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THE PHONE RANG, CAUSING DELILAH to lean against the counter with the cigarette hanging from her mouth. Darry gave her a strange look and she shrugged at him, motioning for either him or Trish to get the phone.
"You gonna get that?" A man asked. He slipped a coin into the jukebox. Trish picked it up, asking who it was.
"Am I what?" Trish asked into the phone. Everyone else turned away, no longer paying attention. Delilah walked towards Darry and Trish, crowding into the small space. Trish appeared to be caught off guard and freaked out by the woman's voice on the other end.
"Blue jeans? Are you wearing blue jeans? Please, you have to tell me."
"I—what?"
Darry grabbed the phone, prompting Delilah to shoot an arm out to stop him from hanging up.
"Who is this?" He demanded.
"Darry hang up!"
"No! Don't hang up!" Delilah told the boy, who seemed to agree with her instead of his sister.
"Darry? You're Darry? I don't know exactly what you look like Darry, but but you have very big and very beautiful eyes, am I right?" The woman asked, making Delilah raise her eyebrows. "They're big and they're blue, and they're very beautiful."
"Holy fuck . . . " Delilah looked around, trying to see if there was a camera embedded in the wall or something for this woman to see them.
"Please don't be frightened. You're wearing a pair of blue jeans where the third belt loop is torn. I know how you tore it, too. You tore it on the jagged edge of the metal pipe," She whispered on the other end to Darry. "Can you still hear me?"
"You were out there?"
"I don't have time to explain."
"You were out there at the church?"
"Have you seen the cats yet?"
"The what?" Delilah exclaimed loudly, making the woman pause.
"Who's with you? I didn't know you had another girl . . . " She trailed off, making the three college kids look at each other. "Have you seen the cats yet? Lots of cats?"
"Look, who are you and what kind of shit are you trying to pull," Darry whispered aggressively into the phone. The man at the jukebox turned to stare.
"I don't know how to make you listen. The van. I saw the van, too. With the license plate." Darry and Trish looked troubled by this.
"Beating you?"
"No, not 'beating you.' Think about it again. I need you to wait for me. I'm about an hour away. Can you do that?"
"Who the hell are we talking to?!" Darry questioned into the phone again. The woman refused to explain herself. Delilah knew she would have to have another cigarette after this.
