Beach Blondes: June

Chapter 6: First Night, Strange Dreams and Stranger Realities

Summer lay in her bed. It definitely sagged in the middle.

Earlier she'd gone up to the main house, called her mother to let her know she'd make it to Florida alive, and gotten some sheets and a blanket form Lucy, feeling like Oliver Twist begging for more gruel. Lucy had seemed friendly in about the same way that a cat seems friendly to a mouse.

Maybe I should just give up and go home, Adelaide thought miserably. "Too bad that's impossible." She muttered into the darkness.

It was a little creepy inside the stilt house with the lights out. A silvery shaft of moonlight had appeared in her window, illuminating her desk and the video camera resting there. It made her think of her best friend, Kristina, and that made her think of home. Home, with her familiar bedroom, and all her posters and photos on the wall, with her CDs neatly in their rack.

Summer kicked off the single blanket and pulled the sheet over her. It was hot in the house, even with all the windows open. Even the boxers and baby-tee she wore to bed felt like too much.

"Hot and depressed and lonely," she told the stifling air. "So far it's a great vacation." If she were home, she'd go get some ice cream from the freezer.

From the windows she heard the sound of the water lapping gently at the pilings that supported the house. When the jet skits rocked there was a hollow sound, like coconuts being knocked together softly. And the house itself creaked and groaned, but in an almost musical way.

It was sometime later that the video camera seemed to turn on and begin projecting a flickering image on the wall, like an old-fashioned home movie. Adelaide saw a backyard scene, the yard of her house in Michigan. The swing set her parents had bought for her third birthday. The little play pool, filled with plastic toys. Her Oscar the Grouch! She hadn't see Oscar in years.

Adelaide rose from her bed and moved toward the images. Her mother was in the picture now, gazing at her with that familiar look of concern. That look that said Sometimes, Adelaide, I swear you worry me.

"Come out of there," her mother said, holding out her hand. Adelaide looked down and realized she was covered in mud. What a mess. The pelican, who was now swimming in her pool, was trying to look innocent, but obviously he was responsible.

Suddenly Adelaide was in her room back home, looking down at her bed, only the bed kept shrinking till it was the size of a doll bed. It made Adelaide angry, though she wasn't sure why. Something caught her eye. Three cards lay in a row on the covers. Two were facedown. One was turned up, and when Adelaide looked closer, she saw it was a photograph- a photograph of a red sun and a pale, white moon. The moon made her feel very uncomfortable.

Then, all at once, Summer was back in the stilt house, hearing some new noise to add to the creaks and groans and lapping water. The flickering images of home faded out and disappeared.

Her eyes opened. A creaking sound, very clear, very clear and real and not a part of the dream. A creaking sound and now a tuneless, almost random humming.

Adelaide lay perfectly still. The sound had come from very close. But she was turned away from it and not willing to roll over to see what it might be.

It was the hatch in the floor! That's what it had to be. The hatch that led down to the water, down to where the jet skis were. Down to where some monster, some ax murderer, some creature had been lying, waiting for her to fall asleep so he could creep up the stairs and come in through the hatchway and kill her, hacking her up with a machete.

Adelaide rolled over so slightly. Now the room didn't seem so hot. No, it had definitely gotten chillier. She wished she had her blanket back. She could pull it over her head and hope the murderer went away.

A light!

Adelaide slitted her eyes and stared, barely able to breathe. A blue-white light emanated from the kitchen.

The humming stopped and was replaced by a mixture of whistling and humming.

The light in the kitchen disappeared. From the darkness came the distinctive sound of a pop-top. The whistling stopped. A satisfied sigh.

A light flickered, then a candle, a brilliant yellow pinpoint of light in the dark, illuminating a startling sight.

"Aaargh!" The figure yelled.

"Aaargh!" Adelaide jumped back as If she'd been electrocuted, snatching her sheet around her like a shield.

"Wh-what are you-"

"Who- what are you- get out of here!"

"Chill out, don't shoot or anything!"

"Don't kill me, I'm from Michigan!"

A silence, during which Adelaide listened to the panic-driven jackhammer beat of her heart. Her teeth rattled.

"Did you just say 'Don't kill me, I'm from Michigan'?"

"Uh-uh-uh-uh, yes," Adelaide chattered.

"What's Michigan got to do with anything?"

"Uh, nothing, I guess"

"Who are you?" he asked, coming warily closer. Now Adelaide could see that he wasn't a monster. He could still be an ax murderer, but not a monster. He had wet, short either black or dark brown hair, like mine. He only wore a madras bathing suit that clung to him damply.

"I'm Adelaide. Ad- Adelaide DuPont."

"Oh."

"Who are you?" Adelaide managed to ask. Her voice sounded strained with the tightness in her throat and the still chattering teeth.

"I'm Carlos."

"Carlos?"

"Yeah."

"What are you doing here?" Adelaide demanded.

"What am I doing her?" Carlos asked, mildly outraged. He took a sip of his Pepsi and sat the candle down on her desk, balancing it carefully. "What are you doing here?"

"Living here," Adelaide said. "And people know I'm here so don't try anything."

"I live here." Carlos said. "At least, I mean, I use the bathroom and the kitchen here. I don't sleep here." He pulled out the desk chair. "I usually sleep up on the roof."

"You can't live here; my aunts owns this place."

"Oh. She's that rich lady with really big hair?"

"Yes."

"Well, I don't care who owns it," Carlos said. "I live here. I've been coming here for… for like months."

"Fine, I'm not going to call the cops or anything," Adelaide said. "Just go away and don't come back. Okay?" She was gaining courage from the fact that Carlos hadn't done anything sudden. Yet. And, not that you could tell just by looking, but he didn't look dangerous. In fact, by the candle's light, he looked… beautiful. There was no other word for it. Beautiful.

"Where am I supposed to take a shower and cook breakfast and sleep when it rains?"

Adelaide shrugged. "I don't know."

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd have an answer for that." Carlos said triumphantly.

"You sure can't live with me, and I love here, so that's it." Adelaide said flatly.

"Go stay in your aunt's house," Carlos said. "She must have plenty of room."

"I can't," Adelaide said." "I can't stay there, I can't go home to Detroit, I have to stay here. I'm stuck."

"Me too," Carlos said. "We're both stuck."

"Excuse me, but whatever you're thinking, forget it." Adelaide said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't, like, go out with guys I meet creeping into my room in the middle of the night."

"I don't go out with girls at all."

"Oh. Are you… not that it's any of my business. I mean, I don't have a problem if you're gay or anything like that…"

Carlos tilted back his head and looked at her with a certain distant intensity. "I no longer involve myself with women. They disturb my wa."

"Wa?"

"My wa. My inner harmony. Haven't you ever read any eastern philosophy?" Carlos smiled placidly, looking quite smug and superior. Then the smugness dropped away. "But I'm not gay," He said. "Not that I would care. I'm just saying I'm not. If I were, then women wouldn't disturb my wa the way they do."

"Whatever. Just get out, okay?"

Carlos stood up. "It's a beautiful night. I'll sleep outside with Frank."

"Fine, whatever you say. Just leave."

He turned away and headed for the door. He stopped with his hand on the knob. "Frank isn't a dude, by the way, so forget it if that's what you're thinking." He nodded as if he'd reached some profound decision. "Tomorrow I'll talk to Frank. The he can decide which of us stays and which goes."

Adelaide rushed over as soon as her was gone and locked the door behind him. Then she ran back and , huffing and grunting, slid the desk over the hatchway.

"There," She muttered. "Now you and your wa will have a real hard time getting back in."