t think anyone would be awake, but give me a minute,” Clay said and went upstairs.

  Alex put the bowl of soup Clay had filled into the microwave and placed the teakettle on the stove.

  Wearing jeans and a plaid shirt, Clay returned to the kitchen. He took the soup out of the microwave and offered to pour her a cup of tea. Then he took a spoonful of soup. “This is even better than the first bowl.”

  “It’s a family recipe.”

  “Yeah. Food is culture,” he said. His face had a soft, faraway look. “I remember when my Pappie’d bring home a watermelon. He’d throw it on the sidewalk. We’d watch it split into chunks, and then my dad would pick up the middle section and take a bite. We’d wait. He’d nod. Then we would grab the chunks of watermelon scattered on the ground.”

  “Wasn’t it dirty?” she asked.

  “It was sweet.” He smiled. “I sure miss family.”

  “Don’t you have a wife?” she asked.

  “No,” he said. “Luke didn’t think you’d come if you were going to be the only woman in the cabin.”

  Her suspicion confirmed, she said, “You’re right on that, but why would he have lied to me?”

  “He’s the most principled man.” Clay put down his spoon, looked at Alex and started to recount a story about Luke. “There was this girl, Jocelyn, from our projects. She offered to show Spud, one of our friends, a ‘good time’ for five bucks.”

  “How old was she?” Alex asked.

  “Twelve.” Clay hesitated and then continued. “Spud could only get his hands on two bucks, so he convinced Luke and me to go in on it with him. We each gave Spud two bucks, and we headed to Jocelyn’s apartment. When she saw all of us, she slammed the door in Spud’s face. Then, after several minutes, he persuaded her to let us in.”

  “What happened?” Alex’s eyes widened, certain he was going to tell her something about Luke that was unsavory.

  “Jocelyn went back with Spud, and Luke and I looked through the crack in the door.” Clay pushed the bowl away. “Never mind.”

  “You’re not going to stop now.” She needed to hear his story. Maybe then she could put some of the pieces of the puzzle that was Luke together.

  Clay nodded. “Okay, Luke and I were in the living room waiting. We heard these weird sounds and tried to see what was going on, but all we could see was Spud’s butt moving and gyrating. Then it was Luke’s turn. He walked into Jocelyn’s room, saw her wrists tied to the headboard, and untied her.”

  “Good,” she said.

  “Well, I got so angry with him.” Clay looked down at his calloused hands. “I pulled my knife out of its cradle, grabbed Luke, and slashed him in the face.”

  “The scar over his right eye?” she asked.

  “I just missed his eye.” Clay pointed at her. “You know what Luke did?”

  Fearful he would tell her something she didn’t want to hear about Luke’s temper, she whispered, “What?”

  “He took Jocelyn out for a Coke.”

  “She must have been relieved.” And so was Alex upon hearing the story, an affirmation of the gentle side of Luke.

  “Yes. Luke was always a gentleman; that is, until—”

  “Until what?” she asked.

  “’Nam. He’s been different ever since, and I’m sure he has PTS …”

  “D,” she said. “PTSD—Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Her heart pounded. That explained some of his behavior.

  “I should never have said that.” Clay lowered his head. “Luke was the bravest of them all. He was a tunnel rat.”

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  Clay explained how the “tunnel rats” were the Marines who’d go into the Vietcongs’ tunnels before they’d toss the grenades in. The “rat” was sent in to see if there were any dead Americans in the tunnels so they could take them out. Sometimes if a Vietcong was still in the tunnel, he’d wait for the American to drop down, and then he’d shove his rifle into the American just as he was entering the tunnel. Other times, the Vietcong would capture the tunnel rat and torture him. Clay explained how most of the Marines wouldn’t even think of doing that, but Luke had volunteered.

  “Amazing he survived,” Alex said, but wondered what would have possessed him to have volunteered for such a dangerous task. Maybe, he really was a hunter to his core and craved the challenge, even if it could have cost him his life.

  Clay got up and took the soup bowl to the sink. He looked at her and said, “Luke’s a great guy, but he can be volatile. I mean, he’d never hurt you, but …”

  “But what?” she asked, fearing his answer.

  “Just be careful,” Clay said and looked toward the loft, where Thomas was snoring so loudly that it almost shook the house. “Well, I’m off to see the music man upstairs.”

  Alex returned to bed and thought about Jocelyn, a child who’d been willing to sell her body for five dollars. Then she thought about Luke. As a teenager, he’d been ethical and hadn’t taken advantage of the young girl. He was a good man. Clay had said it, but he also cautioned her. Too tired to think right now, she turned away from Luke and fell asleep.

  ◆◆◆

  Suddenly, blood was everywhere. There were bodies covering the ground. Luke’s eyes glinted with delight, blood dripped from his hands, and then he licked his fingers.

  Terrified, she woke with a start. Her heart was pounding and she was sweating. Unable to sleep, she lay wide awake, watching Luke sleeping peacefully.

  Finally, she dozed again.

  Within what seemed like a few minutes, Luke shook her. “Get up or we’ll be late.”

