The Traveling Vampire Show

Chapter Sixteen

We’re going to the cops,” I said, and turned a corner toward the police station.

“Do we have to?” Rusty asked.

“Yeah.”

“Your dad’ll find out we went to Janks Field.”

“I don’t care,” I said. I did care, but getting in trouble with my parents didn’t seem like much of a big deal just then.

“He’ll ground you,” Rusty warned.

“Maybe.”

“What about the show?”

“I’m not gonna be allowed to go to that no matter what. And at this point, I don’t give a hot crap about that stupid Vampire Show. I just want to find Slim. The best way to do that is to tell Dad everything that happened.”

Rusty looked shocked. “Not about Slim’s house.”

“We can say we rang the doorbell, but didn’t go in.”

“No! That’ll be admitting we were there!”

“We were there.”

It went on like that for a couple more minutes, but we both shut up as we approached the front doors of the police station.

I went in first. Right away, I regretted it.

With everything else going on, I hadn’t given any thought to Dolly.

The Grandville Police Department was comprised of six cops, my dad included. Two cops per shift, all of whom could be brought into action in case of an emergency.

Since there were no actual police to spare for desk duty, civilians had been hired to act as receptionist/clerk/dispatchers. Dolly worked the day watch.

She was a skinny, bloodless prude. Pushing forty, she lived with her older sister. She disapproved of men in general, and me in particular. The only times she ever seemed happy were when she got to gloat over someone else’s misery.

When I walked through the door, she looked at me from behind the front desk. The comers of her lips curled upward. “Dwight,” she said.

“Hello, Dolly.”

One of her thin, black eyebrows climbed her forehead to show how much she didn’t appreciate any hint of a reference to the Broadway musical.

“Russell,” she said and gave him a curt nod.

“Good afternoon, Miss Desmond.”

She eyed both of us as we approached her. Mostly, she eyed our bare chests. Even though the office was air-conditioned, heat was suddenly rushing to my skin. “Let me guess,” she said. “You’ve come to report the theft of your shirts.”

Rusty laughed politely. It sounded very fake. On purpose, I’m sure.

“We’ve been mowing lawns,” I explained. Not quite a lie. I had been mowing the lawn, Rusty participating as an observer. “Is Dad here?”

“I’m afraid not,” she said, obviously pleased by her announcement. “What seems to be the trouble?”

“I just need to talk with Dad about something.”

“Would it be police business?”

“Sort of,” I said.

She tipped her head to one side and fluttered her eyelashes at me in some sort of mockery of flirtation. “Perhaps you would like to share it with me?”

“It’s sort of personal,” I said.

“In trouble again, are we?” She glanced from me to Rusty, then back to me. “What is it this time?”

“Nothing,” I said. “We didn’t do anything. I just need to talk to Dad for a minute.”

“No can do,” she said, oh so chipper.

“Do you know where he is?”

“Out on a call.” Grinning, she batted her eyelashes some more. “I’m not at liberty to divulge his exact whereabouts. Police business. You understand.”

Rusty nudged my arm and whispered, “Let’s just go.”

“You can radio him, can’t you?” I said.

“No can do.”

“Come on, Dolly. Please. This is important.”

Her eyes narrowed. “This does have to do with your shirts. doesn’t it.” She spoke it as a fact, not a question.

“No,” I said. Though, in a way, our shirts were involved.

She leaned forward, folded her arms on the desktop and slid her tongue across her lips. “Tell me.”

“No can do,” I said.

Off to my side, Rusty snorted.

Dolly stiffened and her eyes flared. “Are you smart-mouthing me, young man?”

“No,” I said.

“I don’t like a smart-mouth.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to….”

“Your father will hear about this.”

I blushed. Again.

She noticed and seemed pleased. “He’ll hear alllll about how you and your pal Russell came barging in here half-naked and got smart with me.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Rusty said.

“Speaking of pals,” Dolly said, “where’s Frances? Why isn’t she here? She’s always with you two.” Dolly leaned further over the desk top and stretched her long neck forward like a curious turtle. “Has something happened to her?”

Mouth hanging open, I shook my head.

“She hasn’t lost her shirt, has she?”

“No.”

“Why isn’t she with you?”

While I tried to think of a good lie, Rusty kept silent.

“What’ve you two done to her?” Dolly demanded.

“Nothing! She’s fine. Are you out of your mind?”

“Out of my mind?” she screeched.

Oh shit, I thought. Now I’ve done it. “Frances is fine!” I blurted.

“OUT OF MY MIND???”

“I didn’t mean it!”

“He didn’t mean it!” Rusty echoed.

“WHERE’S MY GUN???”

I yelled, “FUCK!!!”

Dolly cried out, “WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

By then, we were racing for the door, Rusty in the lead.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY, DWIGHT THOMPSON? WAS THAT THE F WORD YOU SAID? YOUR FATHER IS GOING TO…”

The door shut behind me, cutting off the rest of her words.

