Chapter 27

April said, "Hey, you're still listening, right?"

I gave a little shake of my head. "Uh, yeah. Sorry. What were you saying?"

It was still Sunday, an hour before sunset, and I'd called April to thank her for being such a great sport about that whole stripper thing.

My intentions were good, but my performance was pathetic. We'd been talking for less than ten minutes, and already, I was beyond distracted.

Ever since Joel's abrupt departure a couple of hours earlier, I'd been waffling between anger and guilt, hatred and longing, and satisfaction and regret.

It didn't help that April had spent the last ten minutes telling me how totally hot and amazing Joel was. I couldn't disagree with the first part. Hot? Definitely. But amazing? Well, the jury was still out on that.

As she rambled on, I didn't have the heart to tell her that I probably wouldn't be seeing him again.

Hoping to change the subject, I said, "Hey, I meant to ask you something. You called the cowboy hilarious. What'd you mean by that?"

"Oh, that," she said. "Well, you probably saw, he didn't take off a single thing, not even his hat."

"Yeah," I said. "And do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because my aunt told him not to."

"Oh man, what a bummer. But I guess that explains it."

"Explains what?"

"Well, the whole time he's dancing and stuff, he's describing what he would be taking off, if only we were alone in some cow patch or something."

In spite of everything, I had to laugh. "What's a cow patch?"

"Heck if I know," she said. "And you wanna hear something funny? I don't think he knew either. But anyway, he's going into all this detail, even as does his thing."

I recalled the spectacle from Friday night. From the little I'd seen, his "thing" involved a whole lot of straddling and thrusting.

April continued, "And he's all like…" She mimicked a masculine drawl. "'Then, I'd take off my pants, and you, my little filly, would wanna ride me around, rodeo-style.'"

I burst out laughing. "That makes no sense."

"I know," she said. "But it was awesome." Her tone grew more serious. "You're not sorry you missed it, are you?"

Now, it was my turn to imitate the cowboy. "No ma'am."

April laughed. "You know what? I think your cowboy voice was better than his."

I couldn’t resist. "Thanks partner."

Suddenly, she burst out, "Oh my God! I almost forgot to tell you. You know my favorite zombie movie, right?"

"How could I forget?" I smiled at the memory. "You dragged me to see that thing like five times."

The movie's name was Flashbang, and zombies were just a small part of the plot. It was a huge cult favorite from a few years back, some low-budget indie flick that somehow managed to gross a fortune.

On the phone, April was saying, "I know, it was awesome, right?"

It was awesome – not the movie, but the fact that April loved it so much. As for me, I was more of a vampire girl. Still, I said, "Yeah, it was pretty awesome."

"So get this." She squealed, "I saw the car!"

Ouch. I held the phone away from my ear. "What car?"

"The one from the movie! You remember, right?"

I tried to think. From what I recalled, the hero had driven this beat-up Camaro across the Mohave Desert, all the while being pursued by gangs of zombies, mutants and pissed-off bikers. "Yeah, it was–"

I froze. A Camaro. The Camaro? No, it couldn’t be.

April said, "Sorry, what was that? You cut out for a minute."

My mind was whirling. Still, I managed to say, "It was a Camaro, right?"

"Yeah, totally. See, I knew you'd remember."

"And you saw it?" I said. "Where?"

"A few miles from your house. Crazy, huh?"

I was so distracted, I could hardly think.  "Uh. Yeah. Crazy."

"I know," April said. "I mean, who expects to see something like that around here. So, are you surprised or what?"

Oh, I was surprised, alright.

And yet, it couldn’t be the same car. I surely would've noticed, right?

Or maybe not.

When Joel had picked me up, it had been dark, and I'd been distracted. Maybe I wouldn’t have noticed.

"So?" April said. "Are you? Surprised, I mean?"

"Yeah." I gave a weak laugh. "Stunned, actually." I was still trying to sort things out. "So, when did you see it?"

"This morning. On my way out of town. So in a way, I have you to thank for it."

"Why me?" I asked.

"Because if it weren't for your birthday, I wouldn't've been in town, so I wouldn't've been driving down that road at all. See?"

"Uh, yeah. Which road? You never said."

"The one along the lake. You know, where that campground is."

Oh, crap. So much for a poor, destitute brother, walking to work.

April said, "You know the road, right?

Did I ever. "Oh yeah," I murmured. "I definitely know."

"Anyway," April continued, "I'm passing this storage place – you know, the one across from the campground – and what do I see? That car! And I'm thinking, 'No freaking way!' But I hit the brakes and turn around. And like half-a-minute later, I'm pulling into that storage place, and I ask the guy driving it–"

"Wait," I said. "Which guy?" It couldn’t be Joel, or she would've already mentioned it. Maybe this was just a coincidence.

April said, "The guy who works at the storage place. Apparently, I'd caught him moving it from one unit to the other. But that's not the point." She gave another happy squeal. "I got to sit in it!"

Yeah. Me, too.

My mind was a jumbled mess. "Do you have any pictures? Like a selfie or something?"

April sighed in obvious disappointment. "No. The guy wouldn’t let me take any. He acted like it was all top-secret or something." She paused. "But you do believe me, right?"

Oh yeah. I definitely believed her.

But now, I felt like giant idiot.