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PIKE HELPS ME GET INTO the wheelchair and puts the plastic bag stuffed with my clothes, which are stained brown and stink like dead fish, and my backpack plus my boots on top of my lap. He pushes me down the hall and we pass the room where I last saw the stranger, Blue, getting dressed with Yanka’s help. The sheets are tucked tight to the mattress and I look down at the coin hanging around my neck.
“You should have that appraised,” says Pike. “I bet its worth some money.”
Pike’s nice even though he comes across as being a tough guy. He’s a few years older than me and by the time I was in high school he was already a police officer. The last time I came to visit Aunt Cora with Kumiko two years ago he asked to take me to dinner. Kumiko called me a dummy when I declined. “Just the thought of handcuffs should’ve forced you to give a ‘yes’ at least for one night,” Kumiko said.
But not getting involved with anyone from this town has and always will be my best policy. I was a virgin until I went to college, then I was a slut. I straddled over every set of two legs that came with a penis. After college, I calmed down, only sleeping with two men the year after, but I haven’t had sex with anyone in the last year. At least I don’t think I have. I can’t recall the last week—Dr. Subler says I have amnesia, which makes me worry I might have slept with someone in town. The space between my legs does feel a bit raw like it’s been used recently.
Pike parks the chair next to the passenger door of his police car and bends over to lock the wheels. I see him checking me out and I hate it. I don’t hate that he’s doing it, I just hate that I’m still in the hospital gowns—one wrapped in the front and the other wrapped around my back so my ass doesn’t show. With my fair skin peeping out of the oversized gowns and the dark circles under my eyes clashing with my strawberry blonde hair, I’m sure I look like I’m dressed for Halloween as a freaky ghost.
Pike assists me to get into the car, even though I really don’t need any help, so I fuss with him to let go. “You already saved me once,” I tell him and he smiles.
“You don’t sound so happy about it,” he says as he shuts the door.
I feel ashamed. He did save my life. I should probably show him a little gratitude. I just hope he doesn’t ask for any kind of reward...
Reward!
I pick up the coin and look at it. I think I did something to get this; maybe I earned it and it was my reward for something. I think about the stranger—about Blue.
“You’re staring at that thing pretty hard,” says Pike as he gets in the driver’s seat. “It makes me suspicious you know something about that stranger we picked up.”
I grip the coin in my palm and tuck it under my gown. “Sheriff, honestly, if I knew anything, I’d tell you.”
I’m sure I sounded annoyed as Pike changes his tone. “I’m sorry, Shelley,” he says. “I didn’t mean to sound like I was interrogating you. It’s my job and I don’t know how to turn it off.”
I feel guilty. Again. “Thank you for saving my life,” I tell Pike.
“You don’t have to thank me,” he replies as we pull out of the hospital parking lot and head to Aunt Cora’s. “That’s part of my job, too.”
“I feel like I should repay you in some way.” Whoa! Hearing the words come out of my mouth feels like some serious déjà vu.
“You don’t owe me anything,” he says.
I look directly at him, noticing his face like it’s the first time ever. Under his dark sunglasses, he looks older than he should, probably from the stress of his job. Not to mention, this is a coastal town, so I’m sure his face gets exposed to a lot of sun causing more wrinkles as he’s out tracking criminals during the day. I bet he hardly gets enough gratitude for that kind of work.
“I want to repay you somehow,” I insist. “You knew my Aunt Cora. She would insist I reciprocate the favor.”
“You believe in all that psychic energy stuff?” Pike asks.
“I don’t know,” I say, “but it seems like a good policy to have—too reciprocate good deeds. She used to say it—”
“Keeps the universe positive,” Pike interjects. “Oh yes, I knew your Aunt Cora very well along with all her aphorisms.”
I let out a snicker, but it hurts to hear Pike talking about her. I hadn’t talked to her much before she died.
“How about this?” starts Pike. “How about you go with me to the Pirate Fest tonight?”
“You mean the Booty festival?” I snark. “Where everyone shakes their booty?”
Pike laughs, but it’s true. The annual Pirate Fest falls on the Friday following the summer solstice. It reportedly started two or three hundred years ago as a celebration to honor the founder of our town, Averill Leahman, who was a captain in the British Navy a few hundred years ago. It wasn’t until recent years that historians discovered some naughty truths about the Captain, and the festival has turned just as naughty. Sure, there’s a parade and a bunch of kids’ stuff for families like balloons and a petting zoo, but once the sun goes down, Main Street turns into a Booty festival. Students from the nearby university show up just after dark and boobs and beer litter the street as asses stuffed in short shorts jiggle to the pumping sounds of raunchy pop songs. The whole town is into it. It’s the one night where it seems acceptable for everyone, young and old, to misbehave.
“You don’t have to show your booty,” jokes Pike.
“Won’t you be working?” I ask.
“Yeah, but you can keep me company. Main Street will be packed, but believe it or not, it can get boring for the first few hours until the sun goes down. Then it gets crazy. I can have someone take you home at nightfall or you can hang out and shake your booty. It’s up to you.”
“I bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I ask as Pike pulls up to Aunt Cora’s house along the shore.
“I would, actually. Yeah,” he replies smiling as he throws the cop car into park in front of the beach house that looks more like a pool shack.
I can’t help but smile as well while I check out his ass as he gets out of the car. I’m so fucking horny for some reason. I felt like this at the hospital, too. It’s an unshakable yearning, as if I want to be with someone. I finally feel like I want to connect with someone, almost the way Yanka and Blue seemed to instantly connect.
Pike opens my door and helps me out. Of course, I could be feeling like this because of the whole hero thing. Pike looks good in his uniform. What girl doesn’t like a man in blues? Pike saved my life and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want to fuck him...
But I do feel a little irritated. I wonder if Yanka is fucking Blue right now.
