Blood Wild

As the blue Chevy glided past the wheezing old bus, the blond-haired girl glanced up at the bus and seemingly locked those bright blue eyes on Tom's own eyes. She smiled at him and her hand seemed to wave at him... and then she was gone, replaced by a slightly hazy blue smoke hanging in the air.

***___***___

"Who are you waving at girl?" Deeny said with a wry grin as she glanced sidelong at her sister Lee as they passed the rickety old school bus.

Lee began to blush immediately and bit her bottom lip and tilted her head down slightly even as she began to grin sheepishly at her older sister.

"I think it was that boy from down the road a-ways from home. I've seen him around school but I have never talked to him." She said looking back over her shoulder at the bus falling farther and farther behind them.

"You mean little Tommy Branson?" Deeny asked with one eyebrow arched, again glancing at her younger sister.

"I think he goes by Tom now, and he's not so little." Lee declared almost as if talking in her sleep. She sighed and smirked, almost frowned as she turned back around to look forward once more.

"Oh girl! I know that look... listen, you don't need to be thinking about Tommy Branson, if he's anything like his pa he'll be nothing but trouble!" Deeny said with a frown and shook her head negatively. "He's meaner than a snake! You steer clear of that Tommy, you hear?" Deeny turned to look at Lee to see if she was getting the message. She wasn't or at least not taking it to heart anyway.

Lee kept her mouth shut but, in her mind, she was thinking that Tom wasn't like that at all. He seemed almost shy most of the time. There was something about those deep brown eyes of his though, Lee knew she could get lost in them if she looked for very long. That wasn't a problem though as she was just as shy if not more so that Tom seemed to be. She tended to hang around other more boisterous girls so that she didn't have to interact much with other people.

The old blue Chevy pulled into the parking lot at the high school and then slowed to a stop at the curb near the front entrance. Other kids were standing in groups here and there, their own little social groups. Students were getting dropped off or unloading from the few buses that had already arrived that morning. Lee grabbed her books and opened the passenger side door to get out of the car. Closing the door, she leaned over to look through the window at her older sister.

"What time do you think you'll get off work today?" Lee asked her sister as Deeny checked her teeth and smile in the rearview mirror.

"Same time as every day... whenever it slows down and they don't need me at the diner." Deeny said in a sarcastic slightly petulant voice bordering on whining. She turned to look at Lee and grinned.

"I'll come pick you up here at the school after I get off work. Maybe we can stop and get an ice cream on the way home." Deeny added with a softer smile, seeing Lee's eyes light up and her own smile in return.

Lee stepped back away from the car and Deeny eased the clutch out and the old Chevy pulled away from the curb as she headed back out to the road. As the car turned out of the parking lot and onto the road, the old school bus they had passed on the way in was turning into the parking lot. Lee fiddled around with her books, stalling to wait and see Tom exit the bus along with a bunch of other kids.

Tom's head was down, as it often was, as if he were lost in thought. His books were tied with a leather strap and slung over one shoulder as he plodded from the bus to the main entrance of the school. As he was approaching the doors, someone bumped his shoulder and his books slipped out and fell to the ground. Turning and bending to pick them up, Tom nearly knocked Lee over as she was attempting to pick up his books as well.

They both blushed a bit smiling self-consciously. Tom turned to pick up another book and Lee squatted down to pick up the last one. She raised her hand with the book as if to pass it to Tom. Her other hand was on the ground to stabilize herself. The book was taken from her hand and a hip bumped into her shoulder knocking her sprawling on the ground at Tom's feet. The hip belonged to one miss Sylvia Redmond. She was smiling at Tom and handing him the book she took from Lee's hand.

"Gracious! Lee! You should be more careful waddling around like a duck. I almost tripped over you!" Sylvia said with a look of surprise on her face that didn't match the sneer in her voice.

"Here you go Tom. I think this belongs to you." Sylvia said as she handed the book to Tom.

