Chapter 8 – My New Sister

"What is so funny?"

Instinctively, I jumped to my feet and turned around, as if I had heard the vicious hiss of a snake behind my back. "Hi" I greeted dryly. "Nothing. Just thinking of old facts."

"You mean, like remembering something that happened a very long time ago, years or decades, and laughing your ass off like it just happened?

"Well, something like that." I tried to sound neutral, but stood rigid, hands clasped defensively.

"You know?" Baby giggled, making little holes on the dirt with her shoes. "It always makes me laugh when I remember something that I did to this one guy, a few years ago. I was walking down the road, going to see daddy, when this truck stopped. Then this bald, ugly guy started calling me in, saying "Hey honey, what about a blowjob?"

Here she comes with too much information, I thought.

"I walked to the truck, bent over the passenger's window, and said 'Sure, good-looking. Open up.' The guy was surprised, but he opened the door, and I jumped in. 'Show me what you have in there', I told him."

"Baby, you don't have to go into details" I assured her, with an unease smile.

"No, let me continue!" She was clearly amused by telling that story to someone new. "We didn't talk much, of course. I started doing what I do best with my mouth, if you know what I mean," she giggled proudly "and when he was least expecting, I drew my knife and WHACK! I cut it off!" She laughed loudly, looking at me and expecting me to laugh as well. "And then, do you know what I did with it afterwards? I put it-"

"That's enough!" I quickly interrupted her, trying to block the awful mental slide of images. "Maybe it will be more fun if I imagine the rest myself, don't you think? But, great story, really, really funny!" I forced a laugh. Good thing that she tells her stories in a fast, straight-to-the-point way, I thought. I wouldn't want to hear a long-winded version of that one, full of nasty details.

"Okay!" she agreed, laughing some more. "Hey, I'm walking a few blocks from here to get us some food; you wanna come?"

I stared at her for a moment, surprised. "Yeah, sure!" I was embarrassed to bring up a concern, and I didn't know how to word it. The fact was, I wasn't sure of my status in that house. Was I a prisoner? A guest? Something in-between? Could I just walk away if I chose to? "Ah... do you think it would really be okay if I go?"

"Of course!" she guaranteed me. "Why wouldn't it be?" Then waving her arms towards the stable, she yelled "Come on, let's go!"

Rufus dropped a bucket that fell heavily on the ground, wiping his hands on his shirt and starting to follow us. Great, I thought with inner sarcasm, that's all I needed. I'm going out for a walk with Miss Living-Dead Girl and Mister Seven-Feet Killer. Awesome.

"So... Do you know what's going on about me?"

"Kind of" she said, playfully kicking the gravel along the way. "Rufus told us that Otis was cool with you, that you were going to be his guest. What is the deal?"

I briefly explained the situation to her, maintaining the same version of facts that Otis knew: I was an amateur artist looking for inspiration in her one-of-a-kind brother, but instead of simply knocking at the door and requesting some art classes, I started on the wrong track – lying – and had paid the price.

I kept the story as short as possible. The least I spoke, the least I would be caught in my own lies.

"Sorry about calling you a cop" she apologized. "That was pretty fucked up, wasn't it?"

"Which part – being called a cop, or being almost killed?" We both laughed at the joke. "No, that's okay" I assured her. "I survived."

"No, it's not okay. Let me make it up for you. We could become sisters!"

"Oh." That's how Baby was – saying unexpected things at any given moment. "But wouldn't we need to be born as sisters?"

"Of course not! Otis and I don't have the same blood, we didn't even grow up together, and he is my favorite brother in the whole world!"

I chuckled. "Aren't you gonna offend the big guy out there?" and turned my neck to peek at Rufus, walking behind us.

"Nah, he knows I love him too!" Baby blew a kiss to Rufus.

"Well, I suppose I can be your sister."

"Yay!" she yelled, jumping on me and hugging me. "I have a sister now!"

I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. It was a weird family, that one.

We did a lot of small talk on the way – although, doing small talk with Baby meant discussing a bunch of strange things – and we reached the diner, a simple place located along the highway. I was expecting the crazy siblings to make havoc, rob the place, kill everyone inside or something along those lines. I was astonished to see Baby bend over the counter and order food in a civilized manner... She even paid for it!

"That's to take out, honey" she asked the cashier, and joined us as we waited.

"How come you are being so well-behaved?" I whispered to her. "No shootings, kidnappings, putting the place on fire? Just ordering food to go?"

That made Baby laugh hard. To my amazement, I've even heard a small chuckle coming from Rufus. I looked up at him and saw a smile, which he promptly made disappear, going back to his everyday neutral expression.

"We live here, dummy!" she lightly elbowed me.

"That's right" I pondered, aloud. "It only makes sense that you wouldn't do anything to raise suspicion, or to get yourself arrest-"

"Uhmmm, look at that!" she interrupted me, grabbing my arm. I followed her stare, seeing two young guys having a meal in. "Fresh meat in town."

Before I realized what was happening, I let Baby pull me along with her, stopping in front of the guys' booth. "Hey!" she greeted them vivaciously, bringing her hands to her hips and slightly swaying. "Would you boys mind if my sister and I join you?"

As I looked at her with my eyes wide in surprise, he guys promptly made room for us to sit. "But of course not!" one of them said, a big grin on his face. "Please, ladies. Can we get anything for you?"

"A soda for me, please" she asked.

"Nothing for me, thanks."

As the waitress quickly brought Baby a glass of lemon soda with ice, she began suggestively to suck the straw, looking at the bewildered guys with mischief in her eyes. The boys were practically drooling. I moved in my sit awkwardly.

"You two are not from here, right?" she stated matter-of-factly, flashing her perfect teeth for them.

"No, we are traveling" the second guy said. "We just stopped by to eat something."

"And did you find anything good to eat yet?" she asked meaningfully, taking another sip from the straw.

The guys chuckled, at a loss of what to say. "Well, this diner has the most appetizing stuff," one of them gave her "I suppose we are lucky for having stopped by."

"You certainly are" she teased. "You know, my sister here and I like you guys. Dontcha, sis?"

I forced myself to smile. "Yeah, sure."

"And we would love for you to come on over to our place" she stated, flashing her best grin, rolling a lock of hair on her finger. "If you are not in a hurry to go on on your little trip, maybe we could have a good time together, just the four of us."

The astonished boys exchanged a look, obviously excited with the offer. "We still have some errands to run in town, but if you ladies are going to be home afterwards, we'd love to join you."

"Good!" taking one of the napkins and borrowing a pen, she proceeded to write her address, giving it to them. "We'll be waiting for you" she blinked an eye and rose.

I followed her out of the diner, where Rufus was patiently waiting. "Let's go home. Wasn't that fun, sister?" she giggled.

"Yes. That was a lot of fun." Except for those poor bastards, if they make the mistake to come, I thought to myself.