Chapter 12
The camp was dark and silent when Yvonne got there. Stumbling, out of breath, she realized suddenly that she was stark naked. Her body stank with sweat. She ran to her cabin and didn't see anyone on the way, but when she got there she discovered that the door was locked and remembered that she had left the key up at Spindler Creek.
Doc Reynolds' cabin faced hers. He was inside, seated in an armchair with a book in his hands. Next to him was the inevitable martini. When Yvonne walked in, he remained where he was, staring open-mouthed at her. Her chest was heaving.
"Where's Mike? Have you seen him?"
He shook his head and seemed unable to grasp her question.
"I need him for something. That son of a bitch - "
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. Here, have - that's right, that'll make you feel better. I'll make another in a moment. That's right - you just sit down, relax."
Yvonne felt the cold drink warming her. "The son of a bitch - I'm going to - "
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. Mike? Mike's a son of a bitch?"
"Burt Conroy," she said. "Burt and another guy, a guy named Don Pearce. They raped me, they - " Doc Reynolds' poker face crinkled into a smile in spite of himself.
"Okay, I know what you're thinking. But it's by my choice, not by theirs. Maybe I do sleep around, but no one's hurt by it. I don't make them do it to me."
Doc Reynolds reached out and patted her on the knee. He found' it difficult to look at her and even more difficult to look away. "It was Burt, you say? That figures. You stay here, I'll see if I can find Mike. I doubt that there's much he can do, except maybe punch Burt in the mouth, which would be a good idea, of course, but - "
"Doc - "
"You stay here." He got up laboriously.
"Doc, he's got Ellie up there - Ellie Brighton."
"Ellie?" He turned to her, frowning.
She nodded. "That's what started it. I told him to leave her alone. Doc, Elbe's just a kid, she doesn't want to get mixed up with these guys. It's one thing for me, I've been there before. But Elbe's just a kid, she can't take that kind of thing."
Doc Reynolds looked around, as if unsure of what to do. Then he moved to the door, shaking his head. "You stay here. There's more to drink in the refrigerator, if you want it.
I'm going to find Mike and anybody else I can find. Maybe that new fellow, Claude Branch.
You wait here."
He left and Yvonne rested for a few minutes before going to the refrigerator and pouring another martini. The cold drink turned into a hot ball in her stomach. She realized suddenly that she could smell her own body, and the smell was pleasant. But for the first time in her life she found sex unpleasant - even the thought of sex. Her oiled, slick body, brown as a nut and lush, was heavy with smells of musk and sweat.
She let herself relax. Slumping in a couch, she realized suddenly how hurt and exhausted she was. She wanted to sleep. It had been a long time since she had had enough sex, and the feeling was pleasant.
Mike Taylor had been wandering around the camp, wondering why he was so terribly restless. He longed to be at work again, to have facts and figures in front of him instead of people. They were so much more reliable, so much easier to deal with. No invoice had ever disappointed him the way Ellie Brighton had. But it would be only a short time before he returned to L.A. and his company. He would leave tomorrow; the arrangements were made.
It seemed, though, as if there was an infinite stretch of time between today and tomorrow, measurable in years, and none of that time could be filled adequately. Mike Taylor simply had nothing to do, nowhere to go. Active and cheerful as a rule, he had somehow lost sight of his purpose. His brief affair with Cindy Wheeler, while gratifying, had meant nothing to him - or to her, for that matter. Cindy was a lovely girl, a sexy girl, but she was also the sort of outgoing, flirtatious woman that Mike had often gone with and had never taken seriously. He liked quiet women, the kind of women who relied on a man. who knew how to make a man feel good. Ellie - so he had thought - was that kind of woman, but Ellie had proved to be another kind of woman as well, one of Burt Conroy's wild harem.
When he saw Yvonne come through the camp he kept in the shadows, not wanting her to see him. Yvonne was one woman who was not in some sort of sexual relationship with Burt Conroy, but if she saw him she would begin to turn on that incredible body of hers and soon they would be fucking again. Mike didn't want that - not now. In fact, he felt a kind of annoyance against the whole race of women. They could be so lovely, so soft and touchingly sweet, and then prove to be hard as nails underneath.
He saw Yvonne go into Doc Reynolds' cabin. Slumping down on a bench, he rested and wished that he could go to sleep, but his mind was too active for that. Sighing, he got up and began another aimless walk around the campground.
