Decades Ch. 05

All at once, Kelly knew how to get Bobby out of harm's way -- if only there was time. "Who says I'm a nice girl?" she sassed Jimmy.

"Good answer!" Bobby chuckled. "And listen, I want to apologize for Jimmy here. I've known him all his life and he's always been a blowhard." Turning to him, he said, "You can leave now, Jimmy."

"Ain't going nowhere if this Mary's a bad girl." Jimmy kicked out a leg and ran it playfully up Kelly's leg, probably giving her a run in her nylons, she suspected. "Turned bad when you went to college, did you? Where you studying, anyway?"

"Smith." The truth was safe on that point, Kelly thought -- until she realized that meant there were no men for her to be getting naughty with at school. "You can see why I've got my eye out for a man while I'm off campus, then!" she added quickly.

"Well then," Jimmy said a little more agreeably. "Care to help me flip the bird at the military industrial complex and the establishment squares?" His obviously-well-practiced line brought a round of groans and cheers from some of the guys at the other tables.

"I'm sure you can do that all very well on your own," Kelly chirped, gently pushing his leg away from between hers. "Now, Bobby, if you'd care to go someplace a little more comfortable to talk about the Peace Corps..."

"Ha, that's a laugh!" Jimmy snapped. "This guy's Mister Straight Laced. He's not gonna jump in bed with a girl he just met, especially not a friend of his best friend's."

Kelly was terrified Jimmy was right, but she hoped against hope that Bobby -- nice guy though he might be -- was still a guy through and through. She gave him her most girlish cocked head and smile in a last-ditch effort.

She was as surprised as she was delighted that it worked. "What Aurora doesn't know won't hurt her," he announced, sliding down off his stool. "Besides, if it'll get this guy out of our faces, I'll go anywhere! How about a stroll on the beach, Mary?"

"That'll be a good start," Kelly said, already trying to guess how far up the beach she could get him, and if it would be far enough to keep him out of harm's way. "And if he still won't leave us alone..." She reached into her purse to brandish the hotel room key, fully prepared to brave a chorus of inappropriate comments from the peanut gallery behind her.

Just as Kelly was about to pull the key out of her purse, the door burst open and a terrified looking, and vaguely familiar, teenage girl burst in. "Where the hell am I?!" she demanded.

"Not in school, that's for sure," said the older man behind the counter, who Kelly thought might be her old friend Eddie's father. "Do I need to call the truant officer on you?"

"It's summer!" the girl snapped. "Or at least it was before I fell asleep.

"Are you crazy, kid?" asked Jimmy. "It's November! Late November." Turning to the man behind the counter, he added, "And I don't think she's from here anyway. Meg volunteers at the school and I've been by there a couple of times to pick her up and kiss up to Miss Smith and Miss Collison. And..." He paused and leered at the girl, who now looked as disgusted as she was terrified. "I'm quite certain I'd have remembered this little dish!"

"I'm not from here, dummydumb!" the girl snapped, and all at once Kelly felt a lightning bolt go off in her mind. "I'm Miss Smith's granddaughter, and I was visiting her in Pascatawa! Now where am I?!"

"Heather!" Kelly exclaimed, "Listen, you're --"

"Shut up, bitch," Jimmy said. "Now listen, kiddo, this is Pascatawa."

"Is not!" Heather retorted, and turning to Kelly she asked, "How'd you know my name?"

"I'm a friend of Doug's, and yes, this is Pascatawa, but --"

"Doug?! You must be a loser like him, then," Heather snapped. "And I know this isn't Pascatawa! It looks like some lame-ass museum model of Pascatawa!"

"It sort of is," Kelly said.

"What do you mean, Mary?" Bobby asked. "This is as modern as the place has ever looked. I've lived here all my life!"

"Poor you!" Heather grumbled. "But we come here every summer, and it's never looked anything like this. And what's with the crazy clothes, too?" Looking down at her own loud-patterned dress, she added, "I don't even know where these came from!"

"Are you kidding, sweetheart?" Jimmy asked. "Those duds are the latest! Pure nineteen sixty-three!"

"What do you mean?" Heather asked, now more confused than standoffish.

"I'll explain everything, Heather, but keep your mouth shut!" Kelly grabbed Heather's hand and tried to pull her towards the ladies' room, but Heather pulled back against her.

"Let me go!" she whined. "And what do you mean it's...wait a minute, are you saying it's November 1963?!"