Tom smiled bashfully at Sylvia then turned and reached out a hand to offer help to Lee to get up from the ground. Lee turned from staring daggers at Sylvia to shyly smile as she took Tom's offered hand. A look of peevish anger crossed Sylvia's face, unseen by Tom however as his eyes were on Lee. Tom all but lifted Lee from the ground with one arm, his hand clasped in hers. Two of Sylvia's friends stopped and elbowed next to her curiously taking in the action to see what was going on. Both girls, smirking as they knew Sylvia very well and knew that she had her eyes on Tom.

"What's up Syl?" the freckled faced, curly red-haired Delores Bennet asked while popping her ever present chewing gum noisily, giving Lee a sidelong glance. She hugged her own load of books to her flat chest adding to the camouflage created by her frilly pink floral printed blouse over a barely knee length tartan skirt. Her knee-high socks giving way to black and white saddle shoes, one of which was tapping impatiently as if she was halfway annoyed at the hold up.

"Looks like someone took a tumble." Rita Fuller, the second girl chirped as she twisted a stray lock of her straight blond hair around and around the index finger of her right hand. Her hair otherwise laying limply on her fuzzy white sweater covered shoulders. She too, wore a questionably short skirt of dark blue that was pleated much the way the cheerleader uniforms were. Her White knee-high socks might have come out of the same package as the ones Delores were wearing. The black and white saddle shoes she also wore might make people think it was some sort of uniform actually.

Sylvia looked at her friends, then tilted her head slightly to one side in question, turning to look behind her and around.

"Where's Trina?" She asked.

Both girls shrugged their shoulders as if bored. About that time the first bell rang, and the crowds of students coming and going at the entrance and in the hallways sped up and headed towards their own designated classrooms. The three girls giggled in a mean way, if that's possible, and headed off to their own first class.

Dusting her own skirt off hurriedly, Lee was still blushing a bit when Tom backed up in the opposite direction looking very distracted. And he too was blushing a little bit. Lee picked up her purse and her book satchel and smiled once more before she too bolted towards her first class.

"Bye." She said nervously, not waiting to see if Tom would even respond.

Tom stood there like a statue for as long as it took Lee to make the turn into the next hallway and disappear. He then shook himself out of his fog and darted down the hall in the other direction to his first class.

***___***___

On the other side of town, near the interstate off ramp, the old faded blue chevy came to grinding halt as the dust from the gravel parking lot billowed up in a cloud around it. Deeny leaned over to see herself in the rearview mirror as she applied a little lipstick to her pursed lips. She was never one to wear much in the way of makeup, as she didn't really need it, especially with the same blue eyes that she shared with her little sister, but she did like to draw attention to her lips. Those full, sensual lips that created such a beautiful smile when she cared to share it anyway. Plus, it was good for tips.

Deeny got out of the old car and brushed down the front of her uniform blouse and skirt. She still felt as if it were a little shorter than it needed to be but she was tired of arguing about it with Hank, the owner and manager of the diner. With everything in place, she walked across the parking lot to the front door and went inside. As always, it was usually busy this time of day, with a mix of locals and travelers off the interstate. Not all of the booths were occupied but nearly all the stools at the counter were.

Yvonne, an older but seasoned waitress herself, gave Deeny a fleeting smile, and a single eyebrow raised in silent question as she refilled a customer's coffee cup.

"Good morning, Yvonne." Deeny said as she rounded the end of the counter and wrapped a serving apron around her waist while looking at the order slips on the call wheel in the window to the kitchen behind the counter.

"I'm glad you could make it Deeny. Wish you could get here a little earlier of the morning though. I've had to deal with Bill all morning by myself." Yvonne said as she replaced the coffee pot on the warmer.

"Bill? I thought he was on last night. Hank's not here today?" Deeny wondered out loud, giving Yvonne a questioning look.

"Apparently, Hank had a bit of a late-night last night and wasn't feeling very well this morning." Yvonne stated with a harumph and a smirk on her face.

"I don't suppose it would have anything to do with staying out late drinking, would it?" Deeny posed under her breath before she turned to the counter with a smile on her face and checked who needed refills of coffee or wanted to order anything else to eat.

"Chances are..." Yvonne said with that same smirk. Before adding, "I'm gonna go take fifteen. I gotta get off my tired achy feet for a few minutes' girl, do you mind?"

"Not at all Yvonne, I got it." Deeny smiled warmly at her fellow waitress as she shooed her away.

