The next day, Pearl went into town on her bike to pick up some medicine from the pharmacy for her father. Afterwards, she went to the theater to see a picture show. There was a film playing called Palace Follies, featuring a row of dancing girls. Pearl loved movies with dancing. She practiced all the movements and thought herself to be an excellent dancer, probably the best. While watching the movie, Pearl imagined what it would be like to be one of the beautiful women, wearing a pretty dress covered in diamonds, dancing her heart out on a stage. People cheered and applauded after she finished every dance performance, showering her with roses and other gifts before the red curtains drew to a close.
Soon as the movie was over, Pearl went to the alley to get her bike when a young man with a thin mustache came out the door, asking her if she cared for a cigarette. Pearl shook her head, politely declining. The young man, who was a projectionist, asked her if she liked the movie and shared a conversation with Pearl, then he went inside the theater and came back out with a reel of film and some scissors, cutting a single frame from Palace Follies, giving the snippet of film to Pearl as a present. Pearl was in awe of the frame, which showed the image of the dancing girls in the movie. The projectionist invited her to come back to the theater anytime she wanted. Sticking the piece of film into her pocket, Pearl thanked the projectionist and said goodbye before riding away, going back to the farm before her mother raised a fit about her being gone all day.
While riding her bike past the cornfield on her way back home, Pearl daydreamed once again of being a professional dancing girl up on the silver screen, imagining a better life for herself far beyond the tall stalks that sprouted yellow vegetables. She took a moment from her daydream to check her pocket and see if she still had the medicine for her immobilized father, which she did. Pearl drunk some of it at the theater, but nobody would know if any of it was missing. Pearl often felt sorry her father had to live this way for the rest of his life, without any hope of moving around on his own or speaking normal ever again. One day when she was famous, Pearl would hire someone to come in and take care of Daddy so that she and her mother wouldn't have to burden themselves with tending to his every need. Her father needed care with everything, from eating to changing to bathing. Pearl didn't mind taking care of her father so much, though she often wished Mama would just poison his soup and put him out of his misery, doing everybody a big favor by just letting him die. She wished Mama would die, too. If it weren't for her husband and parents keeping her on the farm, Pearl would have left for Hollywood a long time ago. One day, she would be a famous star and show them all what she was capable of. The whole world was going to see how talented she was. The whole world was going to know her name.
Pearl was so occupied with her thoughts that she almost crashed her bike into the large truck coming towards her. The driver honked the horn to let her know he was approaching, bringing Pearl out of imagination land just in time for her to see him. Swerving her bike around the oncoming, rustic-looking vehicle, Pearl fell down with her bike, crashing onto the shoulder of the road. The driver honked his horn again as a warning for her to watch where she was going, not even bothering to stop his truck and check to see if she was hurt.
"You idiot!" Pearl screamed at the driver, standing up to brush the dirt off herself. She rubbed the back of her neck, feeling a twinge that was sure to linger over the next several hours. Just then, a small shadow flew over the farm girl, earning her attention with enough interest that she chose to crane her neck upwards to see what it was, witnessing a large crow flying overhead, followed by two more, then another, all of them squawking.
Curious, Pearl followed the blackbirds into the field, trudging her way through the forest of dried cornstalks. Coming to a clearing, Pearl saw nothing but an old, creepy-looking scarecrow hanging up on a pole. The face of the scarecrow was hidden beneath the wide brim of an old, moth-eaten, brown hat, while the body was concealed by a long tattered coat, dark pants and boots. Just an ordinary scarecrow. That was all.
Pearl looked around, trying to see where the crows had gone, finding not one bird in sight. Did she imagine them? Pearl had been imagining many things these last few years, escaping into the security and comfort of her magic world to avoid the world of reality, which was boring and uneventful. If only her husband hadn't been so selfish. God, she hated him for what he did, for not taking her away from the unexciting life she was born into, the life she was trying to get away from. Pearl thought she deserved better than what she had, and was willing to do anything at this point in her life to get away from it all, even if it meant killing someone.
