‘Give me that,’ Cora said.
Abilene handed the flashlight to her. ‘What are you doing?’
‘You’ll see.’ She stepped behind the secretary’s desk. She shone the bright beam on the Rolodex. Flipped through the cards. ‘Here we are.’
She picked up the phone and tapped in a series of numbers. ‘Oh my God,’ Vivian mumbled.
‘You’re not!’ Abilene gasped.
Finley started to laugh.
Helen groaned.
‘Hello?’ Cora said into the phone. Making her voice low and husky. ‘Never mind who this is, you tight-ass bitch. I’m calling, to give you a friendly warning. Stop eatin’ all that fuckin’ chili. The more you eat, the more you toot. Bye-bye for now.’
They were on their way downstairs when a door clamored.
Abilene’s stomach dropped. Her heart thundered. Vivian clung to her, and she could feel the girl shaking.
They all stood motionless.
Heard footsteps, men talking loudly in Spanish.
Slowly, the sounds faded.
Abilene let out her breath.
Cora crept down the rest of the stairs and peeked into the corridor. The others waited. At last, she waved them to follow.
She held the door open for them and eased it silently shut when they were out.
All the way to the sidewalk at the border of the campus, Abilene glanced around, terrified of being spotted. But she saw no one.
‘We dood it,’ Finley said.
***
Afterward, they spent a lot of time laughing about their adventure. And more time worrying. Abilene half expected Hardin to order the entire student body fingerprinted.
But it never happened.
Word never leaked out about what had happened to Hardin’s office.
At first, they wondered if die custodians had entered the office in spite of the note. Maybe they couldn’t read English. Maybe they simply ignored the message, entered, and cleaned up everything.
But the next afternoon, they saw Hardin in the student union. She sat alone at a table, sipping coffee, glaring at everyone, studying faces.
While she was busy eyeing a trio of laughing jocks, Finley taped her.
‘I bet she thinks guys did it,’ Helen whispered.
‘Thinks gals wouldn’t have the nerve,’ Cora said.
‘What a sexist,’ Vivian said.
Still glowering at the boys, Hardin lifted a hand. With her thumb and forefinger, she stroked her thin lower lip.
Abilene grinned. ‘I wonder when was the last time she washed her hands.’
CHAPTER TEN
It was Abilene’s idea that they move the Wagoneer to the side of the lodge, where it would be out of sight in case anyone should drive up from the road. Cops, teenagers looking for a place to make out, anyone might come along. It just wouldn’t be smart to give away their presence by leaving the car out front. The others agreed. But Cora suggested they unload it first.
‘I don’t think we should,’ Abilene said. ‘Why don’t we leave everything in the car - use it like a base camp?’
‘That’s a lot of trouble,’ Cora said.
‘What if we have to make a quick getaway?’
‘You worry too much.’
‘We’ve already had one visitor,’ Vivian said.
‘If we need to take off fast,’ Abilene continued, ‘we don’t want to be messing around with our luggage.’
‘Or leaving it behind,’ Vivian said.
‘Why don’t we keep the car packed and ready to roll? Just take in whatever we really need.’
‘Makes sense to me,’ Finley said.
‘So what do we do,’ Cora asked, ‘troop back and forth to the car every time we want to change clothes?’
‘That’s the general idea.’
‘Sheesh.’ She picked up her bundle of clothes.
After stowing the ice chest and the box of drinks and snacks in the rear of the Wagoneer, they all climbed in. Helen drove to the north end of the lodge. There, the lane of cracked concrete slanted downward.
As Helen steered toward the slope, Cora said, ‘Hold it. Everyone’s so worried about quick escapes, maybe you oughta go down tail first.’
‘Good idea,’ Abilene said.
Helen moaned as if she didn’t care much for the plan. But she swung away from the slope, drove forward to the edge of the pavement, then slowly backed her way down past the end of the porch, past the corner of the lodge.
‘That’s good enough,’ Cora said.
She set the emergency brake, shifted to Park, and killed the engine.
They had a hard time pushing open their doors. Once they were out, gravity dropped the doors shut.
Vivian tugged hers open again, apparently just to see if she could. From the look on her face, it wasn’t easy. ‘Oh, yeah,’ she muttered. ‘This’ll be great for speedy getaways. One of us could lose a foot.’
‘At least it’s hidden,’ Abilene said.
They lurched downhill to the rear of the car. Beyond it, Abilene saw the rows of windows that had lighted one corner of the inside pool in such a grand fashion. She could see the ends of both porches. And the north side of the grounds, including the swimming pool with its diving boards and slide. She gazed along the edge of the forest. She saw nobody.
Helen opened the tailgate.
‘I don’t know about you guys,’ Finley said, ‘but I gotta take a leak.’
‘Me, too,’ Abilene said.
‘Maybe we should all take care of it,’ Vivian suggested.
Helen crawled into the car. She came out with a roll of toilet paper. She tore off strips and handed them around.
Abilene held up a hand as if refusing. ‘I’ll just use the Hardin method,’ she said.
‘Hog!’
Laughing, she took the offered paper.
They wandered into the woods, fanned out, and returned to the car when they were done.
‘Okay,’ Abilene said. ‘Let’s get to it’
‘And what will we be allowed to take with us?’ Cora asked.
‘Dinner and the stove,’ Helen said.
