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Chapter 39
Josh Archer went home Friday night with the vision of Amy Ashtenfelter almost blinding him. He lay awake, staring at the ceiling, trying to keep alive the vision that had crossed his eyes, and when he went to sleep, he dreamed of Amy -- Amy playing volleyball out at
her parent's cottage, in her natural state, naturally, going high for a spike, running back, bouncing and jumping, until he awoke in a cold sweat.
How could Danny Evachevski not be affected by that?
As far as Josh knew, Danny had normal tastes when it came to girls. He'd dated around, had a good time, and there even had been that bout of kissy-face and touchy-boobie up on Turtle Hill after the prom, with Danny and his date in the back and Josh and his date in
the front. Even though nothing really happened, the windows had gotten sort of steamy, but the girl that Danny had been with was gone for the summer, and the girl Josh had been with had taken out after another guy.
But still . . .
Josh got up and went to the bathroom. When he got back to bed, visions of Amy filled his mind again, even in his dreams, as she floated around the volleyball court, her blonde hair flying, her . . .
Clearly, it was going to be a long night.
It was, in fact, a long weekend. Josh knew that Danny was pretty well going to be out at the cottage most of the weekend, so didn't expect to see him, and that didn't help his imagination one bit. He could close his eyes, any time, day or night, and imagine Amy and
Danny, running around on the basketball court bare-assed . . . and not caring.
It didn't help a bit.
Josh didn't see Danny again until Tuesday, when both were to be at the appliance store, prepared to move machinery.
There were two refrigerators in the back of the appliance store pickup, and Josh and Danny were heading across town before Josh had the opportunity to bring up the possibility of a date with Amy. "It might work," Danny reported. "Don't get your hopes up. She's not
going
to do anything without talking to her folks, and like I said, they're a little sticky. But, she says she thinks you're sorta cute, if that makes you feel any better."
It didn't really make Josh feel any better, but at least wrestling the two new refrigerators up two flights of stairs and two old ones down the same two flights of stairs got his mind off it for a while. It was hot work, and both were sweating when they had the old boxes
in the truck, and decided to stop at the Frosty Freeze for a drink to cool off.
They were sitting in the shade, sucking on the cokes, when Pam Appleton came walking up the street, in t-shirt and jeans, carrying the periscope that Josh and Danny had built for her. "Having any luck?" Danny called.
"Still no luck," Pam said. "Maybe that one was really the last one."
"Come on, sit down, we'll buy you a coke," Danny told her. "You've been out in the sun too long."
"I guess I do look like it, don't I?" she said, as Josh went inside to get the girl a drink. "Well, we should know, one way or another, about the snakes before long."
"How's that?"
"Dr. Gerjevic called me last night," she said. "We're going to get a grant for TV surveillance. He just heard about it."
"Hey, that's great," Danny said. "Any chance of Josh and me getting in a few hours?"
"Could be," Pam told him. "I don't have a lot of money to play with, but I have a little elbow room, now."
Josh came back with a coke, and handed it to Pam, who flipped the lid back and drank deep. "Don't hit it too hard, you'll make yourself sick," Danny warned. "Least, that's what the football coach says."
"I wasn't planning on it," Pam said after she set the coke down. "But, man, does that taste good."
"Guess you won't be needing our periscope much longer," Danny observed.
"I've got to keep up a regular surveillance," Pam told the boys. "It's going to be a month, anyway, before a crew's available to run TV cameras through the sewers. I might get lucky before then, and save everybody some money."
"That'd be a feather in your cap, wouldn't it?" Josh commented.
"It would," Pam said. "I've been after these snakes for a month, now, and not a single sipendon gibsoni have I seen. I wish I had money for more researchers, even for unskilled ones like you guys. But no, this damn foundation or whatever it is that's sending the money
for TV is sending some sort of an observer with it. Probably doesn't know a thing about snakes, or care, either. If I had the money they're going to waste, I could hire you guys all summer. As it is . . . well, I'll call you when I need you."
"You do that," Danny said. "I'd kind of like to do something besides move refrigerators and stare at my navel before football practice begins."
The three sat and talked for a few more minutes before their drinks were gone. Danny and Josh got back into the pickup, and Pam started back up the street, poking the periscope down the storm sewer grates.
"Man," Danny said as they passed her in the truck. "Did you see the knockers she's got on her? When she upended that coke, I thought she was going to take my breath away."
"Yeah," Josh said, and then the realization hit him. At least it took away his doubts about Danny in a way, but . . . "Danny, how the hell do you do it? Bare ones don't count, but in a bra and a t-shirt?"
"I don't know," Danny said. "Beats the hell out of me, too. The lure of exploring the unknown, I guess."
