'I'm Harold Kershaw,' the man said, removing his hat out of respect.
'God bless you, boy, I know you are. And not a moment too soon, neither.'
Aural awoke from a troubled dream in which a man she had never seen before was showing her his life on film.
She was strapped in a chair and whenever the man experienced pain in his life, Aural was administered a shock just as painful. When she awoke, her mind still clouded by the dream, she heard voices outside the trailer that she shared with the female members of the Apostolics. The voices were speaking in the hushed tones of conspirators, the kinds of whispers that seem to carry even louder than regular speech on the night air.
One of the men was the Reverend Tommy, and she wondered what he was doing catting around outside her window in the middle of the night but when she heard the second voice, she knew. The second man didn't even speak, it was more of a prolonged grunt of assent, but she recognized it and it galvanized her into action.
Aural bolted the door, then yanked on her jeans and boots and squirmed out the window on the other side of the trailer. She didn't bother with her purse or any belongings because she knew there wasn't time. Bent over, she scuttled in the darkness towards the cars parked on the strip of asphalt adjoining the vacant lot where they would erect the tent in the morning. She was within a few yards of the cars when she heard the sound of heavy boots kicking at the trailer door.
A body took shape beside one of the cars, stepping towards her. Aural swerved aside but the shape spoke.
'Miss Aural? It's me.'
Aural squinted at the man in the darkness. She didn't know him.
'From the meeting tonight?' he continued. 'You said you'd talk to me afterwards?'
'Not now, hon. This ain't exactly an appropriate time.' Aural tried to step around him but he moved in front of her. Behind her, the Apostolics were sending up a frightened squawk and she could hear the door crashing in. Harold Kershaw was into the chicken coop, but the hen he was after had flown.
'You-all come back when it's light,' Aural said, thinking by then she'd be all the way to Maine if she could manage it. 'I'll talk to you then.'
'I can help you now,' the man said, and he opened his car door.
'Bless your heart,' she said, dipping into the car, 'but we best go right away.' She glanced at the trailer and saw Harold Kershaw's ugly face peering out of the window that she had used as an exit.
'That's what I had in mind,' the man said. He ran around the car to the driver's side, then fussed with something instead of opening the door.:'Come on, ' Aural said.
'Going as fast as I can,' the man said. 'I wasn't quite ready for you.'
Aural kept her eye on the trailer, expecting Harold to come running at any minute, so she gave only scant attention to the man who was still fussing on the outside of the car. He came around the back to her side again..
'What's taking you so long?' she demanded, still not looking at him fully.
'Ready now. Mustn't go off half-cocked,' the man said.. 'Don't want any mistakes, now, do we?'
Harold came thundering around the side of the trailer, pausing for only half a second to get his bearings, then headed straight for the cars with his heavy-footed lope.
'I can't wait,' Aural said, turning to get out, but the man opened her door at the same time and grabbed her hand in his. Distracted as she was, she wasn't aware that he was handcuffing her until the metal clamps were already on her wrists, and when she opened her mouth to speak he slapped a piece of tape across it.
'Fast service, no waiting,' he said, giggling. He slammed the door and ran to the driver's side. Aural reached her cuffed hands to open the door but found that there was no handle on the inside. Well, damn, she thought. Who would have dreamed that Harold Kershaw was bright enough to hire an accomplice? She watched Harold pounding inexorably towards them, but then, when he was within a few yards, amazingly, the man started the car and drove away. Harold pounded the car's trunk once with his fist, but that was as close as he got. Aural squirmed to watch him recede in the back window, then turned to take a good look at the driver for the first time.
He glanced at her as he spoke, keeping most of his attention on the road.
'I was wondering how I was going to get you alone,' he said. 'I knew I didn't dare come into that trailer full of women. You can't be overeager, you have to restrain yourself and be careful, no matter what, otherwise… well, you just have to be careful. But you learn that. You naturally get better as you go along. Anyway, I was thinking and thinking, how am I going to do this safely when all of a sudden, there you were. Do you think Jesus sent you to me? I believe maybe he did, I believe he watches over me. Of course, I'm sure he watches over you, too, given your line of work, I mean. I'm certain that you have a good relationship with your Lord, don't you, Miss Aural? Well, that means Jesus wanted us to get together for your sake as well as mine. I think that means we're going to have a real good time together, don't you? I know I will.
Together, we're going to be fulfilling your destiny.
That's a nice thought, isn't it? You're only a part of my destiny, of course, but I am yours. I'm what Jesus has in mind for you… I'll make it real good for you, I promise you that. Ooh, but it's been a long time. I got such an awful lot to make up for.'
He turned away from the road again and smiled broadly at her.
'This going to befun, hon,' he said. When he giggled, Aural lmew that she was in terrible trouble.
'Good thing you're so petite,' Swann said. 'This is a very tight squeeze.' He paused to catch his breath. The rope around his waist bit into his skin and he wriggled back towards her to ease up on the tension. Aural was zippered into a leather sack designed to encase golf bags and a full set of clubs for shipping, and the rope was tied around her feet. He had carefully selected the leather be cause it would slide better than the nylon sacks and it offered a measure of cushioning. Swann had added to the protection by slipping two pillows under her head before beginning to drag her. He didn't want her to get a bump and fall unconscious. The whole thing was that she knew what was happening to her.
'Course, if you was one of those chunky girls, I wouldn't have wanted you in the first place,' he said. He knew she could hear him even if she couldn't see. 'I like a slim girl, one with a shape, but not pudgy, you know?
I believe that a slim girl feels things more intensely, don't you? All that extra padding of fat can seriously decrease your sensations, don't you think?'
Aural made a noise, but the tape over her mouth made her unintelligible and Swann had long since given up trying to decipher her sounds. He knew the general sense of them anyway. He turned to face the way he was going once again. The light on his hard hat illuminated his path for only a few yards before it was swallowed up again by the darkness. Still breathing heavily, he began to crawl forward again, feeling the golf sack catch and then slide after him. The leather had cost more but it was definitely worth it.
Aural could hear him panting and tried to imagine him trudging along, dragging her. It must be uphill, judging by his difficulty, although she had no sense of being tilted.
She had no sense of where she was at all, hadn't known since he pushed her into the bag. Disoriented as well as terrified at first, she knew only that she had been dragged for a long time, then lowered with what she assumed was rope around her upper body as well as her feet, then dragged again, this time over considerably bumpier terrain.
He was working hard to get her wherever they were going. Always nice to be wanted, she thought, then realized that her sense of humor was returning. Whatever lay ahead of her, she knew that fear and confusion were not going to help her survive it. Being afraid had never done her any good in her life, but, staying calm had saved her neck more than once. The best way she knew to stay calm was to cling to her sense of humor. In this case, that might mean hanging on to it for dear life.
They were still for the longest time; and yet Aural imagined him lying down, panting and wheezing as if he'd run a few miles, but then she realized she couldn't hear him breathing. What if the asshole had died from the exertion? What if she were to be left in this bag, gagged and handcuffed, while her captor lay dead beside her?
Where in hell were they? How long before someone found them? Would someone find them?
She wanted to cry out, but a calmer part of her remained in control. She would only waste energy now; she would save her scream until she needed it.
Something fumbled with the sack over her face, then the zipper began its lovely zip. He wasn't dead after all, and Aural felt a confusing flood of relief.
'Boy, am I glad to see you,' she said, sitting up as soon as the opening was large enough to allow it.