We ran around the comer before we slowed down. Rusty was out of breath and laughing at the same time.

“It’s not funny,” I said.

“The hell…”

“If she tells Dad what I said…”

“You’re fucked.”

“It’s not funny,” I repeated, and looked around to make sure nobody was within earshot. We were walking along Central, the main street through Grandville’s business district. Though a few cars were going by and I could see a couple of people in the distance, the area was pretty much dead. Just by the deadness, I knew without looking at a clock that the time must be about two o‘clock. That’s how the town is between two and three o’clock on just about every weekday afternoon.

It was a strange time of day. You could go into the hardware store, the restuarants, the Woolworths, the barber shop, the pharmacy, or just about any other business establishment in the downtown area and you’d be lucky to find another living soul—except for those who worked there.

Since nobody was around, we didn’t need to worry about being overheard.

I didn’t care much for the quiet, though. It gave me an uneasy feeling. If you’re in a forest and nobody’s around, all the better. A forest is supposed to be quiet and peaceful. Not a town, though. A town is meant to be bustling with people. When it’s almost deserted, it feels wrong. At least to me.

It made matters worse, the day being so gray and hot.

It especially made matters worse that Slim was missing.

Just in case I might happen to forget for one minute to worry about her, I couldn’t turn my eyes. anywhere without seeing posters for the Traveling Vampire Show. They were tacked to utility poles, taped to store windows and doors, and several littered the sidewalk and street. I even saw one in a curbside trash basket.

“Somebody was sure busy putting up posters,” I muttered.

“You should’ve been here this morning. They were everywhere.”

“They’re almost everywhere now.”

Rusty shook his head. “Half of ’em aren’t even here anymore.” He patted his seat pocket. “I got mine. And we’ve got tickets! I can’t believe it.”

I gave him a look.

“Cheer up, buddy.”

“I’ll cheer up when we find Slim. If my dad hasn’t killed me by then for saying fuck to Dolly.”

“You know what?” Rusty said. “I bet Dolly won’t even tell on you. She can’t. She threatened us with a gun.”

“She didn’t really….”

“She went, ‘Where’s my gun?’ After that’s when you yelled fuck.”

We were walking past the recessed entryway of a toy store just then. The doors stood wide open, but I glanced in and didn’t see anyone.

“Stop saying that, okay?”

“What, fuck?”

“Come on, Rusty, quit it. We’re in enough trouble already.”

“Dolly won’t tell.”

“Everybody tells in this town.”

Not everybody, I reminded myself. There’s Lee. She was probably the only adult I knew who didn’t take delight in snitching on people.

“Know why I keep saying fuck?” Rusty asked.

“Cut it out.”

“Because I’m so fucking hungry.”

I was awfully hungry, myself. Here it was, somewhere past two o’clock in the afternoon, and I’d eaten nothing all day except for a bowl of Raisin Bran at about nine.

“Okay,” I said. “You stop talking dirty and we’ll get something to eat.”

“Deal.”

“Central Cafe?”

“Great,” Rusty said. “How much money you got?”

“Seven or eight bucks.”

“Can I borrow some off you? Just enough for a cheeseburger and fries. And a chocolate shake.”

“Sure.”

“I’ll pay you back.”

He almost never paid me back for anything, but I said, “Fine.”

As we walked along, Rusty moaned softly. He said, “I love Flora’s cheeseburgers.”

“They’re pretty decent,” I admitted.

“Decent? They’re fabulous. How about the way she butters up those buns and grills ’em so they crunch?”

I was on the verge of drooling when we arrived at the Central Cafe. Looking through the windows, I saw nobody at any of the booths or tables, though one guy was sitting at the counter. Behind the counter stood Flora.

Taped to one of the windows was a poster for the Traveling Vampire Show.

“Oh, shit,” Rusty said.

He pointed to a sign on the restaurant’s door.

NO SHIRT. NO SHOES. NO SERVICE.

“Oh, well,” I said.

He said, “Fuck!”

I said, “Shhh.”

“When did they put this up?”

“It’s probably always been here.”

“I don’t think so. Why don’t we give it a try, anyway?”

“Not me. Let’s just go someplace else.”

“Chicken.”

Not in the mood to argue, I walked away from the door and Rusty. He hurried after me.

“I really wanted one of those cheeseburgers,” he said.

“Me, too. But we lost our shirts in a good cause.”

“If I’d known we were gonna end up starving…”

“You’ll live,” I said.

He groaned. “We should’ve had those sandwiches back at your house when we had the chance.”

“Well, we didn’t.”

“We can go back.”

“Your place is closer,” I said.

He contorted his face to let me know what a lousy idea it was.

I decided not to let him off the hook.

“Why don’t we go there and get something to eat? You can ask your mom about having supper at my place tonight, and maybe I can borrow one of your shirts.”

He sighed. Then he said, “Yeah, okay.”

“A clean one, preferably.”

A smile broke out. “Up yours,” he said.