  “I can’t go,” she said and buried her head in the pillow.

  “What do you mean?” he exclaimed. Before she could answer, he grabbed her wrist and demanded, “Why else would you have come all this way?”

  “I just had a horrific dream.”

  “This isn’t the time to start that,” he said.

  “Luke,” she said, looking into his angry eyes, “I’ll go out in the afternoon with you when I calm down.”

  “Chances are greater in the morning. If you knew you couldn’t take it, why would you have come?”

  “I really didn’t want to see a deer killed. You said we’d be together, so I came to be with you.”

  “This is me,” he yelled.

  She stared at him. He was right; he was a hunter first. “No, I can’t,” she said.

  “You’re not going to embarrass me in front of my friends.” He grabbed her wrist. “You will get up now.”

  There was a knock on the door.

  “We gotta leave now before it gets too light,” Clay said.

  “I told you I can’t have bad luck.” Luke let go of her wrist, turned, and went to his duffle bag. He pulled out his worn green work pants, flannel shirt, and orange hunting vest. He dressed and slammed the door.

  She listened to the men in the kitchen—a loud jumble of male voices, challenging, cajoling, giddy with the excitement of the hunt.

  There was an eerie familiarity to Luke’s behavior—threats and love. She knew that beha
vior all too well. It was predictable, almost comfortable. It was home, her childhood home.

  CHAPTER 36

  As Alex sat on the porch and waited for the men to return from their morning hunt, she thought about Luke, the man who’d been kind to the little girl, and Luke, the man who’d grabbed her wrist this morning. He could be charming, but there was a dark side. Maybe, she thought, everyone has a dark side, and it’s just a matter of time before it surfaces.

  She opened this month’s First Friday Book Club selection, The Pilot’s Wife, and just as she started to read, the neighbors’ Eddie Bauer Limited Edition British-racing-green truck veered into the driveway next door. Two men got out, slammed the truck’s doors, and walked toward their cabin.

  From her perch on the porch, she heard one of the men agitatedly complain, “Did you see the way he smirked at us when he hoisted the deer onto his fuckin’ Toyota?”

  There was laughter, and the other man said, “Let’s puncture his tires tonight. Then we’ll see what he does with a dead deer rotting on top of his truck.”

  “Better yet, let’s steal the deer,” the first man said.

  “Yeah. Those black guys fuck our women, and now they’re baggin’ our deer,” the second growled, shutting the cabin door.

  She closed the book and thought about the neighbors’ vengeance. Dealing with prejudice like that could cause anyone to become cynical and distrustful. Luke probably had to battle for, and then defend, everything he achieved.

  Suddenly, to the accompaniment of much hooting and horn blowing, Luke pulled up. He jumped out of his truck, ran to the porch, and grabbed Alex’s hand. Proudly pointing to the dead deer atop his truck, he described how he’d shot the buck, trailed after it until it collapsed, and then dragged the carcass through the forest.

  “Alex, you would have been so impressed,” Clay said and gave Luke a congratulatory slap on the back.

  “We’re gonna gut it right now,” Thomas said.

  “Don’t you need a butcher to do that?” Alex asked.

  Luke shook his head. “We can’t wait for that. We have to remove the innards right away or else decay will seep into the meat. That way, we can get a good night’s sleep and then leave in the morning.”

  Alex didn’t know what to do. If she told Luke about the men next door, there’d be a horrific confrontation. If they stayed, Luke would lose his deer. She hesitated.

  “Let’s get the deer off the roof and start gutting,” Luke said.

  Standing on opposite sides of the truck, Luke and Clay struggled to haul the deer off the roof. Then Thomas guided it down.

  “Alex, you don’t want to see this,” Clay said.

  “I’m not squeamish. We dissected cadavers when I was in anatomy, but I just wasn’t up to a kill this morning.”

  “That’s the best part,” Luke said.

  While the three men carried the carcass to the yard behind the cabin, she went to the kitchen and retrieved garbage bags.

  Then Thomas and Clay held open the first garbage bag while Luke slit the deer’s abdomen, pulled out several feet of intestines, and dropped them into the bag. Then Luke plunged his ungloved hand deep into the slit in the deer’s abdomen and removed the liver.

  Watching Luke gut the deer was so different from the way he cleaned and filleted the fish on his boat. The fish gutting appeared to be just a task to be accomplished at the end of fishing. Here, as he reached his hand into the deer’s abdominal cavity, his eyes narrowed in sinister determination, his brow furrowed in concentration, and his breath appeared to quicken in excitement. It was chilling how he seemed to be salivating over his prey.

  Alex was repulsed, and it had nothing to do with the exposed innards. She was comfortable with that, but she was unnerved by the sadistic delight Luke appeared to take in disemboweling the deer. She wondered whether this was reminiscent of the way he’d stood over his victims in Vietnam. And why would he have volunteered for a second tour of duty if he hadn’t derived satisfaction from killing? Unable to watch the hunter in Luke gloat over his prey, she turned away. But after seeing that side of him, she knew she’d always view him through that prism.