"That's what my calendar says," said the now very annoyed soda jerk, tapping the calendar on the wall behind him.

"Oh my God!" Heather exclaimed, and she was off her guard just long enough for Kelly to get a great heave in, almost to the ladies' room. "Is this the day President --"

"SHUT UP!" Kelly roared, to the amusement of the mostly male audience who were now sitting in stunned silence around the shop. "For the love of God, shut your mouth!" When Heather tried to dig in her heels again, Kelly resorted to tripping her. Heather landed hard on her knee and let out a profanity-laced yelp, but Kelly managed to get her into the bathroom. She threw the bolt lock behind them and shoved Heather up against a stall. "Listen," she said more calmly.

"What the hell is your problem, bitch?!" Heather demanded. "And what kind of crazy game is this?!"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Kelly said. "Now, listen. Yes, this is the day Kennedy gets shot. But it hasn't happened yet, and if you say that now, it's going to cause a disaster here. That nice young man I was chatting with when you came in? He's going to end up dead if you don't keep your mouth shut."

"Oh, come on!" Heather said. "Why should I trust you when you're a friend of my loser brother anyway?! And how stupid do you really think I am to believe this is the past? This is some kind of trick, isn't it? I'm not falling for it!"

"I'm not asking you to believe me," Kelly said. "I'm just asking you not to say anything about President Kennedy or what happens to him, okay?"

"Or what?!" Heather demanded. "You're not the boss of me! And don't expect me to believe anyone's going to die just because I mentioned something that happened decades ago!"

"Then I'm just going to have to keep you in here for..." Kelly checked her watch. Exactly 11:30, or 10:30 in Dallas. "Two hours."

"You have no right to do that!" Heather snarled. "I'll cry rape! You think you can get out of trouble for that just because you're a woman?"

"Heather, please!"

"RAAAAAPE!" Heather screeched. "Lady rape! Lady rape!!"

"This is for your own good, Heather!" Kelly growled. With Heather still screaming, she dragged her into a stall and unraveled a fat wad of toilet paper, and stuffed it in Heather's mouth. Then she tore her headband out of her own hair and wrapped it around Heather's head as a gag. Heather tore at her and the headband with her hands, but Kelly easily got her turned over onto the floor and pinned her hands behind her back. Pinning Heather's wrists with her knee, Kelly pulled her coat off and tied it around Heather's hands. Then she pulled the stocking off her right leg and hog-tied Heather's legs with it.

Well before she had finished, Kelly was aware of Bobby knocking on the bathroom door. "Mary?" he was calling again and again. "What on earth is this?!"

Disheveled but victorious, Kelly stood up and unlocked the bathroom door. Bobby got just a quick glimpse of Heather writhing about on the floor before Kelly grabbed his hand and led him down the narrow hall, to what she hoped was a backdoor. "I'll explain, but we've got to get you out of here now!"

"Are you or that girl in some kind of danger?" Bobby asked, pulling back on Kelly's urgent grip.

"No, you are! Please, Bobby!"

"What?!" But he did yield and follow her out into the parking lot.

"This is about that toad Jimmy, isn't it?" Bobby asked as Kelly led him out into the alley behind the beach road. Still a beautiful sunny day and still peaceful in the streets, but Kelly could only guess if it would stay that way or for how long. "That little brat was one of his fans?"

"Okay, you got me," Kelly lied, taking Bobby by the hand and pleased to see he didn't pull it away. "Aurora also had me look up his girlfriend, Meg -- you know her?"

"They're married now, since last summer. Didn't she tell you?"

"Right, yeah, she did!" Kelly turned at the corner, reasoning they were less likely to be accosted on the busy beach road if Jimmy came after them, or if Heather escaped. "Sorry, I forgot. What I didn't forget was she told me how jealous Jimmy was of her old friend Bobby, and there was some sick practical joke he had in the works, something about crazy accusations against you."

"I heard her screaming rape," Bobby said. "But I thought she was talking about you."

"I think that was just Plan B," Kelly said. "She wasn't counting on me to run interference, you know?"

"So this bad girl stuff was all a ruse to get me out of there?" Bobby asked as they stepped into the relative safety of the awning-shaded sidewalk of the beach road. He now seemed reluctant to continue following her.

Kelly bit her lip -- Jimmy would understand, they had an agreement -- and she whipped around so Bobby butted up against her almost flirtatiously. "It wasn't just that, Bobby," she said. "I really am thinking about the Peace Corps, I really did want to meet you anyway because Aurora showed me a picture of you and you were awfully cute, and..." She burst into fake giggles that didn't sound convincing to her but did appear to do the trick on Bobby. "I am really a bad girl!" she whispered in his ear, and gave it a playful bite while she was at it.

