He slid up the cuff of his jacket and pressed a button to illuminate the numerals on his wristwatch. Twelve minutes after one.
They might be late, he told himself. I’ll give it till one-thirty.
He suddenly heard quick, quiet footfalls.
They’re here!
His gloom vanished. He sprang up and stepped around the side of the ticket booth, smiling and raising a hand to greet them.
The girl, a few strides away, let out a startled gasp. She lurched to a stop.
She wore a backpack and carried an instrument case that looked as if it might hold a banjo.
Her face was a faint blur in the darkness. But she didn’t look short and skinny enough to be Liz, or large enough to be Tanya.
“Sorry if I scared you,” Jeremy said.
Her head turned. She looked to the sides, then glanced behind her.
“The others aren’t here yet.”
She faced Jeremy. “So you’re one of them?””
Not, So you’re one of us?
He felt like a fool. The backpack and banjo should’ve tipped him off. She wasn’t a town kid. She was a camper or drifter or something.
“Depends who you mean by ‘them,’” Jeremy said, wondering what she knew.
“The trollers.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. What’re trollers?”
Again the girl looked over her shoulder. Then she walked straight toward Jeremy. “Get out of my way, kid.” It was no timid request. It was a command. Jeremy sidestepped out of her path.
She walked past him. She looked to the right and left, but not back at him, and made her way straight across the boardwalk to the open place between the railings. She trotted down the stairs to the beach.
When she reached the sand, only the top of her head showed. Moments later, her shoulders and backpack came into view. She turned around, and Jeremy felt a quick tug of fear. But she didn’t come toward him. She walked backward several paces, then swung around again and strode away in the direction of the shore.
“Bitch,” Jeremy muttered.
Get out of my way, kid. What was her problem, talking like that?
I should’ve stood my ground and said: Yeah? Who’s gonna make me?
And she smiles—oh, she’s a tough one—and sets down her banjo and swings the pack off her shoulders and takes off her coat. She’s wearing a T-shirt. And she pulls that over her head because that’s just how she likes to fight, in nothing but her jeans.
Jeremy imagined her, bare to the waist, her skin creamy in the moonlight, her nipples dark. She came for him slowly. Hunched over like a wrestler. Arms out. Circling him, looking for an opening.
Don’t force me to hurt you, he warns.
You and what army? she asks.
Yeah, that’d be something. Wrestling with her, throwing her down. It could get really interesting then.
Better, though, if she were Tanya.
How about that, wrestling with Tanya?
She’d cream me.
It’d be worth it, though.
Where is she!
A hand clapped Jeremy on the shoulder, and he flinched and whirled around.
“Snuck up on you Indian-style,” Cowboy said.
“Jeez, you scared the shit out of me.”
“Lucky it was just me. You gotta be on your guard, you’re out here alone. The fuckers’ll have you for breakfast.”
“Where’re the others?”
“Home in bed, I reckon.”
“What’s going on?”
“They called it off for tonight.”
I was right! Jeremy thought. They don’t hate me. It wasn’t a setup.
He had a tightness in his throat and a tingling hollow ache between his eyes, as if he were very close to crying, but he didn’t know whether it was relief or disappointment that made him feel so strange.
“How come?” he asked.
“Damn story in the Standard. Did you see it?”
Jeremy shook his head.
“Some goat-twat reporter did a number on us. Read the dag-blamed riot act. Nate figured the heat might be too much tonight. You seen any cops around here?”
“No.” He thought about mentioning the girl, but decided against it.
“Well, I didn’t reckon it’d be a problem. Nate, though, he likes to play it careful. He was afraid they might have the place staked out tonight or something. Make a big play to grab us. So he got on the horn to Tanya and talked her out of tonight’s little hoot.”
“I didn’t know,” Jeremy said.
“Why do you think I’m here, Duke? Couldn’t have you waiting out here all night, the party called off.”
“Well, thanks.”
“Would’ve been here sooner, but you know how it goes.”
“Sure,” Jeremy said. “Better late than never.”
“Hope you didn’t think we forgot about you.”
“Naw. I figured it was something like this.”
“Come on, let’s get out of here before we get jumped.”