The Code
“Hey Car… sorry, Abigail!” Abby’s voice on the other end of the line sounded tired. “Everything okay with…eh… Genevieve?” So the line was tapped again, I thought dumping my cigarette in the ashtray. “Oh, Carol, how nice of you to call,” I exclaimed amused by our changed identities. “You are such a wonderful person, a dedicated mother and the best friend a single woman like me could possibly have.” I couldn’t resist the temptation. Therese was snickering at my words trying at the same time to get me to pay attention to her impromptu striptease.
Therese had picked up some magazines from the shop nearby and was now removing her leather jacket in a rather interesting manner. I had a hard time concentrating on Abby’s voice while she was gyrating her body and massaging her buttocks with the jacket's hem right in front of me. “Abigail!” Abby shouted at me and I snapped out of my reverie. “Yes, Carol darling?” I could hear she was somewhat irritated by my apparent lack of interest. “I just wanted to tell you there may be something you should be concerned about.” She did stress the word ‘concerned’. “What is it?” I inquired averting my eyes from Therese who was flinging her belt in the air.
“My husband Harge may have taken an interest in you as well, dearest Abigail…” What? I grew instantly very worried. "What on earth do you mean, dear Carol?" I purred as innocently as I possibly could. Therese was caressing her breasts while taking her top off. "He has sent a friend of his to find out if there's anything vital you might have pertaining the divorce..." I knotted my brow letting her words sink in. So there was someone shadowing us after all?
"He may want to ask you some questions and since you haven't exactly been yourself lately, I thought I'd give you a heads-up on this." Therese had dropped her pants and brought the front of her briefs quite close to my face. Let's just say we were only seconds away from her really rubbing it in. I had to concentrate on what Abby was saying so I grabbed her and flung her on the bed. Straddling Therese, I could keep on talking with Abby.
"I will send you a message and to read it you will need to go to the nearest bookstore and buy a certain book..." Why does she have to make this so bloody complicated? I agonized silently. A moan escaped my lips but it didn't have anything to do with my inner desperation. Therese was just trying to speed things up. I ended the call abruptly promising to do whatever Abby wanted me to do. After all, there were things I wanted Therese to do immediately.
"What was the name of the book again?" Therese asked me two hours later. I could hardly remember my own name let alone the book's. "I'm not sure... some spicy stuff from an obscure Texan author, I think." I wracked my brain trying to recall what Abby had said. "She said we should take every fifth word and form a sentence or something. Or was it every sixth..?" Luckily Abby sent me a text explaining the code – which was ridiculously difficult. You had to go back and forth in the damn book to get it straight. We did finally find the novel in question and started leafing it through. “Not enough sex”, Therese concluded and I had to agree. It was so promising in the beginning, the voluptuous vixen clearly propositioning to the hapless shop girl but then really taking her time bedding the poor babe. It wasn’t like the girl wouldn’t have gone all the way right off the bat!
“We could use this”, Therese mentioned, “this ‘come to mama’ scenario, don’t you think? I could be like this orphan you’ve found on the street and after you’d fed and bathed me properly, we’d end up banging the night away.” I found her fantasy – isn't she prolific nowadays! – somewhat disconcerting this time. I mean I’m not that much older than she is.
Therese tried to decipher the coded message first. After carefully examining the page numbers, paragraph and word order, this is what she came up with:
"Cactus with fat leaves on her shoulders. Warm flesh like a glass of hot zabaglione. Bahama lilies full of bugs to give me pleasure."
It made absolutely no sense, I told her, but the eloquence my angel conveyed it with was quite something. I thought it was seriously hot. I promised I’d reciprocate her oral prowess with some of my own as soon as we got back to our hotel.
I took the book and gave it another shot:
"Boy scout didn't win the first round. Defeat impossible for him. Look out for the gangling young man with unruly blond hair, the broad lean shoulders, and the big funny feet in moccasins."
Now this sounded more accurate. Abby even called Harge Boy scout so we knew we’d gotten it right this time.
After making the most of the hour we still had left in the motel, we loaded our things back in the car. I had my Derringer wrapped in a scarf in my suitcase and after considering it a while, I decided to put it in my handbag instead. It’s not like I was going to spend time rummaging my valise looking for it if and when push came to shove.
Therese who still kept a keen eye on me had a worried look on her face. “Carol…” she started. “I know, I know!” I hastened to interrupt, “Maybe we could go to some abandoned junk yard and shoot beer cans or something? That way we could justify the gun popping out in the narrative?” It was a lame attempt to appease our concerned minds but Therese seemed to like it anyway. Besides what else was there to do than have sex and practice sharpshooting? It might come handy at some point.
We were speeding down the highway when I became aware that someone was actually following us in the distance. He was doing much better job than Therese when I first met her. He knew how to duck and cover when needed, and if we hadn’t received Abby’s warning, we would have been quite oblivious to his existence.
“What should we do?” Therese asked me nervously. I knew we couldn’t possibly face him since it would have blown our cover right away. He knew damn well what the real Abby and Genevieve looked like and we weren’t – let’s face it – even close. I decided to shake him off our tail.
Shoving my foot on the pedal, we shot away leaving only a thick cloud of dust in our wake. Abby’s Mercedes corresponded to my violent thrusts like a wild beast that had been raring to go for far too long. We could see the Chevy disappear from view as if it had been left standing in the middle of the dirt road. I should have been more careful with my lustful abandon in inciting the four wheeled devil for when I shot a quick glance at Therese I saw the all too familiar darkening of her green eyes. When she got that look in her eyes, there was no stopping her – not even when I screamed “Darling, not now!” and felt her hands plunge feverishly between my thighs once more.
Though I managed to ease the gas the car still bolted like a frightened horse. My knuckles white, I held on to the steering wheel and kept the bloody thing on the road. But the luck just wasn’t on our side… it must have been a nail or an exceptionally sharp-edged rock on the road that punched the air out of the left front wheel. I could feel Therese’s nose bump against my hipbone once the car started careening unsteadily ahead. My poor little waif, my heart ached for her though my life was also flashing before my eyes. An aching heart and an all too boring life that had only recently gotten interesting made me perform a miracle: after severe struggle I finally reigned the Mercedes in and to a full stop.
Our hearts beating wildly, we drowned each other in relieved, happy kisses. However we did realize this was only just the beginning of our troubles. I could already hear the Chevy guy, the gangling young man with his massive, moccasin-covered feet gaining on us rapidly.
Looking like Audrey friggin’ Hepburn in the headlights, Therese picked up my handbag and threw it to me without a word. I knew what she was thinking for I was thinking the same thing. This road wasn’t big enough for both us and the monster feet man, and I wasn’t about to yield for anyone standing in our way.
Standing in the middle of the road, I took my gun out of the bag and waited. The wind blew through my hair as I fixed my eyes on the approaching vehicle.
I looked damn sexy even if I say so myself.