Posted by jack on October 07, 2006 at 02:54:04:
Blue Weather
by Jack
It was the kind of day Helen Jackson had in mind when she wrote of October's bright blue weather. A perfect football afternoon, except it was croquet and badminton they were playing on the lawn at the Rollins estate, and martinis and single malt not keg beer that the polite young men served at the refreshment tent. The sound of small talk seemed never to let up.
Many of the partiers wore sweaters or light jackets. Suzie Mae wore nothing. She stood apart, kept from mingling or any more likely activity she might have considered by ropes that bound her to a stake. Nearby, an unlit barbecue pit lay in readiness. A long metal pole rested in brackets above it. Until a few minutes before, Suzie Mae hadn't known why she was fixed there like a lawn ornament. It hadn't occurred to her that her presence and the reason for the barbecue might be entwined.
Deborah Rollins explained it.
"You look cold, Suzie. Goose bumps all over you, poor thing. It's chilly, I grant you. You'll be warmer soon, I promise. Now, I need to make sure the information we have is right. We always put little bios on the backs of the menus for people like me."
Mrs. Rollins consulted her notepad. "According to this, you're twenty-three. Yes? Just nod your head, Suzie. Good. Don't cry, please. You don't need to confirm the measurements. We have those. A hundred eighteen pounds, five feet seven, thirty-six, twenty-one, thirty-six, my, how perfect is that!. You were first runner up two years ago in the Miss Iowa contest after being the favorite to win. Yes? Mmmm, those things are so political, aren't they. You had a promising modeling career going, and even had your picture on the cover of Glamour! - until last year when you joined the Salvation Army. Correct? Good, thank you. What on earth did you do for the Salvation Army, dear? I can't imagine."
A cold breeze sent a shudder through Mrs. Rollins. She wrapped her arms around her chest and allowed Suzie a sympathetic gaze.
"You're just freezing, aren't you honey? So sorry. Look, this must be almost a unique experience for you, being on display and having people hardly pay attention to you. And you're nude as nude can be to boot!"
Suzie had wondered about that. When the buzzer buzzed, she had been expecting her mother. She barely had time to take in the sight of the men at her door before the fragrance engaged her nostrils. The next thing she knew, she was on the floor of a van, tied and gagged, groggy from the drug. She had recovered her senses only during the past few minutes. She wondered mostly about her abduction, assuming it was what she and her mother had always feared, but found it strange that the men merely glanced at her from time to time. No one spoke to her, no one leered, no one touched.
"It's different in the literature. The girls get teased a lot and played with before it happens in the stories, if you ever read them, but it's not usually that way. Not in my experience."
Mrs. Rollins pointed to a plumpish woman wearing a blazer and baggy slacks who had her back to them.
"I'll show you what I mean. Dolly! Come here for a minute, will you dear."
The woman turned. She regarded them with a strained face, then slowly made her way over.
"Dolly is so nice, you'll like her. I'm about the only meanie here," Mrs. Rollins sighed.
"Doesn't she look like a nice one, Dolly?, " Mrs. Rollins said after Dolly was beside them, gazing off toward the blue horizon.
Dolly smiled at Suzie with such warmth and compassion that Suzie felt slightly reassured.
"Tell her about the bunnies, dear."
"Oh, I don't want to."
"It's for the best, Dolly."
Dolly took a quick breath. "Oh, all right. What's her name?"
"Suzie Mae."
"Hmm. She is a nice one, Deborah. You're right. Well, you see, Suzie, my husband and I keep bunnies. We usually have one for Sunday dinner. Frank, that's my husband, he picks out the bunny on Saturday and I always let it sleep in the house that night and I give it a nice breakfast in the morning and I talk to it and try to give it love before Frank takes it out with the hatchet. When I'm not being nice to them like that, I can't bring myself to look at the little dears. I feel so bad they have to be...you know."
"Very good, dear. What Dolly just said is how most of the people here feel about you, Suzie. That's why you're not getting a lot of attention. They feel a little guilty, like Dolly does for her bunnies. I don't feel that way, but that's me. I'm sure some of them think it's bad form for me to display you like this. They would have preferred not to see you at all until you were on the platter. Then they could stare for hours, not that there would be much of you to see for very long."
Suzie's eyes were wide.
"Mmm hmmm. We're going to have you for a late supper tonight. You'll be the main course, of course of course."
Mrs. Rollins laughed lightly and took Dolly by the arm.
"I want some shrimp before it's gone," she said.
Suzie Mae was by herself in the chill air. One of the servants approached the barbecue pit. He bent before it. A moment later he was done. As he made his way back across the shadowed lawn, Suzie drew her gaze from him to observe the reddening coals. She noticed that the metal pole had been taken down and lay now in the grass away from the heat of the pit. Other servants came bringing a folding table and a long leather box. Suzie felt the festivities pause around her. The guests had become silent watchers like she was. Then a flurry of anxious laughter and chatter broke out and there began a general scurrying toward the house. A few stayed to bear witness.