When Timmy Holstead thought about it the next day he realized that it was the crowd's reaction to Yvonne's performance that made him fuck the horse in front of them. They had taken Yvonne seriously; no one had laughed at her. But it was different with Timmy. He had noticed a few snickers even before he mounted the horse, and these had turned to guffaws when the crowd saw his tall, angular body hunching over the backside of the pony and his cock thrusting deep into it.
That was bad enough. But what had happened then had been humiliating in the extreme.
Blushing furiously, he went on with what he was doing: with a savage jerk he thrust his cock deep into the large, hot cunt of the pony, feeling the way the pony responded - back arched, cunt hot and liquid. In that moment, just a moment too soon for Timmy, the pony had its climax, and instantly it stepped forward and swished its tail down. Timmy, desperate to finish inside the pony, thrust again, harder, and as the pony stepped forward he tumbled off the bench. Ignoring the jeers of the people watching, he ran after the pony and tried to lift his cock high enough to enter its fat cunt. But his climax came before he had a chance to do so. Pointing upward, his cock spewed a thick stream of jism out onto the pony's flank.
His expression was so woebegone, so lugubrious, that the crowd laughed louder than ever. As for Timmy, the first thing he saw was Gabriella, lovely Gabriella, sitting near her sister. They were alone. He went over to Gabriella and tried to make a joke out of the whole scene, but Gabriella, feeling that his humiliation rubbed off onto her, ignored him even when he spoke.
"What's wrong, anyway?"
Gabriella's twin sister smothered a giggle.
"Oh, you're just such a child," said Gabriella. "Why don't you just go play with your old dong and leave us alone."
"What'd I do? I didn't do anything."
"Okay, you didn't do anything. Now go somewhere and do something. Can't you see I'm busy?"
Don Pearce, plump and happy, his fat belly full of wine, came ambling over.
"You don't have to be that way," said Timmy.
"I thought we were friends."
"Okay, we're friends," said Gabriella, "but I'm busy."
"He bothering you?" asked Don Pearce.
"Not really," said Gabriella, flattered at the attention, for Pearce, although horribly pudgy, was considerably older than she was.
"Shove off," said Pearce to Timmy Holstead. "Why should I?"
Pearce took him by the arm and, with a pleasant smile on his face, pinched him hard.
"Ow!"
"Oh, Timmy," said Gabriella. "Just go away and stop bothering us."
"Yeah," said Don Pearce. "Why don't you just do like the lady says."
Timmy walked away, his face burning with shame, and he tried to hide the tears in his eyes. When he was some distance away he turned around and saw Don Pearce leaning over Gabriella, with his arm around her.
He sat down to watch them, too proud to leave and too pained to join in the activities of the others.
"Mike, where the hell've you been?" Mike Taylor turned around and saw Doc Reynolds in front of him.
"I've been looking all over for you. It's Ellie. Burt's got her up at Spindler Creek."
"It figures," said Mike, smiling wryly. Doc Reynolds looked at him. "What the hell does that mean? Yvonne came down and told me. They're going to rape Ellie."
"Rape - ? Come on, Doc, Ellie's a big girl now. That isn't the first time she's gone with Burt."
"You're wrong, Mike," said Doc Reynolds gravely. "If you won't go help her, I'll go myself."
He turned away and walked at a fast pace toward the path to Spindler Creek.
"Wait a minute." Mike ran after him. They walked down the path very fast. "Are you sure - I mean about Ellie?"
"Burt's been bullying Ellie, and none of us had the sense to see that she was just afraid of him - that's all it was. And now he's got her up there with those hooligans of his. Anything could happen. But whatever does happen, I'm going to see to it that Burt pays for what he does - I'm going to see to that for sure." He gripped the knob on his walking stick. His voice was trembling as he spoke.
"Wait!"
It was Yvonne. She had gotten hold of clothing somewhere and was running down the path after them.
"I'm coming along. I've got a few things to settle myself."
Mike hesitated. Then he nodded curtly. "Okay, but I'm going on ahead." He broke into a run.
"No, Mike," cried Yvonne.
But he was already gone.
Doc Reynolds cursed as he struggled to keep pace with Yvonne, clutching the walking stick and sweating in the cool night air.
Everything depended on Mike.