When she turned to look at the scarecrow again, Pearl saw that the design of the scarecrow had changed. It was now wearing a top hat, showing a lifeless expression with blank eyes and a permanent frown. His clothes were not as torn and ratty, and he wasn't wearing a coat anymore. Just a long-sleeved, emerald green shirt and brown pants. His boots had been replaced with simple black shoes, which looked about ready to tear apart from his ankles. A protruded belly of straw was sticking out from the bottom of his shirt, which Pearl imaged looked like a disgusting sack of fat spilling out if he were a real person.
Suddenly, Pearl started to think differently about the current body of straw and old clothes hanging up on the pole, climbing up to meet the scarecrow face to face. "May I have this dance?" She asked.
Throwing the scarecrow on the ground with a loud thud, Pearl jumped down from the pole, walking around the scarecrow to pick up the top hat that had fallen off his head, securing it in place on top of her own.
Hearing orchestral music playing in her head, Pearl picked up the scarecrow, holding him like a male dancing partner as she slow-danced with the full-sized ragdoll, dipping him backwards and straightening him back up again, turning her body along with his to guide him to dance in another direction. As the music grew louder and louder, Pearl twirled around faster and faster with the scarecrow, leading him in a dramatic dance that ended with her dipping him again, closing her eyes before going in for a big kiss at the conclusion of their waltz. Pearl listened to the last few notes of music fade out before the audience applauded her and her dancing partner, removing her lips from the scarecrow's, opening her eyes to look at him again.
Suddenly, the face of the Projectionist appeared where the scarecrow's head should have been, opening his eyes and smiling at Pearl, who gasped in shock and let go of the scarecrow, dropping him on the ground.
"I'M MARRIED!" Pearl shouted at the scarecrow, who lied there and did nothing, feeling not at all threatened by the scary tone of her voice. The face of the Projectionist was gone, replaced by the current scarecrow's face.
Low, menacing growls were heard in the cornstalks as if some wild animal was hiding in the African Savannah, ready to strike down its prey and drag it back to feed others of its kind, but Pearl didn't hear them. Her attention was still focused on the scarecrow, as she reached a hand up to her right shoulder and began to unbutton the strap of her overalls, repeating the same action to the other strap before taking them off, then she removed her underwear and straddled the scarecrow, putting a finger to her lips and letting out a shush. Pearl removed the top hat from her head and placed it on the ground next to the scarecrow before she planted her hands firmly on the scarecrow's cushioned chest, imaging it was flesh and blood underneath the sun-faded fabric of his shirt.
Pearl proceeded to rock her hips back and forth, starting out slow as she moved her bare crotch against her inactive partner, grinding herself against his pelvic area. Soft moans escaped past her lips as she continued this act of sexual repression. With her husband gone, there was no other man around for her to fulfill her sexual needs and desires with. If she were smart, she would have waited until Howard came back from the war, but Pearl didn't want to wait anymore. She couldn't wait anymore. She needed to feel something from anyone (or rather, anything) that was available to her. Her lust for the Projectionist would have to do for now. It was all she could think of. The thought of him being beneath her, the idea of her being naked in bed with another man aroused Pearl, motivating her to speed up her process, her moans growing louder and louder as she neared her climax. The moment she came, Pearl closed her eyes, arching her back and let out a pleasurable moan loud enough to scare the crows away, her voice echoing across the field.
Exhausted from performing the sexual act of rubbing herself against the scarecrow, Pearl collapsed on top of his hay-stuffed chest, showing a satisfied smile on her face. Nobody had been around to spy on her, so nobody would ever know of what she just did, but someone did know. Someone, something, had witnessed her tryst with the scarecrow. Whoever this witness was, he would not breath a word of what he just saw to anyone, for he had no family or friends to speak about this to. This witness wanted to see her act out more of her fantasies, especially with him. This unidentified creeper wanted this farm girl all for himself, even if Pearl wasn't aware of it.