Bobby jumped back in surprise. "Wow! So you're one of those wonderful young ladies who are seeking true fulfillment outside of marriage, then? Good for you!"

"You read The Feminine Mystique!" Kelly was delighted. "I mean, yeah, that's right, but I knew that before I read it. I just didn't have a word for it, you know?"

"'The problem that has no name,'" Bobby quoted. "Good for you for not falling into that trap. But you just met me, Mary!"

"Yes, and I want to hear more about the Peace Corps first and foremost," Kelly said. Her heart leapt as she saw two figures burst out of the malt shop down the block, one of whom looked like Jimmy. They were shoving one another back and forth. She hadn't stopped the riot, then, but she had kept Bobby out of it -- so far. Taking him by the arm, she guided him up the street, praying he wouldn't look behind them. "I also want to get out of this chill now that I only have one stocking!" she added with a laugh. "I've got a room at the Lumiere. Maybe we can get some lunch while we're there."

"The Lumiere? Color me impressed!" Bobby said. He also didn't look displeased with Kelly's slightly intimate comment about her stockings. "So you used your other one to tie that poor girl's feet?" he asked.

"She's not a poor girl, she's a little brat who needs help," Kelly said, as she poured every ounce of resolve she had into not looking behind her at the scene outside the malt shop; Bobby would surely do the same if she did. "And she almost got you in a lot of trouble."

"Right now I'm wondering what kind of trouble you want to get me in," Bobby said with a grin, and he squeezed her hand playfully.

"Well, that's up to you, now, isn't it?" Kelly said. "I'm a bad girl, but I hear you're a good boy!"

"Not too good, I hope!" Bobby said as they got to the Lumiere's front door. It had what Kelly guessed was probably the only revolving door in town, and Bobby insisted on ladies' first. "I've never been in here before," he confessed as they stepped into the lobby. "It's palatial!"

"Isn't it, though," Kelly agreed. "I'm a lucky girl all right." She allowed herself a quick look around the pristine lobby, dotted with space-age couches and lounge chairs where guests were smoking and drinking and chatting. The clock above the front desk read 11:52 AM. An hour and a half until their world changed forever.

But Kelly's job wasn't done yet, as she was reminded when the first telltale signs of trouble down the street appeared out on the sidewalk. Several men were rushing down both sides of the street, and a few older women just outside the hotel were gazing intently down the block. Bobby noticed as his eyes were still wandering all about the lobby. "I wonder what's going on outside?" he said.

"We can go see for ourselves after lunch," Kelly said. "But that can wait. I'm hungry."

She felt another stab of panic as she realized she had no idea which room her key was for; but that lasted only as long as it took her to pull the key out of her purse and see the number 317 stamped on it. Probably on the third floor, she concluded, and she asked the elevator operator for as much as they stepped into the elevator, which was as ornate as the lobby. That, thank heavens, had Bobby still mesmerized on the ride up.

Room 317 overlooked the beach, but it was too far up to offer a clear view of the street. A huge, blocky white suitcase much like one she recalled her mother using sat unpacked by the bed, and a clutch of notebooks and books sat on the desk, looking like "Mary" had indeed been well into her research. Kelly sat down on the bed and hiked up her left leg, knowing she was surely affording Bobby a look at her panties, and rolled the stocking down. "I hate nylons anyway," she said. "But its just too cold out there to go without in this dress!"

"It's...a nice dress," Bobby said. "And yeah, women never have anything good to say about nylons, I've noticed."

"They run so easily," Kelly said. "Jimmy probably gave me one when he felt me up there in the malt shop."

"I'm so sorry about that!" Bobby said, sitting on the bed a respectful distance from Kelly.

"It was worth it to get you out of that place," Kelly said. "Listen, Aurora's told me a little about it, all the great times you had, but that was high school, right? I don't know about you, but I don't want to go back."

"Well, you've got the right mindset for the Peace Corps," Bobby said. "I think. I mean, I haven't joined up either. It's just that from the first time I heard about it, I always thought 'yeah, that's me! That's what I want to do! My parents didn't vote for Kennedy because he's Catholic and they're a couple of old squares, but my God, I love that man."

