The Traveling Vampire Show

“Take ’em with us.” She raised her arm to lift the strap of the quiver over her head. When she did that, her blouse glided up a couple of inches. I kept my eyes on her face until the quiver was on her back and her blouse was down where it belonged.

“Let’s go see if the clothes are dry,” she said.

I picked up the bag, the two empty bottles, and the shirt I’d borrowed from Rusty.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Slim asked.

I must’ve looked puzzled.

A smile spread across Slim’s face. “I only washed your jeans.”

“Oh!”

She laughed.

I set everything down again, said, “Right back,” and headed for the stairway feeling a little stupid.

I was about halfway up when Slim said, “Dwight?”

I stopped and looked around. “You’d better leave my towel up there,” she said. “Put it back where you got it, okay?”

Leave her towel?

“Okay,” I said.

“And check around the bathroom. We don’t want to leave any evidence behind.”

“Okay.”

“And could you check my bedroom, too? I think I left the light on.”

“I’ll check,” I said and continued up the stairs. At the top, I looked back down at her and said, “Stay put, okay?”

“I will.”

“And yell if anything happens.”

“I will.”

On my way down the hall to her bedroom, the towel started to slip. I held it by the tuck… and wondered why I bothered. After all, she wanted me to leave the towel in the bathroom. What would I do then?

Stepping into her bedroom, I was about to flick the wall switch when I saw that the closet light was also on. I walked toward it, striding over the place where Slim and I had been standing when she’d put my hands on her breasts. Then I was in the closet, standing where she’d stood when she took off her T-shirt. I looked down. The powder blue top of her bikini lay on the floor, just where she’d dropped it.

Maybe she didn’t want it left on the floor.

As I thought about picking it up, however, I remembered Rusty fooling with Slim’s mother’s bra. What if I picked up the bikini top and got an urge to bury my face in it… and Slim suddenly showed up and caught me?

So I let it stay on the floor.

I yanked the string to shut the light off, then rushed back across Slim’s room, hit the switch on my way out, and hurried through the hallway toward the glow from the bathroom.

At the top of the stairs, I paused and saw Slim looking up at me.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“No problem. Your closet light was on.”

“You get it?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks.”

“I’ll be right down,” I said, and entered the bathroom. I started to shut the door, then changed my mind and left it open a few inches so I would be able to hear her… in case.

The first thing I did was take off the towel. Naked, I went to the bar where I’d found it. I folded it neatly and hung it up.

Then I crouched over the bathtub. I turned on the water and rinsed the tub, then used toilet paper to wipe some hairs that had collected over the drain. I tossed the paper into the toilet and flushed.

The counter and sink looked fine.

So I put on my shirt, then my socks and shoes.

And stood there, staring down at myself. The tails of my shirt hung down pretty much the same distance on me as Slim’s blouse did on her. But there was a difference. Slim had nothing down there capable of sticking out.

I did, and it was.

Slim had already caught a look at it in the laundry room when I lost my towel. Still, I wasn’t about to go downstairs this way.

She said to leave the towel up here, I reminded myself.

If she can go around in just her blouse, I can go around in this.

What if her mom comes home?

Never mind her mom coming home; in my condition I wouldn’t be able to stand in front of Slim for ten seconds without having another accident.

To solve the problem, I took off my shirt. Obviously, I couldn’t tie it around my waist by its short sleeves. When I turned my shirt upside-down, however, the corners of the front tails were able to reach around my waist. I tied them together with a half knot over my left hip. The arrangement looked ridiculous and didn’t cover any of my left leg, but it concealed what needed to be hidden. I looked at myself in the mirror and shook my head.

Then I swung open the bathroom door, flicked its light off, and stepped into the hallway.

From the foot of the stairs, Slim grinned up at me. “Good grief,” she said.

“I had to put your towel back.”

As I trotted down the stairs, she stared at me and kept grinning. “You could’ve just worn the shirt, you know.”

“I am.”

“Up where it belongs.”

“No, I couldn’t.”

“I am,” she said.

“I know, but….” I shrugged. “It’s different.”

“Chicken.” Though the grin remained on her face, I caught a hint of disappointment in her eyes.

My God, I thought.

Turning away, Slim said, “We’d better get a move on. I put the knives in the bag with the beers, by the way.”

“Good idea.” I picked up the bag, the two empty beer bottles and Rusty’s shirt. Then I followed Slim into the kitchen. She grabbed her purse off the counter and swung its strap over her other shoulder. Then we went outside.