Boot Camp Blues

"Alright, I'll tell yah, and then I'm out of here, and don't forget the money for the sitter," she said, wiping her face. I put some cash on the table and she continued.

"Ok, I'm pretty sure I know why they stopped," she said, as she crumpled up the papers again. "There was a little incident between her and the blonde."

"Incident?"

"Yeah, even though we were good friends back then, she always made me feel a little uneasy. Lets just say I think she liked showering with the other girls more than she should have, even though she always had a boyfriend, if you know what I mean?"

I nodded. She had nailed my attention at "showering with the other girls."

"Well, I remember that her and the sexy blonde seemed to bond really quickly. And their bunks were only a foot or two apart. I think you can see where this is going."

I did, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity. "I'm confused," I said, scrunching my face, while trying not to chuckle.

"Ok, you're not the smartest cop in the world, are you?"

"I'm no Francis Poncherello," I said, with a fake laugh. (Ponch, was the good looking guy from the TV show, CHiPs.)

"Anyways," she groaned and went back to shuffling the papers.

"We had to wear these old pull-over shirts to bed, but they were sized for grade schoolers. Well, one night, I think it was like a week into the camp, I was awakened by the lights being turned on and the bald guy's screaming. When I cleared my eyes I saw that the blonde and Wendy were in the same cot, and Wendy was scrambling to put her shirt on, but the bald guy yanked it away from her. The female guard was also there, and when she pulled the blonde off the cot, I saw that her panties were wrapped around her ankles. Even though I was still groggy, I could put two and two together."

She looked up with a wise look. I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Oh yah, I think the guards slept at the school, too, 'cause they were always there. Anyways, I was surprised to see the bald guard move one of their cots to the center of the room, because I thought they were bolted down. I was also surprised to see the blonde take off her night shirt and Wendy slide off her panties, leaving them both buck naked. I thought they were in for a whipping, but they had other plans."

This time when she looked up at me, and I shrugged my shoulders, I meant it. "Who's 'they'?" I asked.

"The guards...they wanted them to...ah, perform."

"Perform?" I said a little more excitedly then I wanted.

"Yeah, it had to be Baldies idea. At first, they refused, but then they were told to pack their bags. That's the way it was at camp, either you took their punishment, or got naked when they told you too, or you left. Honestly I don't know what I would have done at that point. The female guard even made the rest of us gather around their cot. It was tough to watch."

"What did they do?"

"Fucking pig," she hissed. Funny, if I had a nickel for every time someone called me that.

I cleared my throat. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I meant did they actually do it...ah, do each other?"

She just nodded her head, while she looked at me with disgust. "What do you wanna hear...all the perverted details? How they sucked on each others breasts and then got into a side-by-side sixty nine and ate each other out...all while we watched. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

(A silly little song about a dog named bingo suddenly filled my head.)

"Well, Wendy left with the two guards, and Blondie moved her cot back. When I woke up the next morning, there was another girl sleeping in Wendy's cot. They separated the two of them, and that's why it stopped.

"And she couldn't get back to retrieve the journal?"

"No, apparently not," she said, rather tartly. "The other group was on the other side of the school. We never even saw them, or worked with them. So for the next week, I never saw Wendy at all. And it took years to renew our friendship."

"And you knew nothing of the journal?"

"I said I didn't!" she snapped. But after a four or five seconds she added, "Look, I knew she was writing something, and late one night I thought I even saw her hide something behind my locker, but I never knew what it was until you showed up here tonight with these pages, 'cause I never looked."

"Did anything ever happen to you?"

"Nothing like that. I kept my nose clean, and I didn't play Baldie's games."

"Games?"

"Yeah, you know, it was in the summer, it was hot, and it was hard work. So he let us know that if we wanted a day off, come see him in his air conditioned office. He wasn't too subtle. And I never did, so don't ask."

"And did Wendy?"

"Well one day it was real hot, and I noticed Blondie wasn't around. It was actually the day of the big scene. I remember teasing Wendy about her not being there, and I remember how mad she got. At the time I thought it was 'cause she hated Baldie so much. Although Baldie seemed to have a thing for her."

"Do you think it was a set up?"

"Welcome to the party.... Yeah, to this day I think Blondie set her up. I mean, after that night Blondie never went out on work detail again, and Baldie finally got Wendy into his office."

"Are you sure?"

She just nodded her head, then paused and frowned. "Oh my god! This isn't about Baldie at all...or even me. No, this is about Wendy."

"What?" I blinked, a little confused.

"Yeah, you know the truth about her son and what it might do...."

"Unh," I shrugged. This was the first I'd heard about a son.

"To the election.... I get it, someone paid you to dig up some dirt...or maybe you're planning to do some blackmailing. Yeah, you know she'd do just about anything to make sure no one ever found out about this shit."

Heather stood up, ripped the papers into pieces (another reason for the copies), tossed them into my face, and stormed off. (She grabbed the sitter money.)

I brooded for a couple of minutes, but was then interrupted by the pretty little waitress bringing the check over. I made some small talk with her before mentioning that I was staying at a local motel, with a wink. Smooth, eh? She answered by tossing a glass of water in my face. It was pretty daring, 'cause it could've gotten her fired. But it was a small glass, and all the ice had melted, and it was kind of refreshing....

But I left her a nickel tip.

Back at my motel room, I made a phone call. It seems like Heather had been right about Wendy's having a son. I overlooked him because he was now an 18-year-old college freshman, who had been raised by his grandmother, and who still used his mother's maiden name. I had his date of birth, and the math was easy. He was born in May the year after Wendy went to boot camp. Yep, about nine months later. I also figured Heather was probably right about Wendy being willing to do anything to keep this from getting out, especially now.

On the drive back to Vermont my mind was a-buzz with possibilities. But I'm not really a blackmailer, and her husband was friendly enough with my father (the sheriff) to know he should stay out of our business. So he had my vote.

But after all I went through to dig up the information, it was really tough to do nothing with it..., and now Wendy seemed like such an obnoxious bitch. I even found out that her husband was favored to win the election.

So I think I'll sit on the journal and my Heather tape a little while longer.

I mean -- I've never strip-searched a governor's wife...yet.

The End

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