  “Let’s get ice and wrap the deer so it’ll keep ’til tomorrow,” Luke said. “I want to take Alex out on the hunt this afternoon.”

  “I’m fine with leaving,” she said. Tense, she knew if they stayed, then the neighbors would steal the deer the minute it was left unguarded.

  Clay shook his head in disapproval. “If you ice it and wrap it, then tomorrow, when you put it on top of your truck and drive, it’ll drip all over and make a mess.”

  “Don’t listen to him,” Thomas said. “He’s always worried about the mess. The deer’ll be fine.”

  “Clay, can you call that guy in Vernon, the butcher we used last time when you got the kill? See when he can open his shop to put the carcass in the freezer?” Luke asked.

  Clay nodded. “He’s in my church, and I’m sure he’ll do it for us, especially if we give my portion to the church for a dinner.”

  “I thought you cleaned your freezer for the venison,” Thomas said, teasing Clay about his proclivity for cleanliness.

  Ignoring Thomas’s remark, Clay said, “The butcher did a great job the last time we got a kill. I also remember how perfectly he divided and wrapped it for each of us.” Then he called the butcher and left a message.

  Alex decided she’d seen and heard enough. While it was clear Luke was a good man, he did have a sinister side that, she decided, could be dangerous. And if they stayed, he’d definitely lose his deer. “I’m fine with leaving now,” she repeated.

  “Are you trying to spoil my victory?” he asked, and before she answered, he said, “I wanted you to experience a real hunt.”

  “I …” She started to speak, but he turned away.

  The cell phone rang. Clay handed his phone to Luke.

  Luke told the butcher about his kill. Then he seemed to be agreeing with the man on the other end.

  “What’d he say?” Clay asked.

  “The butcher said it was best to get the deer to him as soon as possible, but he really didn’t want to open on Sunday morning because of church. Then he agreed ’cause he said if there was too much time, then the meat wouldn’t be good.”

  “Luke, you’ll still owe for the entire weekend if you leave early,” Thomas said.

  “Let me think it over. I really want to take her out on a hunt, but if I do, then it would be too late to drive home tonight,” Luke said, as though she weren’t standing right there.

  “I told you that I’m fine without going on a hunt.”

  “Well, this isn’t my first kill, and there will be other hunts,” Luke said smugly. “I’m showering, and then I’ll decide.”

  She followed him to the bedroom. She knew if she told him what she’d overheard, there’d be a horrific confrontation. Instead, she decided she had to convince him it was okay to leave. She smiled at him. “I’m so proud of you for shooting the deer, and I’m going to find out how to cook it.”

  “It was amazing,” he said. “I’ll tell you all about it.”

  “I’d rather hear you describe it than see it,” she said.

  “I get it,” he said. “I thought you’d be into it, but I guess there was no point in bringing you.”

  He showered, dressed, and threw his bloodied hunting clothes into the bag with his clean clothes. Then he grabbed his bag and went out to help Clay and Thomas position the deer atop his truck and tie it down.

  Alex finished packing, checked the bathroom and bedroom, and offered the leftovers to Clay and Thomas.

  “Alex, we’ll see you next year,” Thomas said.

  “Right,” Clay said, seemingly aware of the improbability.

  While they drove, Luke recounted the hunt in minute detail. He looked over at her triumphantly. “How much venison do yo
u want?”

  “I’d rather have a hamburger about now,” she said.

  “I was going to drive straight through to get to the butcher,” he said.

  “It’s a twelve-hour drive,” she said. “Is the butcher going to open in the middle of the night?”

  “He said to call the minute I get in, and I want my daughters and grandson to see the deer before I take it to be butchered.”

  “Luke, you’re going to wake them up to see the dead deer?”

  “Of course. Some people are more appreciative of the skill it takes.” He pulled up to Rocky’s Diner and circled the parking lot twice.

  “There’s a spot.” Alex pointed to an empty space.

  “I need to be in front,” he said. “I gotta keep an eye on the deer.”

  “Luke, it’s dead. It’s not going anywhere.”

  “You’d be flat-out amazed at what hunters do when they don’t get their own deer,” he said.

  She knew he was right.

  Finally, he found a spot near the front. They entered the diner and made their way to a booth with a good view of the truck.

  A waitress followed, handed them menus, and said she’d be back in a few minutes.

  Alex looked at the menu and then absently glanced at their reflection in the window of the diner. She and Luke were in the foreground and the dead deer, strapped to the truck, was in the background. She stared at this picture of herself with the hunter and his kill and wondered, into whose life have I trespassed?

  CHAPTER 37

  Ever since the trip, she’d been reluctant to see Luke. She hadn’t even gone to the tennis club. He’d called repeatedly and insisted on coming over, but she put him off. She promised to see him tonight, after discussing the trip with her First Friday Book Club women. Then she’d decide what she wanted to do about their relationship.

  Several minutes late for the November First Friday Book Club meeting, Alex rushed to their usual table at Waters Restaurant. She sank into the chair between Judi and Terrie.

  “It’s Annie Oakley,” Meredith said, quickly setting aside a stack of papers.