the brunette be right? Wasn't she, after all, leaping to conclusions? Wasn't Nichole doing nothing more than being thoughtful by providing her with am escort? Maybe she was getting to be an old maid. Maybe she missed Hank too much and felt a vulnerability in the big city. But that feeling of dread was on her again! It stayed with her the rest of the afternoon. They lunched in a smart place on Union Street, and Nichole seemed possessed of a wooden leg, belting one Scotch on the rocks down after another. Back at the apartment, she mixed even more drinks while they awaited their 'escorts'.
Kim was feeling no pain by the time the two men got there, yet that feeling of impending doom took an immediate surge when Nichole said, 'Kim, I want you to meet Klaus. And this big one here is Ernie. Gentlemen, this is Mrs. Kim Stewart.'
They were polite enough and well-dressed. Klaus had a slight accent and a look that she didn't like. Ernie was rougher, bigger, quieter, and tough with a cynical smile below his broken nose. Klaus introduced himself somewhat formally, saying he was in 'Transportation. Ernie there is in security.' Kim got the distinct impression that Ernie was a private detective or had something to do with plainclothes work for the police.
They sat around and chatted about the coming evening. Right before the doorbell rang, Nichole had given Kim a pep talk, telling her not to let it all hang out, but to try and concentrate on other things and just have a good time… going out on the town for a change and having a ball. Now, the red-haired housewife sat, trying to appear gay and sophisticated to Klaus.
'Ve vill show you the sights, North Beach and the topless-bottomless clubs.'
'Klaus,' Nichole cut in, 'maybe I didn't tell you on the phone, but, well…'
Her words died in the air and they all looked at one another. That is, except for Kim who felt embarrassed because no one looked at her.
'Vell, vhat?' Klaus asked, hissing the S out.
'Well… I don't think Kim… I don't know if she's ready for that.'
'Ready?' Klaus looked at Kim in mock amazement. 'Ready? My dear Nichole, I must say you can be condescending when you wish to be. What you're saying is that Mrs. Stewart, a mature, married, and, I must say attractive, female isn't 'ready' to see a naked woman dance on a stage. You make it sound like she's not quite old enough, or hasn't had enough experience to see something so risque, is that it? Or,' he added teasingly, 'perhaps it is beneath her?'
'No!' Kim was surprised how quickly she interrupted. 'No, that isn't it at all.'
'No?' Klaus looked superior. 'Then perhaps it's too much for Nichole. Perhaps she is using you to hide behind.'
Nichole and Ernie both erupted in raucous laughter. Kim joined in self consciously, playing the role of the big city sophisticate even though she didn't like it. No matter what, she had her pride, and she wasn't going to let them be patronizing to her. Cannel was a small town in population only. Down on the peninsula, they were as sophisticated as anyone. 'No,' she said, pretending to be worldly. 'As a matter of fact, I'm dying to see one.'
'You sure?'
Nichole asked the words with such obvious condescension, asking the question as if Kim were five years old. Anger flushed in her. No matter what, she didn't like being made fun of. No one did! The red-haired wife's back stiffened. 'Of course. Can we go now and not waste time?'
Klaus glanced at his watch. 'Yes, I think we can catch an earlier show.'
Ernie grinned at her. 'We're just being friendly. Don't want to scare you.'
'Don't worry,' Kim said, flirting a bit with Ernie and enjoying her audacity. 'I've been around a bit.'
Klaus, Ernie, and Nichole exchanged a smiling look that annoyed Kim, for she didn't share in whatever confidence they were exchanging. Finally, Klaus said, 'Shouldn't we get prepared for the event?'
'Fine with me,' Ernie said, getting a flat cigarette case out.
Kim's back bristled. Perhaps she was all wrong, but she thought she knew what was going to happen. She couldn't speak as she watched Ernie carefully take a thin, dark brown cigarette out of his case and carefully hand it to Klaus who sniffed it, smiled, and just as carefully handed it to Kim. 'Very good,' he growled.
