Read Online Randall #01 - The Best Revenge by Anne R. Allen - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Anne R. Allen
Tags: humerous mystery
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her bedroom, which wasn’t too chaotic for once. And they’d be able to sit down. She grabbed a fresh beer.
The crowd parted magically as she led Jon-Don down the hall. Jennifer threw Camilla a lacerating look from her seat on the lap of a man with a chest full of muscles and gold chains.
“You said you’re from the East?” Camilla said to Jon-Don as she smoothed the bedspread on her unmade bed.
“Yup. Tulsa, Oklahoma.”
“Do you miss it?” she said after a pause. It was hard for her to grasp the California concept of “east”.
“Hell, no.” He plunked himself down on the bed. “Well, I guess at first I was kinda homesick, and I thought Californians were weird. But when I went home for a visit, everybody there thought I was the weird one. I’d turned into a Californian without knowing it.”
“I don’t think that could happen to me.”
“Sure it could. It’s like…” He leaned back on the bed. “Have you ever read Ray Bradbury?”
Camilla shook her head as she tried to decide whether to clear the clothes off her desk chair so she could sit in it or whether it was OK to sit next to him on the bed.
“In The Martian Chronicles , he tells this story about how Earth sends this expedition to Mars, and at first the colonists try to make Mars just like Earth, and they send lots of messages back home to tell the folks how they’re doing, but slowly, they get more into being on Mars, and they finally stop sending messages. Then a whole lot later, Earth sends out a new expedition to figure out what happened, but they don’t find anybody but Martians. The colonists had all turned into Martians, see?”
Camilla decided to sit on the bed.
“So you’re saying if I stay here too long, I’ll turn into a Martian?” She was trying to follow, but she didn’t much care for science fiction.
“Right,” Jon-Don said. He laughed loudly as if she had told a funny joke.
Camilla laughed, too, even though she didn’t get it.
He reached over and put a hand on her thigh.
“So. Are we gonna screw or what?”
She tried to remove his hand politely.
“I don’t think so. I mean—your girlfriend’s here and everything. Right?” She gulped beer. If she was dorky with Jon-Don, Jennifer would heap scorn on her forever and life here could get unbearable.
“True? She left with that guy Tooter to score. We’ve been partying for three days. You’d never believe the amount of toot we’ve gone through. It’s a good thing I’m rich.” His hand was back, inching under her skirt.
“You want a toot?” She jumped up, finally seeing her chance to ease out of the situation with a minimum of wimpiness. “No problem!” She reached into her bra for Wave’s vial. “Let’s go out by the hot tub. We’ve got works out there.” Outside, she could be magnanimous and let him take all the cocaine, and then she could disappear back into the crowd.
“Not to worry,” he said, taking the vial. He pulled from his jeans pocket a wallet-sized leather case, which he opened to reveal a small mirror, and gold-colored razor blade, tiny spoon and short metal straw.
She took a deep breath as she realized her plan had backfired. She watched him arrange a spoonful of cocaine into two neat rows. She let her breath out slowly and carefully, and prayed that whatever the drug’s effects are, it wouldn’t make her do anything embarrassing.
Jon-Don handed her the little straw and held the mirror. She put the straw to her nose and, since she could think of nothing else to do—inhaled, moving the straw along the line of powder the way Wave and Jennifer did. When she had inhaled the whole line, she felt as if she had no nose. She touched it to make sure it was still there. But nothing else happened. Maybe the cocaine was no good. She hoped Jon-Don wouldn’t be mad. She handed him the straw.
He inhaled the second line of powder. He seemed to think it was OK. She relaxed a bit as he closed the kit and put it back in his
The crowd parted magically as she led Jon-Don down the hall. Jennifer threw Camilla a lacerating look from her seat on the lap of a man with a chest full of muscles and gold chains.
“You said you’re from the East?” Camilla said to Jon-Don as she smoothed the bedspread on her unmade bed.
“Yup. Tulsa, Oklahoma.”
“Do you miss it?” she said after a pause. It was hard for her to grasp the California concept of “east”.
“Hell, no.” He plunked himself down on the bed. “Well, I guess at first I was kinda homesick, and I thought Californians were weird. But when I went home for a visit, everybody there thought I was the weird one. I’d turned into a Californian without knowing it.”
“I don’t think that could happen to me.”
“Sure it could. It’s like…” He leaned back on the bed. “Have you ever read Ray Bradbury?”
Camilla shook her head as she tried to decide whether to clear the clothes off her desk chair so she could sit in it or whether it was OK to sit next to him on the bed.
“In The Martian Chronicles , he tells this story about how Earth sends this expedition to Mars, and at first the colonists try to make Mars just like Earth, and they send lots of messages back home to tell the folks how they’re doing, but slowly, they get more into being on Mars, and they finally stop sending messages. Then a whole lot later, Earth sends out a new expedition to figure out what happened, but they don’t find anybody but Martians. The colonists had all turned into Martians, see?”
Camilla decided to sit on the bed.
“So you’re saying if I stay here too long, I’ll turn into a Martian?” She was trying to follow, but she didn’t much care for science fiction.
“Right,” Jon-Don said. He laughed loudly as if she had told a funny joke.
Camilla laughed, too, even though she didn’t get it.
He reached over and put a hand on her thigh.
“So. Are we gonna screw or what?”
She tried to remove his hand politely.
“I don’t think so. I mean—your girlfriend’s here and everything. Right?” She gulped beer. If she was dorky with Jon-Don, Jennifer would heap scorn on her forever and life here could get unbearable.
“True? She left with that guy Tooter to score. We’ve been partying for three days. You’d never believe the amount of toot we’ve gone through. It’s a good thing I’m rich.” His hand was back, inching under her skirt.
“You want a toot?” She jumped up, finally seeing her chance to ease out of the situation with a minimum of wimpiness. “No problem!” She reached into her bra for Wave’s vial. “Let’s go out by the hot tub. We’ve got works out there.” Outside, she could be magnanimous and let him take all the cocaine, and then she could disappear back into the crowd.
“Not to worry,” he said, taking the vial. He pulled from his jeans pocket a wallet-sized leather case, which he opened to reveal a small mirror, and gold-colored razor blade, tiny spoon and short metal straw.
She took a deep breath as she realized her plan had backfired. She watched him arrange a spoonful of cocaine into two neat rows. She let her breath out slowly and carefully, and prayed that whatever the drug’s effects are, it wouldn’t make her do anything embarrassing.
Jon-Don handed her the little straw and held the mirror. She put the straw to her nose and, since she could think of nothing else to do—inhaled, moving the straw along the line of powder the way Wave and Jennifer did. When she had inhaled the whole line, she felt as if she had no nose. She touched it to make sure it was still there. But nothing else happened. Maybe the cocaine was no good. She hoped Jon-Don wouldn’t be mad. She handed him the straw.
He inhaled the second line of powder. He seemed to think it was OK. She relaxed a bit as he closed the kit and put it back in his
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