bed.'
'Nope, no such luck. If only I were that talented.'
'Well, you seem to be pretty talented with the whole banging thing. I hear you going at it, again.' I smiled into the phone, the rhythmic tapping of the masher on the side table obviously amusing to her.
'I take pride in all my talents.'
'As well you should. So, what is getting banged?'
'What makes you think it’s anything of consequence?'
'Well, I seriously doubt, and hope, it’s not a body part of yours.'
'Nope.' I brought the masher to my eyes, looking at it in the moonlight, the metal part shining in the darkness.
'What is it used for? Other than banging, that is.' She shifted again, her voice dropping a bit as she got comfortable. I could almost picture her in her bed, staring up at the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.
'Well, it’s used in the kitchen.' I heard her chuckle.
'Oh, really? So, it’s hard, then?'
'Yes.' I was enjoying the game, though quite surprised that I was engaged in it.
'What else?'
'Hmm. Let’s see,' I ran my hand all over it. 'It’s cold, generally. Well, that is, part of it is metal.'
'Really? Aren’t we into the kinky side of life?' I chuckled. 'Is this thing with you every night?'
'No. Only on special occasions.'
'Really?' I smiled at the surprise in her voice. 'And tonight was a special occasion?'
'Yes. Brought on by Mrs. Carusso.'
'What? What does the art teacher have to do with it?!' I laughed out loud, then covered my mouth as I didn’t want to wake my mom or Chris.
'It’s a potato masher. I traced the design for a project tonight.' I smiled at the laughter on the other end of the phone.
'Well, it certainly is hard enough to bang with.' I covered my eyes with my hand.
'Oh, Haley.' More laughter. 'So what about you? Do you have anything special you sleep with?' Pause. 'Haley?' Pause. 'What is it?'
'Nothing.'
'Yeah, that’s a crock. Spill it, woman.'
'Well, it’s rubber.'
'It’s a rubber? You sleep with a condom?'
'No, no, it’s made of rubber.'
'Really? Is it smaller than a loaf of bread?'
'Yes.' I could hear her smile in her voice.
'How big?'
'It’s a handful. You know what they say, anything more is a waste.' Yet again my eyes found themselves covered. Oh boy. I heard the snap of rubber. It sounded just like one of our latex gloves in the lab. 'What, are you into the five-fingered pleasure?' A low, evil chuckle met my ear.
'Maybe.' My eyes bulged. 'No, it’s a Koosh.'
'A what?'
'A Koosh ball. You know, the round, rubber things with lots of little, limp spines?'
'Little, limp spines? Poor thing. It must feel so useless.'
'I imagine so.'
'So, um, were you huddled around this thing when I stayed over?' Pause. 'You did, didn’t you?'
'It was under my pillow.'
'And all while I was in the next bed. How could you?' She laughed, then quieted.
'Can I ask you a question?'
'At this point you feel the need to preempt with ‘can’?' I smiled.
'Yeah, guess that’s kind of unnecessary now, huh? Anyway, well, you didn’t like Ryan, right?' I groaned, flopping over onto my back.
'No. Too boring.'
'Do you like boys?' I paused, taken off guard by the question. 'I guess that was a little forward, wasn’t it?'
'Maybe just a tad.'
'Sorry. But do you?' I laughed, hearing the smile in her voice.
'I think I need to go to bed. So do you, you nut.'
'Okay, okay.' She yawned, and moaned slightly into the receiver. 'I’m so comfy and warm.' She sighed. 'Well, you sleep well, Andi. I’m glad you called.' I smiled at that.
'Me, too. I’m glad you’re not mad.' I brought the covers up just under my chin, the cold night air sneaking in.
'Of course not. Why would I be?'
'Well, it’s a bit unusual to receive a call at two a.m.'
'Well, luckily for you I’d just gotten back from going out with Kelly.'
'So I gathered from your greeting.' She laughed.
'Yeah, well she’s known for forgetting things in my car.'
'Ah. Well, sleep well, Haley. I’ll talk to you later.'
'Sweet dreams, Andi.'
'Goodnight.'
'Night.'
Combined parts 5 & 6
I waited, not-so-patiently, as my computer slowly loaded the website I was trying to get into, and munched on cold turkey from yesterday. I was doing research on my psych project because the due date was only one week away. Where had the year gone? Haley had been over to help with it earlier in the week, and so now I had to do the last minute details and info, as well as figure out where I got all my information from to cite it.
Scanning the page, I found what I needed, and hit control P. As the printer sputtered to life, I stared at the screen, before my hand suddenly found the mouse, leading the pointer d across the screen to the white address bar on top. I clicked it, then typed in a search engine. The Google page opened, and I typed in two very familiar words. The blue bar at the bottom of the screen grew longer and longer as more entries were found. I was surprised, not thinking many would be.
Finally my pointer turned back from an hourglass to the arrow again. I scrolled down, yet again surprised by just how many entries there were dealing with the words Haley Corregan. However, knowing she had not died in August of 1894 with her husband John at her side, I clicked on one that mentioned Winston High School.
The site opened to our school’s website, which I didn’t even know existed. It chronicled the girls who had been on the soccer team two years ago, and had won the state championships. I scrolled through pictures, marveling at how young Haley looked at only 15. I read her bio.
Haley Star Corregan,…
'Star?' I chuckled as I read on.
… a Winston High Sophomore, has played soccer since second grade. At 5’8', 142 pounds, she is a powerhouse as a center forward for the Winston High Pumas.
'Go, Haley.' I smiled, reading further.
Haley was born December 8 to Timothy and Marcia Corregan right here in Winston.
My brows narrowed. December 8? That was coming up in just over a week. Why didn’t she tell me her birthday was on the way? I stared at the screen, and a grin spread across my face as an idea popped into mind.
