Strange Bedfellows

ALL CHARACTERS ARE ADULTS.

Robin Rizzo looked like a young Liz Taylor, everyone said it, and it was true, her beauty was striking. Robin was a reporter for the Bay City Sentinel, and the owner of a brand new Detroit Motors 'Road Rager' convertible she splurged for after her promotion to Senior Investigator.

She bought the Road Rager with all the sexy options featured in the tv ads, and it was a marvel when it all worked, which wasn't often. It was always something, and the something was almost always the computer that controlled everything. In six months Robin's car was in the shop for repairs seven times, and now number 8. When she switched ON the headlights the trunk opened.

Robin was the only customer sitting in the Detroit Motors Service Department lobby, and she'd already waited forty-five minutes without anyone appearing behind the counter. She heard laughter and chatter behind the 'employees only' door, and looked at her watch. She thumbed through ancient sports magazines for another fifteen minutes, until her patience was gone, and stuck her head through the door. "Hello?" She called.

A young woman stuck her head out the door of an office, looked at Robin, and spoke, "What?"

"Can someone help me? I've been waiting in the lobby for an hour to see someone and get my car fixed."

The girl rolled her eyes, muttered something under her breath, and spoke to someone in her office," I guess I better go to work, the natives are restless!"

"Hey! I didn't come here for some attitude! I came here to get the car you sold me for forty-thousand dollars, fixed. You got a boss I can talk to?"

The girl glared at Robin and walked past her to the service department lobby, then paged someone for customer care assistance. Another fifteen minutes passed before anyone responded. Finally a tall man came, Robin thought he looked like Lee Van Cleef, the bad guy in all the old Clint Eastwood movies. He spoke briefly with the girl before speaking to Robin.

"My daughter tells me you're unhappy. So?"

"So my car I bought from you is broke again," Robin replied.

"Melinda? Do we have a file on this lady?" He asked.

"Yes, Daddy, she's been in like three or four times," Melinda said.

"Eight times!" Barked Robin. "Eight times with the same problem! If I turn on the headlights the trunk opens, if I turn on the radio the hood opens, the heater makes the window washer spray cleaner fluid. I'm sick of it!"

Daddy looked at the computer record. "It's the computer controller; that's a factory issue, and you're just gonna hafta relax till they fix the bugs and do a recall," he smirked at Robin.

"Crimonie! It's been six months!" Robin complained.

"Get a hobby! I don't care what yuh do," Daddy walked off.

"Have a nice day!" Melinda chirped. Robin stared at Melinda for a few moments, turned, and left the building.

That night Robin met a kid named Brian, at a desolate spot, out in the country, many miles from Bay City. The sky threatened rain, and dark came early because of the dense overcast. They sat in Robin's car and talked.

"You sure this is the right place?" She asked.

"I'm positive! The road back to the old house is maybe a quarter-mile up the highway, on your left. It's paved with old bricks from long ago. At the end of the road is an old creepy cemetery. The gate is always open. Drive through the cemetery but don't leave the drive; it snakes around a large pond and trees, and eventually comes to another road, actually it's a long drive back into the woods. Walk up the drive to the old house."

"How far?" Robin asked.

"Ummm, maybe one-hundred yards," he estimated. "You can probably hide your car in the cemetery, go to the old house, and find a good place to see what happens."

"You sure the house is unlocked?"

"Yeah, I've been there a bazillion times, its abandoned," he swore. "Find a dark spot upstairs so you can look down and see who comes and goes and what goes on."

"Pretty wild, huh?" She wondered.

"What I've seen was pretty weird," he replied. "The people dress like old times, and then they get naked and mess around, and stuff."

"Like an orgy?" She asked.

"I never been to an orgy, but these people get drunk and naked," he said.

Robin looked at Brian, "You're not bullshitting me, are yuh?"

"No! I swear!" He looked and sounded sincere.

"Okay, bucko," she said, I'll come out Saturday night and see what's shaking.

Saturday night was cold, wet, and windy across Bay City and Valencia County. Robin drove to the old house with diligent caution and alertness, and found the old brick road where Brian said it was. The cemetery was further back than she expected but the gate was open and the lane though it was clearly marked. "This is so creepy," Robin thought. She found the drive that went to the old house, and it looked dark and sinister from what her headlights revealed. The rain started falling harder. "Gotta find someplace to hide this car," she thought.

