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.I’ll still have a good ten years, he told himself.Maybe not so “good”.Fucking bitch.I oughta…Oughta what, kill her again?No, but I can kill her whole fucking family for her.Even if she didn’t give me AIDS, he thought, I told her I’d nail them all if she gave me any shit—and she went for the gun.I owe her for that.Besides, he thought, I want to.First, I’ll take care of her mom and dad.Get them out of the way, then take my time with Brenda.An image of Brenda filled his mind.Oh, man.She’ll be even better than Sherry, he thought.What I’ve gotta do is figure a way to keep her.Maybe take her someplace where we can live together.That’d be so cool.Keep her as my prisoner for as long as I want.Do everything with her.To her.That’ll be so great!But where do I keep her?How about here?I can do her right here on my own bed! That’d be so incredibly great! Tie her down…Sure, he thought.That’d be great, all right.Except for one thing.Sid and Dawn.That’s two things, he corrected himself.Well, not really.Two people, but they’re both the same problem.Not really.They’re different problems.Dawn, she’d be shocked and go ballistic.Sid, he’d muscle in and take over Brenda for himself.I can’t do it with them in the house.Chapter Thirty-eightSome of the others had stripped down to their swimming suits.Not Brenda, though.She had kept her sneakers on, and she still wore her Piglet T-shirt and cut-off jeans over her bikini.She was glad of it, too, when she saw her parents’ car pull into the school parking lot.“Is that your mom and dad?” Fran asked, and wiped her face with a sleeve of her sweatshirt.Fran, like Brenda, was barefoot and wearing cut-offs.Instead of a T-shirt, however, she wore a large, bulky gray sweatshirt.Brenda had rarely seen her friend not wearing such sweatshirts.Fran seemed to like the way they disguised her hunky torso, never mind how they made her sweat in hot weather.“It’s them, isn’t it?” she asked.“Yep.They probably came over to check up on me.”“As if,” Fran said.“They’re nice.”“They’re okay.” She turned away from the car she was washing and tossed her sponge into a bucket.“Guess I’d better see what’s up.”“Maybe they want their car washed.”“Wouldn’t surprise me.”As Brenda walked toward the car, the driver’s side window slid down and her father smiled at her.“How’s it going?” he asked.“It’s going.”“Hi, dear,” Mom called from the passenger seat.Brenda bent over and put her hands on the window sill.“So how was breakfast?” she asked.“Great,” Dad said.“We went to Coco’s.”“Ah, for the famous cinnamon bread French toast?”“That’s what I had.”“Big surprise.What about you, Mom? Corned beef hash and eggs?”“Not today.”“You were wrong!” Dad blurted.“I can’t believe it!”“I get a second try,” Brenda said.“Country fried steak and eggs.”“There you got it,” Mom said.“I never fail.”“Not if we give you enough tries,” Dad pointed out.“So what’re you guys doing here?” she asked.“You mean you don’t know?”“You came to get the car washed.”“Not bad,” Dad said.“First try, too.I’m impressed.”“Are you sure it needs a wash? It hasn’t been a year yet.”“That’s what I said,” Mom said.“We just want to support your endeavor,” Dad explained.“Has Sherry come by?” Mom asked.Brenda shook her head.“Not yet.But it’s still early.If she spent the night shacked up with Duane or someone, she might not get the message for hours.Anyway, it’s no biggie if she doesn’t show.I’m glad you guys came by, though.Some of us are thinking about going for pizza after we get done here.Okay if I go along?”“Sure, honey,” Mom said.“I don’t see any problem with that.”“Where’re you planning to go?” Dad asked.“It’s not definite.Shakey’s or Pizza Hut, probably.”“Do you have plenty of money?” he asked.She rolled her eyes upward and said, “Yes.My money situation hasn’t taken any dramatic turns since we discussed it earlier this morning.”“As a matter of fact,” Dad said, “when we discussed the situation then, you weren’t planning to go anywhere for dinner.”“I suppose that’s true.”“Thank you.”“Do you have enough?” Mom asked.“Yes.”“How’ll you be getting to the pizza place?” Dad asked.“In a car, I imagine.”“In whose car?”“We’re not sure yet.”“We could drive you and your friends over.”“That’s all right, Dad.We don’t have a shortage of drivers.”“How about responsible drivers?”“I’m not going to let some jerk drive me around.”“Do be careful who you ride with,” Mom cautioned her.“I will, I will.I’m not a moron.”“So then,” Mom said, “we won’t pick you up at five and we won’t expect you home for supper.”“You got it.”“What time will you be home?” Dad asked.Brenda grinned.“In time for bed.I’m not the daughter who stays out all night.”“You’re the daughter who’s a smart-ass.”“Mom, you gonna let him talk to me that way?”“You are a smart-ass.”Laughing, she said, “I try.”“What time can we expect you?” Mom asked.“I don’t know.Nine? Ten?”“You’re planning to spend five hours eating pizza?” Dad asked.“We might wanta do something later.Take in a movie, go to a mall…have a drunken orgy, rob a Speed-D-Mart.” She shrugged elaborately.“Ten will be fine,” Mom said.“If anything comes up and you won’t be back by then, call us.”“Okay.”“And call us if there’s a change of plans,” Dad added.“Sure, why not?” She held out her hand.“You got five bucks?”“Ah, you do need more money!”“Ah, I don’t.It’s for the car wash.”“Ah,” he said.“Ah.”He leaned away, pulled out his wallet, fingered its bill compartment and drew out a ten-dollar bill.“You’re gonna make me make change?”“Keep the whole thing.It’s for a good cause.”“Just five’ll be fine.That’s all we’re charging.Don’t you have some ones?”“Take the ten, okay?”She shook her head, rolled her eyes upward, sighed, and took the ten.“Happy?” she asked.“Overjoyed.”“It’ll be about a five-minute wait,” she said.“That okay? I know how you love to wait.”“No problem,” Dad said.“Okay.Well, you’ll be next after we get done with that red car.Why don’t you pull in behind it? We’ll get to you as soon as we can.”“No hurry,” Dad said.“Better put your windows up,” Brenda told him.“How about if we leave them open until you’re ready to start?”She rolled her eyes.“Suit yourself.See ya.” Stepping backward, she pointed toward the red car.“I know,” Dad said.As he started backing up, Brenda turned away and hurried over to join the rest of the crew.When they were done washing the car, Dad started the engine and rolled down his window.Oh, please.Not in front of everyone.But all he said was, “Have a good time.” Then he smiled and drove off.No last-minute interrogation or advice.Thank you, thank you, thank you.As Quentin waved a Land Cruiser forward, Brenda nudged Fran’s arm.“How about going out and having some fun after we get done here?”“Huh?”“We’ll get a few of us together and go someplace.You know? I was thinking maybe the Third Street Promenade or the pier or something [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]