Trampled Underfoot (Beaches)


Posted by PK on July 15, 2002 at 18:14:48:

How exactly was this mob of decadent rich brats going to cover up Eric's death? Could Jill
really organise it? Would she even try? And, wait a minute, why the hell should I care?

Halfway through 'Spider and I' she got her roast boar. Jill handed her a steak on a plate and
guided her to a table, carrying her own.

'Got you a nice bit of leg,' she said. 'Upper thigh.'

'Thanks,' Jacqui responded faintly. She stared at the meat on her plate. That had been
walking around not long ago.

Jill was tucking into her food voraciously. After the first few bites - did she chew or just gulp?
- she looked up. 'Horseradish if you want it,' she said, indicating the condiments provided.
'Don't recommend the mustard. Okay for pork sausages...'

Three thousand years ago, Eric had said 'Just a short walk down the beach. Legs like yours,
you can make it. Come on, what you got to lose? Chicken?'

'Chicken?' she muttered. Tastes just like chicken. No, that's snakes. Or Coca Cola .
Mongooses eat snakes. Mongeese? Reboot. Rosie hadn't tasted like chicken at all. What did

men taste like?

'No, gamier,' Jill said through a mouthfull. 'Chicken tastes like whatever you cook it in.
People are MUCH more fun.'

Jacqui filed that for later. She bit. Chewed the seared and half-bloody meat. Swallowed. Did
it again. Easier the second time, and the next...'Jill..'

'Um?'

'What happens next?'

Jill glanced at her, a mincing smirk dancing on the hip of her lip. Harlequin. 'Gosh, I dunno.
Finish the dinner, get the minions to clear up...' She shrugged. 'Off and away to my Fortress
of Solitude.'

Jacqui had a vague idea of what that meant. She'd seen the Superman movies. Jill didn't
exactly fit the archetype. Antarctic? Frozen castles? Maybe the penguin was there. He'd
rescue her.

'I have a rustic retreat,' Jill said. 'Little house in the woods. I have rich, asshole parents with
spare houses like everyone else here. Also a big vehicle. Four by four. Two by four?' She
looked comically puzzled for a moment. 'Or five by five, I forget. Thing with wheels and
engine. We get in, I drive. You come with. I fuck you senseless.' She adopted an entreating
look. 'You did promise..'

'That's your plan?' Jacqui wondered. Touch of irony, gentle. Don't offend her, cuts people's
throats at the drop of a hat. Mad as a Hatter. 'That's it?'

'As far as I have one. Winging it. Planning, not strong point of me. Hulk smash. Trust me, it
works.'

Okay, Jacqui thought. Mad-as-a-stoat-woman carries me off to her love nest in the woods.
Then what?

'And after that?' Jacqui pressed.

'Well, we cuddle up and get cosy until the next party and then...'

Jacqui really didn't want to say it. 'Then you kill me?'

Jill looked away for a second. 'You could try to escape,' she said at last. 'Don't fancy your
chances. The dogs would get you.'

Oh, great. 'Dogs?'

'Dobermans crossed with European wolves. Designed to eat intruders.'

'Thanks a lot.'

Jill brightened. 'Might be fun to watch but I can't help thinking you'd be wasted on them. I
mean, they'd be just as happy eating pork chops.' She paused for a second. 'Or maybe not.
You know, there's a theory that predators regard humans as transcendent prey.'

'Sounds interesting,' Jacqui said with hollow irony.

'Or I could just slit your throat and stuff you in the boot,' Jill continued. 'Boot? Bugger me,
I'm talking English again. What's American for boot? You know, the bit at the back where you

put things?'

'You're drunk,' Jacqui said.

'You don't know either,' Jill challenged her. Right back at'cha.

This conversation is insane, Jacqui noted. What she said was, 'I'm tired. Let's go.'

Jill didn't bother to tie her up. She bundled her into a four-wheel drive vehicle and drove at
insane speeds into the darkness. Jacqui didn't care. The night was warm and she was feeling

no pain. She was still naked, her bag was on the back seat.

'Music?' Jill invited. 'Preferences?' Jacqui noted that the car didn't have any headlights on.
They could hit something any second. She didn't care. It was just the way things were going.
She wondered briefly what the yuppies at the party were doing to clear up the mess but she
didn't care about that either. 'Led Zeppelin,' she said.

Jill took her hand off the wheel and applauded. 'Make it so,' she said.

Jacqui looked nonplussed.

'It's in the...oh, never mind...'

Jill fiddled around for a few seconds, slammed a cassette into the car stereo.

An obviously well-used tape of 'Physical Graffiti' came on at 'Trampled underfoot'.