FOLLOW THE LEADER - Chapter 34

 Chapter 34

Jason Powers’ panel truck was cruising north along Highway 101.  Cocoa was listening to music with her headphones. Rhonda had a desultory conversation with Sheena about dangerous “shelters” for the homeless. 

         After that the two were quiet for a while.

         “What do you guys hunt?” Rhonda asked.

         Jason checked her in his rear view mirror, then glanced at Sheena, who said nothing.

         It was going to be up to him.

         “Depends on where we are,” said Jason. “Down in the desert we hunt wild pigs. They call ‘em javelina.”

         She had heard the term before.

         “Do you hunt in the forest? That’s where your camp is, right?”

         “Right. It’s No Hunting were we camp. But up the coast a ways there are deer. I take it you’re not into hunting.”

         The E.S.P. again! Uncanny!

         “Hunting is okay, it’s just not my thing,” she said. “I have bad associations around it.”

         “Did you kill someone?” asked Sheena.

         “No!  What made you think that?”

         “Had to be something bad.”

         “Why don’t you tell us about it?” said Jason. “We all have our stories,” he said in his reassuring voice. “Right, Sheena?”

         “Shit yeah!” 

Rhonda took a deep breath
         “Okay. So when I was twelve my stepfather taught me to shoot doves with a .20 gauge shotgun. You know, how to swing the barrel around to ‘lead ‘em.’ I got to be pretty good at it. As my so-called reward, he tells me about this big breakfast out in Buckeye, this shithole town in the middle of the desert. The big kickoff to dove season.”

“So get to the bad stuff,” said Sheena.”

“I’m trying to! I’ve never told this to anyone.”

“Let her finish,” said Jason.

 “So he wakes me up at four in the morning and tells me not to eat anything because we’re going to have pancakes. We wait on the driveway for two of his hunting buddies to show up, then we pile into the back seat of a Jeep Cherokee. No one has much to say, ‘cause it’s hella early and your mind doesn’t work. His buddies smoke cigars and listen to Country. Pretty soon my stepdad puts his arm around me and squeezes my shoulder. Just bein’ friendly, I think. But then as George Jones is singing this teary ol’ drinking song, my stepdad runs his hand up my thigh and taps my crotch. I don’t say shit ‘cause I’m in shock. The guys up front are paying no attention to us. After a while one of ‘em turns off the radio. Now I can hear these big moths and bugs splatting against the windshield. Made me wish I was a bug. I 

knew right then that my life would never be the same again. That’s when it all started.”

“His molesting you,” said Jason.

“Yeah.”

         “That’s nothing,’” said Sheena. “Once my brother and his friend raped me twice in the same day. And I was still a virgin!”

         “You win,” said Rhonda. “Let’s drop the subject.”

         “Whatever.”

         “Like I said, all my girls have their stories,” said Jason.

         How many are there?

         Once again, Jason seemed to be reading her thoughts.

         “The SoCal chapter is bigger,” he said.  “More members. But I had always wanted to branch out. Change of scenery, I guess.”

         “Do they have a different leader?” Rhonda asked.

         “Sort of.  But she answers to me.”

         So women can advance.

         Rhonda a felt the gloom and doom slide away. These were people she could talk to. More than that, they seemed to know exactly where she was coming from.

         Jason braked and turned right onto a small country road.

         “Is this the way to your camp?” Rhonda asked, feeling foolish for asking.

         “Yep.”

         Jason drove a little further and parked beneath an oak tree.

         He turned around in his seat. “Actually, the location of headquarters is top secret. That’s why Sheena is going to blindfold you.”

         They’re going to kill me! she thought for no reason at all. Maybe it was the goddamn bleach.  On the other hand, Sheena was being gentle. No one is angry with me, she thought. Instead, they were super friendly and accepting.