Night In The Lonesome October by Richard Laymon

Author:Richard Laymon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing -A
Published: 2002-08-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-six

I could hardly believe the mystery girl and I were walking along together, talking and laughing and she actually seemed to like me. It may seem strange, but even though I wanted to leap for joy, I somehow also felt a little like crying. I struggled, however, to keep it all to myself.

I needed to be very careful about everything I said and did, or risk scaring her off.

As we continued our way up the sidewalk, Casey said, ‘Maybe you can teach Eileen how to play Ride or Hide.’

‘She’s not much of a night owl.’

‘You have to get her out really late, after midnight at the very least, or Ride or Hide isn’t worth playing.’

‘And why is that?’ I asked.

‘You know why.’

‘Because that’s when everyone who comes along is either crazy or zany?’

‘Yep, you got it. Not everyone, though.’

‘Not you and me.’

She laughed. ‘Speak for yourself, Chucky.’

‘It’s Ed.’

‘I know. Anyway, I think maybe half the people out at an hour like this are normal. You’ve got some people, it’s their job to be out. Like cops, for instance. And truckers. A lot of stuff gets delivered at night. And a lot of cleaning up gets done. And fixing up. You’ve got maintenance crews on the streets sometimes, repairing sewer lines or traffic lights, stuff like that. Then there’re also some people whose lives are reversed because they’ve got a late shift or early shift where they work. You see some of them out at night. It’s sort of like daytime for them. Plus, there are a few who just go out wandering because they love what it’s like at night.’

‘Like you?’ I asked.

She tossed me a quick smile. ‘Maybe. Anyhow, that pretty much accounts for the half that aren’t crazy. Just about everyone else is, which is why you only play Ride or Hide at night. Somebody comes toward you, you’ve got a fifty-fifty chance of running into trouble.’

‘You’ve given it a lot of thought,’ I said.

‘I pay attention, that’s all.’

‘Do you come out every night?’ The question was asked before I realized it might be a mistake.

She answered, though. ‘Pretty much. How about you?’

‘Off and on,’ I said. ‘Not very often, really, until this week. This makes four nights in a row.’

‘You’re getting hooked.’

‘Looks that way.’

‘What does Eileen think about it?’

‘She doesn’t always know. She doesn’t know I’m out tonight, for instance.’

‘Will you tell her about it?’

‘I don’t know. Probably not. She wouldn’t be thrilled that I went off in the middle of the night without her. She might feel left out. Plus, she knows it’s dangerous. And if I told her about you ...’ I shook my head. ‘She probably wouldn’t take it very well.’

‘Think she’d be jealous?’

‘More than likely.’

‘Even though we aren’t doing anything?’

‘Well, we’re spending some time together and she’s not here.’

‘I’d better leave,’ Casey said. She hurried ahead of me, turned around and walked backward. ‘Nice to meet you, though. Maybe we’ll run into each other ...’

‘No, don’t go. Please. Not yet.’

‘I’d better. It’s been fun, though.

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