Evil's Root

Chapter 10

Barry sat in the bar, devastated. He didn't even enjoy an afterglow from his session with Gwen, and Sandra was off work, not that she would be pleased to see him either. His life was coming apart. All the plans, the money and nobody wanted to share it with him.

He raised his hand and stared as the bartender splashed another six dollars worth of escape into his glass. A shout went up behind him and he turned to see three guys arguing over the placement of a dart in the well-used board. The bigger of the three stepped back to the toe mark and pegged three darts faster than he could follow, all of them in the double twenty.

Barry wondered how long it took them to travel from hand to board. Finishing his drink, he made his way wearily out to the car and drove home. Doris was busy in the kitchen making lists of things to do when he entered. He went to the refrigerator and dug around for a beer, twisting it open and gulping down a large swallow as he leaned on the counter watching her.

"I'm home."

"I noticed. How could I help but."

"Doris, why are you such a pain in the ass?" He finished the beer and left the bottle on the counter, walking out with a heavy tread.

"Just leave your messes for me, Barry, that's all I'm good for. Cleaning up after you."

He stepped back to the kitchen door, leaning one hand on the frame. "That's right, Doris. I mean, why keep a dog and bark myself?"

Instead of getting emotional as some sensitive women might, Doris began railing against his daily abuses, and his disinterest in the things she practised trying to make a good marriage. He waved a hand and wandered off into the house.

"That's right, Barry, you just go away and do what you want. I have a little list out here you know" Her voice rose in pitch. "It's darts and laurels that I attribute to your behaviour. You know what, Barry? YOU KNOW WHAT?" She shrieked after him. "You don't have any laurels. They're all darts!"

He stopped short, hearing only the last of her rant. Darts! How long for the darts to travel? Travel! He grinned hugely, his eyes widening and his hopes rising. Heidi's Travel! He spun on his heel, grabbed his keys and rushed out to his car.

Heidi stood with her back to the door, pushing sheets into a copier as he entered. The chime was a brief imitation yodel that always amused Barry, and he opened and closed the door again just to hear it play. She was dressed in a dark blue skirt, mid-thigh showing off her shapely legs in the navy pumps, and a light pink, t-shirt with multicoloured flowers bordering the sleeves and collar. He held his breath and slowly expelled it, watching her move by the copier.

"Is that a toy to you, Mr. Stein?" She jogged her copies and went to her desk. Heidi had hair the colour of table cream and wore it piled high on her head, accentuating the long graceful neck supporting her Nordic face of pink cheeks, full lips and bright blue eyes.

Barry sucked in his breath and took in the splendour that was Heidi.

"It's Barry, remember, Heidi? Mr. Stein was my father." He ambled over to her desk and leaned nonchalantly on the back of the client chair. "Business good?"

"Truthfully? No. People have stopped travelling ever since the terrorist business. It is a shame, I have wonderful things I could show them."

"Show me."

"You said what?"

"Show me your wonderful things. travel things."

She looked slightly askance. "You are planning a trip somewhere?"

"Oh yes, and it might be for a long time."

"I take it then that your business remains good." She put the copies into a folder and sat behind the desk. "So now you want Heidi to create a holiday for you."

"Do I ever." Barry followed suit, sitting opposite and leaning forward. "Do you ever go anywhere, Heidi?"

"I have, but not too often. Business doesn't- well, didn't permit. I keep a small boat down the coast that I use on occasion."

"Really? Sounds nice. If you had the chance right now, would you?"

"Are you suggesting you want a ride on my boat or is it something else, Mr. Stein?"

Oh man, it's definitely something else. "Barry, call me Barry. As a matter of fact, maybe I am." He slid forward on the chair and drank in her ice cream skin and mountain lake eyes, his imagination firing on all cylinders. "I've come into a considerable sum of money, and I'm seriously considering leaving the country for, I don't know how long, and just living life to the fullest."

"What about your wife, Mr. Stein?"

The fantasy crashed and burned. Did everyone have to know he was married? "Doris and I are- we're pretty well finished, Heidi. It's- it's only a question of who goes first."

"And that would be you?" He shrugged. She twiddled a pen in her slim fingers. "You are suggesting that I go with you."

He perked up instantly. "I am. Oh yes, Heidi, I am. It would be- we could."

She dropped the pen and clasped her hands. "This sum you mentioned. How considerable?"

"Quite. Enough for us to--"

"I need a number, Mr. Stein."

Barry sat back and swallowed. "Uh- it's well over half a million. More than plenty to--"

"And this amount is liquid? It would be solely for pleasure?" He blinked and sat further back in the chair. What was he getting into here? "Understand, Mr. Stein, I would have to close my business, and it is very important that I be looked after. well looked after."

"Listen, Heidi, I'm not talking about a lifelong commitment here, I'm just talking about two people stepping out of the rat race for a while and having some freedom and a lot of fun." He wiped his forehead and found it damp in spite of her air-conditioned store. "The money would be used to that end. for both people. That's a promise."

"When would this. escape take place?"

"You know, after today it can be anytime. The sooner the better." He found a dry spot on his hanky and wiped his neck.

"What assurances do I have that this will continue for a reasonable period?"

"Heidi, Jesus! I'm asking you aren't I? What assurance do I get out of this? It is my money we're talking about here."

She nodded and ran a pink tongue over her upper lip. "You are right, Mr. Stein, the money is yours." She stood and walked around the desk to the door, pulling the shades and slipping the lock. Barry watched nervously. "Any good partnership should be sealed with a ceremony." Heidi reflected on previous propositions in her life, which had required a calculated approach, and saw that at this stage this might be a nice retirement arrangement. Right now she needed an amount.

"A ceremony." Barry turned back as she went to a cupboard behind the desk. Heidi opened the door and pulled out a large canvass bag and opened it up, dropping the contents on the floor.

"Give me a hand." She said matter-of-factly.

He stood and went over, looking down at the object. "What's this?"

"Hold that strap." She pushed a strap into his hand and then lifted the item up, twisting something on the bottom. A moment later there was a huge hissing sound and as Barry wrestled with the strap, the item inflated into a huge, foot thick, Queen-sized rubber mattress.

"Put it against that wall." She commanded. He did. "Here's to a holiday to end all holidays, Mr. Stein."

Barry gaped as she stripped off her clothes faster than Superman and tackled him onto the mattress. By the time the ceremony was over, Heidi knew the amount to the penny, its location and how it was acquired. The last bit of information was the best; she knew precisely how to proceed.