Driving around she found an empty lot between two crypts that was adequate for the car; she backed into the niche and killed the motor. Robin grabbed her raincoat, flashlight, and umbrella from the back-seat; she wrestled the raincoat on as best she could. The dash-clock said 8PM. "Should I leave the door unlocked?" She wondered. "Better lock it."

She unlocked the car door and got out, then hurried to open the umbrella. "Crap!" She thought. "I forgot my cell phone." So she unlocked the door and fetched the phone from her bag. Outside again, she looked around; the cemetery was dark. She switched on the flashlight and followed the aisle to the road and on to the driveway where she paused to look the situation over, the driveway lay through a thick hedge of old cedar trees. Her imagination played tricks with her light shining through the rain and the wind swaying the trees and moaning as it passed around limbs and branches. Robin calmed herself as walked up the drive. "Brian said it's 100 yards, that's a football field long," she thought. "Shouldn't take too long to get there." Rain ran down her cheeks and dripped off her chin.

After a while an old wood pergola materialized out of the rain and darkness, Robin walked to it, and followed the stumble-stones beneath the pergola, through the darkness, on to the old house.

The old house was built in the Queen Anne style popular in the 1890s; this one reminded her of Cinderella's castle except for its abandoned and neglected condition. Robin climbed the stair to the porch and moved her light along the walls, the window panes were broken and opaque with old grime.

She located the front entry, the door was open, and she went inside. The floor boards creaked beneath her feet. Shining her flashlight around the foyer she saw nothing hazardous or threatening, though the air felt cool and smelled of mildew.

The foyer connected to a large gathering room with a large fireplace, furniture, and a staircase to the upper floor. The darkness swallowed her flashlight's small beam. Robin stepped into the room and walked along the walls. Something ran between her feet across the old carpet and froze when she illuminated it with the light; a large rat looked back at her, then fled. Ferns grew out of the carpet beneath the broken windows. Somewhere in the old house a bird screeched in terror and was never heard again.

Robin followed the wall till it ended at the staircase, she pointed the light up the stairs, and climbed the risers to the 2nd floor. The balcony and hallway were encrusted with spider webs and darkness; Robin moved her light along the walls but the long hall absorbed the light like it didn't exist. She checked the time: nine o'clock. At nine-fifteen she went downstairs to search for a seat, brought back a wood chair, and waited.

The din from a disturbance awoke her. The house was filled with light, and the trouble seemed to be downstairs in the gathering room. Robin crept to the balcony banister and looked down.

The gathering room's appearance remained archaic and dated but looked to be clean, organized, and in good condition. And a group of women, in sundry costumes, were assembled around a matron dressed in a style common in the 1950s: full skirt with crinolines, a halter top, girdle-bra, and nylon hose clipped to a garter belt, and stiletto heels. The woman reminded Robin of Lucy, even the red hair.

The other women looked haggard and ill and thin and pale. Their costumes ranged from a flounced bustle, on one, to mini-skirt, diaphanous blouse over braless tits, and knee-high boots at the other end of the scale. In the center of the group was a young man, trussed and drugged atop a rolling, fiberglass autopsy table. A punch bowl with ladle, and cups, sat on the shelf beneath, under the drain.

The matron produced a scapel and made a cut in the man's foot. The women then gathered close to the table, to watch the blood flow from the wound and down the drain into the bowl.

"Oh!Gross," Robin thought. "I gotta get help before the poor guy dies." And collided with a sentinel observing her from behind. They fell to the floor but Robin arose first, pulled away, and fled. She left the house through the back, and ran toward the front and the drive leading to her car. The rain was heavy, and she lost her way once or twice. She also stepped into a hole and twisted her ankle, then limped on to the car.

At the car she unlocked the door and got in, slamming the door shut and locking it. She stabbed the key at the ignition switch several times before it went in. And when she turned the key the convertible top folded back into the trunk, and the alarm system shrieked. Robin felt sick, then turned her head and saw the matron standing by the door looking down at her with crazy eyes.

Robin awoke in a room she didn't recognize, lying next to a young woman she didn't know, and both of them were naked. The other woman, her name was Fanny, was asleep lying on her stomach, Robin awake lying on her back. Robin looked at her watch, it read 6 o'clock.

Robin got out of bed and went to the window to look outside, the window was shuttered' she tried raising the window but couldn't budge it. The sleeping woman opened her eyes, rose up off the bed, smiled at Robin, and said, "Come back to bed my love." Robin did.