Kelly couldn't resist a look at the clock. Bobby's idol had, she guessed, about eighty-seven minutes to live. "Me too," she said. "So nice to have someone who gets people our age, you know?" She stood up and went to the desk, hoping to find some sort of brochure. "Here, what do you think of teaching math and science in Nigeria?"

"I stink at math," Bobby said. "But if you can do it, great. Especially if you can encourage girls to like science and tech. You probably know how few of them there are in those fields."

Kelly couldn't hide her delight -- she'd saved the life of a guy who got that in 1963?! But, she reminded herself, her job wasn't done yet. Nonchalantly she opened the pamphlet and read through it. "Yes, you're so right," she said, "And it looks like they do have girls in class here. That's great. To answer your question, though, I'm...well, okay in math. Maybe I can take some more classes in it and apply for this track when I graduate. God, that seems so far off. Three more years!"

"Don't I know it," Bobby said, flopping back flat on the bed. "I know I want to go, but I don't know where or what I want to do. I'm sorry, Mary, I don't really know if I can be of much help. But it's nice to meet someone who's going through the same. Do you still want to get lunch? There's a great fish and chips place just up the street."

Kelly knew that place, but in the nick of time she spotted a menu on the bedside table. "Let's order room service!" she said.

"That's expensive," Bobby replied.

"It's on me," she said. "This is my mini fall break, and I'm in the mood to splurge." As she walked by the bed to retrieve the menu, she chanced a look out the window and saw a clutch of police officers running down the street, so she was careful not to draw attention to herself until she got back to the desk. "What do you feel like? Pasta? Steak?"

"Steak?!" Bobby sat up. "Mary, I just met you! And I owe you one if anything, for getting me out of the malt shop." Kelly couldn't resist a smirk at that, since the poor dear had no idea just how right he was, but she caught a lucky break when he misinterpreted the look on her face. He stood up and cautiously opened his arms. "Seriously, Mary, I haven't thanked you for that properly yet."

She let him hug her, and returned the gesture. "You don't owe me a thing, Bobby."

"Well, you certainly don't owe me a steak!" he said.

"How about a club sandwich, then? That's what I want."

"Perfect," he said, pulling back to look at her but still holding her.

"And then if you want to thank me properly after lunch..." Kelly grinned and slid out of his embrace, then took his hand in both of hers and placed it on her right breast. "I told you I'm a bad girl," she said with a wink."

"Wow!" Bobby looked at his hand as if it had been dipped in gold. "This is not what I usually hear about Smithies, I'll tell you."

"Don't believe everything you hear," Julie said, picking up the phone to place the order.

Bobby showed warning signs of straying to the window while she was on the phone, so she hooked a finger in his belt loop and playfully pulled him back to her, and tickled his belly. Bobby laughed and sprawled back on the bed, and stayed out of harm's way from then on. He was still lying back, feet on the floor, when Kelly hung up. She climbed on top of him and teased his sides with his fingers. "Ticklish, are we?"

"The way my cousins used to tease me about that," he said. He retaliated by tickling Kelly's bare legs, and she pretended to lose her balance and fall to his side, leaving her in easy kissing range. There were no further concerns about Bobby straying from the bed until their sandwiches arrived.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, have you done this before?" Bobby asked as they crowded around the desk to eat.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Kelly said reflexively, having fended off all sorts of questions like that in her own time. "But, well, no, Bobby. I've always wanted to, though, you know? Life is short, and if you see someone who grabs your fancy..."

"Let him grab something else?" Bobby teased.

"Exactly!" Kelly laughed.

"I sure hope that mindset catches on," Bobby said.

"I'm pretty sure it will." Kelly couldn't help herself.

"What makes you think that?"

"Call it woman's intuition."

It was just after 11:30 when they'd polished off the last of their sodas. Fifty-seven minutes to go, but at least there was nothing suspicious out the window that she could make out from her perch by the desk. "Now then," she said as they piled their dishes on the tray. "Where were we before lunch arrived?"

"Why, I believe you were just about to make a man out of me," Bobby grinned. "Or something."

"Don't expect me to believe I'm your first!" Kelly said. She stood up and helped him to his feet.

"You're not from Pascatawa," he said.

"I've heard enough about the place from Aurora," Kelly countered. "The cove?" That brought a stab of humiliation as she recalled what she was in for back home, but this was no time to worry about that.

"Never been there," Bobby said. "Meg and Aurora have, but that's all the more reason for me to stay away. How'd you like your best male friend to see you in your underwear?"