Yvonne smiled and swatted Deeny's rump as she slipped past her, untying her apron before she even made it to the end of the counter. She grabbed her purse and went through the kitchen to the back door of the diner to step outside and take a seat on the steps beside the loading dock. Yvonne pulled out a leather cigarette purse and drew out a Virginia Slim and a lighter. One long draw after lighting up and she seemed to melt with the release of tension in her shoulders and neck.

Yvonne Louise Anderson, twice married, twice divorced and weary but wise beyond her years, was tired. Tired of so much bullshit and grab ass from so many men that she encountered almost daily before moving here to Helton Missouri. Mostly, she moved to get away from her last ex-husband if she were honest about it. But even before that, she knew she as much, if not more, liked the company of other women far more than she liked men. What was hard, though, was finding other women with the same likes and desires. She'd only met a few and even those relationships didn't seem to last very long. Often, she thought to herself, it was because she tried to go too fast. She needed to be patient, to let things develop and grow between her and whoever she took a liking to in the future.

There was a bit of a lull later, other than keeping the endless coffees flowing, Deeny and Yvonne were chatting with the various customers when a familiar face walked in. Well, familiar to the locals anyway. The perpetual dazzling toothy grin and the bright blue eyes that seemed to take in everything but most notable at first glance would but the unruly head of bright red, almost orange hair. Anthony Leroy Cambrick, the newest member of the County Sheriff's department. Cam to his friends and he seemed to think most everyone was his friend.

Cam had been the star quarterback in high school, just six years earlier. He had had the pick of all the girls in school it seemed but he had always taken a shine to Deeny who was two years his junior. She was his date for Cam's Senior prom in fact. Seeing him, and that smile just made parts of Deeny tingle. With a snarky grin she walked down the counter to where he had just taken a stool.

"Hey hotshot... how's things in the Sheriff's office?" Deeny quipped as she took a towel and wiped the counter in front of Cam.

"Running me ragged today, wait, what day is this? I've been up so long I forgot." Cam said with his perpetual smile even as he ran both hands down his face while stifling a yawn.

Now that she was closer to him, Deeny could see that Cam's eyes looked tired, and she wondered why that was. Cam was only a rookie deputy on the Sheriff's department. But then again, she guessed he would get stuck with a lot of busy work and shit jobs because of his lack of seniority in the department.

"You look tired Cam, what's up?" Deeny said in a softer more concerned voice so as not to be overheard by the other patrons at the diner.

As she poured him a steaming cup of black coffee, Cam looked tiredly into her eyes, then glanced around the diner to see if anyone was listening in or paying overly much attention to him. As he turned back to her, Deeny was offering him a menu. Cam waved it away with his hand before leaning a little closer to speak to her quietly.

"I'm actually on the job. I was told to come here this morning and have a talk with Hank. The Sheriff sent me with some questions about last night." Cam said with his head tilted slightly to one side as if waiting for an answer or comment from Deeny.

"I'm afraid you're out of luck then. Hank didn't come in this morning. Word is he wasn't feeling very well today." Deeny said in a quiet voice in response. Looking around herself to check for eavesdroppers, she continued... "We figured he was hungover from drinking too much or partying too much last night. It was poker night I think." She said as if that explained everything.

"Order up!" Shouted Bill from the kitchen as he rang the pick-up bell in the window.

Deeny, motioned to Cam to wait a moment with her index finger raised on her right hand, before she turned and strode over to the order window and picked up the plate and read the ticket to double check it. She grabbed the carafe of coffee off the machine's warming pad and headed to one of the booths near the door. In a couple of minutes, after stopping at two other tables to top off coffee cups, Deeny rounded the back of the counter and set the carafe back on its pad before coming back to Cam.

"Was there some sort of problem last night? Someone cheat at the game or something?" Deeny asked curious as to what would get Cam sent out to ask questions.

"I really shouldn't say Deeny. It's an ongoing investigation after all. Serious business." He said with an almost embarrassed grin on his face.

"We just want to know where Hank was after the game broke up last night. There was a..." Cam grimaced as he caught himself about to give out some information that maybe he shouldn't share.