Kim held it like it was a bomb and passed is to Nichole with a pasty smile on her face. Nichole leaned to her, her voice lowered. 'This is hashish. The very finest. Have you ever bad any?'
Numbly, Kim shook her head. She knew what marijuana was, but wasn't sure what hashish was. Whatever it was, she didn't want any. 'Just take a few drags of it, and if you don't like it, stop.'
That sounded fair and none of the others seemed at all alarmed. It was a bad scene, an uncomfortable situation to be in, yet she was determined to bluff it through. Again, her feeling of dread came over her in a rush.
'Slowly, slowly,' Klaus instructed her as she took a drag from the lighted cigarette he offered her. She had watched him inhale, and she did it very gently. It had a strange but not unpleasant taste. She took the cigarette again when it came around to her and inhaled deeper on the next puff and held it down the way everyone else was doing.
After three or four inhalations, Kim could hardly feel it going down, it was so smooth. Soon, it seemed like she was doing nothing but holding her breath.
'I don't feel a thing,' she said in a voice that didn't sound like her. She looked at Klaus and Nichole on either side of her, and they suddenly looked as if they were miles and miles away.
'Do you feel anything?'
'Yes, darling, I feel the world. I feel old San Francisco and it's hot and it's horny.' It seemed a logical answer to Kim, and suddenly she felt the same way too. She bad never felt the world around her before. How strange, how odd not to be vitally aware of the universe around her.
She was inhaling again and liking the taste it left in her mouth. The longer it stayed down the softer it felt inside… and the softer she felt!
She sat in silence, lulled, taking the newly offered brown cigarette like a robot, inhaling and passing it along to Nichole. She could feel the pressure of Klaus' leg against her thigh, but the inhalation duped her fears. In fact, it dulled all her fears, even that feeling of impending dread. His leg felt good, and she returned the pressure slightly to let him know she didn't mind. She was going to show them she was liberal minded.
The drugged young wife now didn't seem to mind anything at all… not with that sweet smoke in her… she could feel it licking smoky and seductive deep inside… deeper than she had felt anything since that night in the bathroom. She didn't even mind thinking of that now, and she pressed her warm fleshy thigh even tighter against Klaus' knee.
The pungent sweetness of the narcotic hung heavy in the room and in the cab as they rode to North Beach all crammed next to one another. Kim liked the feeling of Ernie's powerful body pressed next to her. As the taxi swayed across town, she began to realize that the pungent aroma, that deadly sweet odor, was not only in her nostrils, but in her mind as well.
She reeled under the total impact of the drug and felt giddy and silly, and was glad she had Nichole and Ernie and Klaus to guide her about and be responsible for her. Without them, she would have gone where bidded and done what she was told. She felt like a butterfly borne, tossed, and turned on some mighty slipstream, buffeted about without being able to help it. The world was too large and too full of distractions for her to be able to make any decisions. Dimly, she could divine that Ernie was with Nichole and Klaus was her date… escort.
She giggled, feeling naughty, going to see a topless dancer with a strange man. How many women did that? Klaus gently guided her by the elbow into a night club that advertised TOTALLY NUDE outside. Once inside, it was pitch black and Kim opened her eyes wide, trying to see where she was stepping. Klaus guided her all the way, and the four of them sat at a little table with Klaus holding her hand and gently moving his knee against her thigh. He gave her hand a little reassuring squeeze, and she squeezed back as they all looked up at a tiny, brightly lighted stage.
Kim watched, fascinated, her stare a hypnotic drugged one. Idly, she wondered if people could tell she was high. She tried to remember what it was they had smoked… it wasn't marijuana. Her thoughts seemed difficult and almost impossible to collect and regulate. She shook her head and watched a young girl mounting the tiny stage that had mirrors for a backing. Once up on the platform, the girl casually pulled her dress off her head and stood listening to the beat of the music on the juke box; she wore nothing but an Indian headband and a pair of sandals.
It was a powerful sensual shock to Kim, looking at another woman's naked body with a group of virtual
