He dashed through the garage, dodging his way through the maze of clutter, and didnt stop running until he reached the safety of the house.
He shoved the sliding door shut. He locked it.
He pressed his face to the glass and stared at the open garage.
Acting like an idiot, he thought.
But God!
After catching his breath, he opened his trembling hand. He lifted the ring close to his face.
Engraved in the silver that surrounded the garnet were the words Buford High School, and the date 1968.
He looked into the middle of the loop.
Inside the band was a name.
Bonnie Saxon.
Nineteen
I gazed at the ring, dumbfounded. The hideous corpse in my garage now had a name. Bonnie. A pleasant, rather cheerful name.
Perhaps she is a vampire. Somebody thought so, killed her with a stake and used a crucifix to seal her makeshift tomb. But a vampire by the name of Bonnie?
She seems, to me, less frightening than before.
The gruesome, mummified thing in the coffin may indeed be a demonic beast that would drink my blood if unleashed from death. But it was a girl once. A Bonnie lass.
She attended the same high school as my daughter, Lane. She walked the same halls, perhaps sat in the same classrooms, may even have had some of the very same teachers as Lane. She was a girl who ate lunch in the school cafeteria, who probably struggled against dozing off during her afternoon classes, who worried about pop quizzes and homework and zits.
A teenager. Who studied schoolwork. Who watched television. Who listened to the latest music with the volume blaring. Who went to movies, to the schools football games and sock hops and the prom. Who had boyfriends.
The vile thing in my garage was once a teenaged girl named Bonnie...
The door bell chimed. Larry flinched. He scrolled up to remove his words from the computer screen, then hid the class ring under the matchbooks and scraps of note paper scattered on his desktop. He hurried into the living room.
He half expected the person at the front door to be Pete.
He was right.
Hey, bud! After a glance toward his house, Pete gave Larry a sly look. Barbs off grocery shopping. Thought Id drop by and see how our best-sellers coming along.
Not too bad.
He entered, and Larry shut the door.
I guess you really whaled on the thing yesterday, he said.
Yeah, it went pretty well. Sorry I didnt make it over for supper. Time just got away from me and...
No sweat. So how many pages you finish?
I dont know. Quite a bunch.
Terrific. Gonna let me read em? he asked, flopping onto a chair.
Larry hoped his alarm didnt show.
They arent printed up yet, he said.
Well, go do it. Dont let me stop you.
Itd take hours, Larry said. He sat on the sofa, rested his elbows on his knees and shook his head at Pete. Besides, Ill have to make a lot of corrections. Its pretty much of a mess right now.
So whenll I get to read it?
How about when its all done? Larry suggested, trying to smile.
Hey, come on.
No, really. I think itd be best if you dont read any of the thing while Im still working on it. Itd make me too self-conscious.
Oh, bull.
I mean it.
What about my input? Maybe you forgot some stuff.
Ill give you a copy when its finished. If theres anything you want added or changed, I can revise it then. Okay?
Thats kind of late in the ball game, he said, frowning slightly.
You want me to write the thing, dont you?
Yeah, sure. But...
I cant do it if I have to pass every chapter along to you for inspection as I go along. Ill quit right now...
Jeez, dont get in a huff. Do it your way. Im just curious, is all.
Well, thats all right, Larry said, relieved that he had backed off. I didnt mean to get testy about it.
Whats a testi between friends, Pete said, and smiled. Anyway, its going pretty good?
I think so.
Whats next on the agenda?
Well, I need to do those revisions.
I guess weve gotta start thinking about how we break the news to the women, Pete said. Jeanll be home tonight, wont she?
Yeah. Tonight.
Should we just walk her and Barb out to the garage and show them? Or work up to it more gradually?
Guess what we brought home Saturday night?
Something like that.
Suppose we just keep the whole thing secret?
Are you kidding?
Larry shook his head. They wont let us keep a body around. No way. I dont care what we tell them, theyll make us get rid of it.
Theyve gotto find out sooner or later.
Lets wait. We can tell them about it when everythings set to pull the stake. By then the bookll be almost done.
Yeah. Course, they might give us shit about pulling the stake.
Good point.
No pun intended, Pete said.
Larry frowned for a moment, thinking. Okay. Lets pull the stake and thentell them what weve done. After the fact. By that time itll be too late for the gals to screw things up for us.
Pete grinned. Man, will they be pissed!
Thats for sure. The books bound to find a publisher, though. Best-seller or not, Im sure well be seeing a pretty good chunk of money from it. That should get us out of the doghouse.
Maybe they dont have to find out about it, Pete said, until you make the sale.
If we work it right. What we have to do is hide the thing better. Right now, anybody wandering into the garage might stumble onto it.
We useour garage.
I know, I know, Larry said. He was well aware that Pete and Barbara often parked their cars in it, while he and Jean only used their garage for storage.
Theres a crawl space under our house, Pete said. I suppose we could shove the casket under there. If we do it quick before Barb gets back from the store. Wed have to lift it over the fence. Wouldnt wanta be seen lugging it around the front.
Not necessary, Larry said. I know just the place to stash the thing.
Shouldve put it there in the first place, he thought. Maybe I wouldnt have ended up spending the night with it.
Where? Pete asked.
Come on. Well take care of it right now.
They went out the kitchen door and walked up the driveway to the garage. Its bay door was still open. As they entered the shade, Larry hoped that the wet spot on the floor had dried.
Mustve, he told himself.
A few yards beyond the door was a square wooden platform half a foot high. Larry stepped onto it, reached up and caught hold of a dangling rope. He pulled the ropes knotted end. A plywood ceiling panel swung down on hinges.
All right, Pete said. A trapdoor.
Fixed to its top was a ladder folded into three sections. Larry lowered the ladder until the shoes of its side rails rested firmly against the platform.
Gonna be a bitch getting our stiff up there, Pete said.
He was right. Though the ladder stood at an angle like a flight of stairs, it was much steeper than a stairway.
Its the perfect place, Larry told him. Nobodys going to find her.
He stepped aside. Pete climbed to the top and looked around. Yeah, he said. Great if we can manage it. He started down. How come you dont use it for storage?
Never got around to it.
Pretty neat up there. Floorboards and everything. Hotter than shit, though. He grinned. Guess our friendly local vampire wont mind, huh?