One eyebrow rode up on Deeny's slightly perplexed face as she wiped her hands on a towel distractedly. Hank was well known for his love of poker and, of course, drinking. He was almost as much of a lush as her own father. Wait... Was her father at the same poker game last night too? The odds of there being more than one illicit boozing poker game in this backwater county on the same night were slim at best. With a frown growing, out of unexplainable concern, Deeny tilted her own head while she pondered, then leaned closer to Cam.

"My father stumbled home drunker than a skunk late last night too. I'll bet he was at the same game last night. You might get some answers from him, if he remembers anything." Deeny said in a very quiet but hard voice.

Cam looked into her light blue eyes. The same eyes he had become lost in back in high school. Had he not gone off out of state to college there might have been something more between the two of them, Cam and Deeny. Momentary reminders of regrets of what might have been were fleeting however, as he was working. Breaking eye contact for a moment, Cam pulled out his little note pad and a pencil and jotted down a few lines to remember later.

"Do you think Hank will make it in at all today then?" Cam asked, sounding a little less tired than he had just a few minutes ago... but then it might have been the coffee to thank for that.

"I don't know Cam. Bill stayed over to cover, but I don't see him staying all day. So, yeah, I think Hank will make it in at some point today. When? I can't tell you." She said then paused and added. "Maybe you should go home and get a little sleep. It's not like anyone's been shot or anything."

Cam's head snapped up and his eyes locked on hers with questions as serious as any he had spoken earlier. Turning his head slightly to one side, he stared hard into Deeny's eyes.

"I didn't say anything about a shooting... what have you heard Deeny?" He asked guardedly, maintaining steady eye contact with hers.

"What? Only what you've told me and what we know, that Hank was at a poker game last night. Why? Was there a shooting last night? Who was it? Who got shot? Who do they think did it?" Deen asked, her blue eyes wide with shock and wonder as she leaned closer to Cam awaiting answers.

"I... I really can't say Deeny... it's an ongoing investigation..." Cam said, a little flustered.

Fishing a few coins out of his pocket and sliding them onto the counter, Cam stood up from the stool and put his pad and pencil in his breast pocket. Then he picked up his hat and nodded to Deeny telling her he'd see her later sometime, he had to get back to work. Deeny watched him leave the diner and go out to his patrol car.

A shooting in this county? Deeny shook her head at first but then figured if there was alcohol involved, and knowing her father and his seedy past... If he were involved that meant probably someone's girl or wife might have been the reason for a shooting. But her father wasn't shot, so maybe it wasn't that. Shaking her head to rid herself of those thoughts, Deeny went back to work waiting on her customers.

Yvonne was just tying her apron back on as Deeny returned to start another pot of coffee. Deeny told her she just missed Cam. Yvonne's eyes lit up and her eyebrows rose questioningly as she looked at Deeny.

"Girl... you've been down that road before... I hope you're not thinking of what I'm thinking." Yvonne said teasingly.

"Me?" Deeny said with a smirk looking Yvonne up and down. "More like you hope I'll leave him be for you to do whatever you're thinking."

"What? And give up my favorite girl?" Yvonne said in a soft whisper close to Deeny's ear as she swatted Deeny's rump.

Deeny yelped a bit but giggled and shook her head as she headed back out to refill coffee cups and check if anyone wanted to order anything else.

Yvonne watched the younger girl go, her uniform skirt swishing with a little extra swing in the hips she thought. Shaking her head just a little she smiled to herself remembering that as tempting as Deeny might be, she was still very young and Yvonne shouldn't rush anything with her. Past experience taught her that while most girls liked the flirting, taking it farther could be disastrous if rushed.

Deeny was sweet, but she was also smart as a whip and that was what attracted Yvonne in the first place. Patience, she told herself, patience. Yvonne could tell that Deeny had been hurt before, and might not be completely past that yet. She'd get the story out of the girl eventually... patience.

***___***___

Cam parked his old cruiser in the only remaining parking space outside of the county Sheriff's office. Being the rookie of the department, he got all the leftovers as far as equipment and of course all the shit jobs to go with it all. Like this morning... well... last night running into this morning. He got a call at home off shift to come in and help out with this case.