Fanny moved close to Robin, draped an arm across Robin's chest, and pressed her mouth against Robin's, kissed her with soft, pulpy lips, and pushed her tongue in when Robin yielded to her lust. Robin pressed her hand against Fanny's head to feel her hair.

Fanny moved a hand to Robin's vulva, Robin parted her legs, Fanny rubbed the soft skin and traced its furrow with her finger, Robin opened her legs wider, and Fanny moved her mouth to Robin's neck. "Oh God that feels so good when you suck my neck," Robin purred.

Melinda answered her cell phone, "Hi."

"Hi, baby. You off work yet?" It was her married boyfriend, Todd.

"On my way out the door," she replied.

"Wanna meet me somewhere in a couple hours?" Todd suggested.

"Aren't you at work?" She asked.

"I'm out in the boonies near Fort Lonesome," he said.

"Who'd you make mad to get that zone?"

"No one. It makes to many people nervous to work it so they asked me to ride herd on it for a while," he replied.

"So where do you want to get together out there? It's all cows and orange groves," she reminded him.

"There's an old cemetery off state road 45, I was thinkin' we could meet there about nine o'clock. Know where it is?" He asked.

"Uh, huh," she replied.

"Won't be nobody around to bother us," he said.

"Where's your wife?"

"I ain't seen Robin in a couple of days; she told me she was on an important investigation but didn't say what it was about; she pulls this cloak and dagger crap ever once in a while. Look, park near the mausoleum, later, and I'll find you," he said.

"Okay, but if you're not gonna be there call me. It's a long drive out," she said.

"Roger! I'll talk to you soon, bye!" Todd said, and got out of his cruiser to get a cup of coffee at the Quickie Mart.

The store featured a whole wall filled with machines dispensing coffee, tea, soda, cappuccino, snow-cones, icee-licious flurries, and soft ice cream. A couple with four kids followed him in. Momma got a gallon of milk and bread, daddy fetched a carton of beer, and the kids swarmed over the candy bins and machines. The oldest, a girl who looked eighteen or nineteen, had a conspicuous tattoo on her thigh, a pierced eye-brow, and a tee shirt with printing across the front: A WORK IN PROGRESS at the top, and GOOD TO GO at the bottom. She had a pregnant belly hanging over the waist-band of her shorts, and smiled at Todd.

Fanny got out of bed and dressed after she had exhausted Robin and cuddled her for a while. Her gown was black silk tulle, and sheer gray chiffon that looked like wisps of smoke against her pale white skin. Black, glass beads and rosettes covered the gown. Her shoes were red leather, closed-toe 3-inch heels with silver buckles fastening the ankle straps. Her hair was cut in a bob style popular in the 20s, too. She wondered whether to add a black under-dress, and whether to define her waist with a red scarf. "What do you think?" She asked Robin.

Robin studied her with tired eyes, "Go with the scarf, no under-dress. Black lingerie under the smoky chiffon would look nice." Fanny finished dressing.

"Let's go for a walk," Fanny suggested.

"I don't think I have the energy," Robin replied.

"C'mon!" Fanny pulled her out of bed.

Melinda found the mausoleum with no difficulties, and parked where Todd was certain to see her. Todd arrived within fifteen minutes and got out of his cruiser. "We don't have a lot of time," he said, and in ten minutes he and Melinda were fucking in the backseat of her convertible. Melinda liked quickies, and encouraged spontaneous encounters if they were convenient and easy.

About the time Todd released his load in Melinda he saw Robin standing by the car watching them. Her physical aspect startled him more than her presence; she looked anemic and ill and unkempt, dead or almost dead, even by the light of the Moon it seemed apparent. Robin's companion looked better, well-fed is what Todd thought, but had a predatory countenance poorly masked by make-up and costume.

Melinda felt Todd tense and pull-back, and looked around to locate the threat. "I know you!" She said when she recognized Robin. "I know her, Todd!"

"What do you want, Robin?" Todd asked.

Melinda looked at Todd, "You know her, too?"

"She's my wife," he replied. "Robin, go on home and we'll discuss this later. You look like shit, are you okay?"

"No, Todd, I'm not okay, thanks to your girlfriend," Robin replied.

"Whatever; go on home," Todd demanded.

"I can't, none of us can," Robin looked sad.

"That makes no sense!" Todd said.

"It will soon enough. Good bye, Todd!" Robin replied.

"This is crazy! I'm going home," Melinda started her car after Todd got out.

"Me, too," Todd replied as he got in his cruiser and started it.

Both drove away from the cemetery and up the drive to the old house.