Chapter Eighteen
     Around eleven the next morning Earl's phone rang, and it was on the fourth ring before he could answer it.
     "Look, Earl, I hate to bother you when you're sick, but I really need you to come in today." It was Ed, Earl's boss and not someone that Earl wanted to hear from, not today.
     "What?" Earl mumbled. "Come to work?"
     "Yeah, Mark just screwed up the last twenty feet of the BCS order and I need you to come in and fix it. When you finish that, you can go back home."
     Earl agreed and laid down the phone. Beside him in the bed Vicky stirred slightly, and Earl could feel her butt press up against his thigh. He looked at her, but she was dead to the world and she slept with the face of an angel.
     Last night, after an hour or two of awkward and apologetic sex, they'd both passed out. Earl toyed with the idea of doing some more speed and keeping his run going, but decided against it so that he could share his bed with Vicky and wake up beside her in the early afternoon.
     Now, all that had changed, and Earl needed to go to work and leave the warmth of his bed and the wonder of its occupation. He slid out as quietly and gently as he could and went to the bathroom to wash his face. As soon as he got to his feet, he knew that it would be a disaster at work. His head ached in ways that Earl would not have imagined, and he was still unsteady on his feet. The speed had all left his system, but the alcohol had not.
     He finished washing his face and brushing his teeth before he reached for his box. He opened the lid and grabbed the small brown vial, and then he put it back and closed the lid. If Earl went in like this, hungover and slow, he thought that it would look better, would do a better job of justifying his sick day yesterday and today. If he was wired, he'd be normal and, while Ed never objected to Earl taking the occasional day off, it would be better to be sick.
     Earl splashed on his after-shave and padded into the bedroom to slip on his clothes. He avoided sitting on the bed and disturbing Vicky and had a hard time getting dressed while standing. He was holding onto the wall with one hand and trying to yank his pants up with the other when he lost his balance and nearly fell on Vicky. His shirt was easier, and Earl was dressed and ready to go before he woke Vicky.
     He knelt down on the side of the bed away from the door, "her side" as he now thought of it, and slid his hand beneath the covers and onto the warm soft skin of her back.
     "Honey," he whispered and gently stroked her back. It wasn't enough, and Earl took the next minute to study her sleeping face. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, then her cheek, and by the time he was sweeping her hair off her face, Vicky awoke.
     "Good morning, honey," Earl said softly. Vicky's eyes widened in alarm, then focused on Earl who was beaming at her from less than a foot away.
     She started to sit up and Earl restrained her with a firm hand on her shoulder. "Don't get up," he said.
     "What time is it?" Vicky asked. She lay back down on the pillow that they'd shared, and reached up with one hand and wiped her eyes and hair. "Are you up?"
     "I got a call from work," Earl explained. "I have to go in now."
     "What time is it?" she repeated.
     "It's a little after eleven."
     Vicky dropped her hand onto the top of the bed. "You're going to work?"
     Earl nodded. "Yeah, I got to."
     "How do you feel?"
     "Same as you," he answered. "Like shit." He gave a little smile, and Vicky copied it. "I need to finish up one job for my boss, then I'll be right back."
     "How long will it take?"
     "A few hours. I'll be back before dinner."
     "Can I stay here?" Vicky asked. She looked down at the pile of clothing near where Earl was kneeling. "I don't think I can get up and get dressed right now."
     "Sure, Vicky, you can stay," Earl said. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead again, and then gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
     "More," she said, and sat up and grabbed him around his neck. She pulled his face toward hers and they kissed again, longer and deeper, and Vicky was already kissing better than she had the night before outside Earl's door. He lost himself in the kiss, attracted instead of repulsed by the bitter, musty taste of her sleeping mouth. He reached down and cupped a breast, giving it a little squeeze before ending the kiss with a series of smaller, lighter ones.
     "I got to go," he said. "And you're making that impossible." He kissed her again. "My God you're something."
     He got to his feet and went to the door. Vicky was sitting up in the bed, and she blew him a kiss as he closed the door behind him and went to work.
     "I'm really sorry about calling you in," Ed said when Earl showed up a few minutes later. "You look horrible, and I really appreciate it."
     "It's okay," Earl said. He was thinking of all the days, this was the one that he most wanted to be at home. He'd dealt with hangovers, had handled trying to work after being up for days, but never before had he been required to leave a sleeping, naked woman who he thought the world of to come in and weld.
     "What's the deal?" Earl asked. "What do you need done."
     "That last twenty-five feet of fence was finished wrong. Instead of welding the supports *behind* the runners, Mark did it *between* them. The whole section is an inch too wide."
     Earl looked over to where Mark was busy with the grinder, cutting out all the cross pieces. He noticed that Ed had started on the other end, but that there were still over a hundred cuts to make and polish before they could even start re-welding the members.
     "What a bitch," Earl said. He picked up his grinder and began cutting the improperly welded cross-members off the frame.
     After half an hour, when only twenty or so pieces were left to be cut, Earl looked over at Mark. "It's too bad you're such a good welder. This would be a lot easier if you sucked."
     "I'm sorry," Mark answered, but not stopping. "I had a good teacher."
     "Asshole," Earl chided him, and went back to the cutting.
     It was close to six when all the work was done. Earl took off his helmet and dropped it noisily at his feet. "That's it," he proclaimed. "I'm outta here."
     "Don't forget to pick up your check," Ed reminded him. "It's in the top drawer of my desk."
     Earl took his paycheck and noticed that Ed had only deducted twenty of the forty dollars that he'd been advanced.
     "Hey, Ed!" Earl called out. "You messed up." He showed him the check and explained the error.
     "How about that?" Ed said. "Looks like you won." He slapped the big guy on the back. "Now, rest up this weekend, so that you can put in a whole week next week."
     Earl left Ed's and headed down to the liquor store to cash his check. Perris was working the counter and he looked up warily when Earl walk in.
     "There you are!" Perris said, and Earl approached the counter with a little bit of nervousness. He wasn't sure what Simone had said, but he knew how Perris would take it if he'd learned or guessed that Earl had been feeling up his girlfriend and getting her high.
     "Hey," Earl said. "What's up?"
     "Missed you last night. Where were you?"
     "Oh, I had to go out." Earl hoped that was enough and that Perris wouldn't press him for details.
     "Did you hear?"
     "Hear what?"
     "About Scott. He's going to be transferred back home."
     Earl heard the news, barely able to contain his joy. He didn't know where Scott called "home," but he knew that it wasn't here. If Scott were leaving, then the tower room would be available and Earl could realize his dream.
     It was silly, he knew, to want that room so badly and Earl couldn't even explain to himself why it meant so much to him. There was nothing at all special about the Single Spire Motel, nothing that anyone else would want any part of. But for Earl, that motel was his life.
     Coming, as he had, from a succession of garages and cars, from freeway underpasses and stairway landings, the Single Spire Motel was the best place Earl could remember living. Unlike Scott, Earl knew where his home was, and it was in the Single Spire Motel and now Earl was moments away from inhabiting its landmark.
     "Going home?" he asked Perris. "When?"
     "Dunno. Maybe he already has."
     Earl bought enough things to cover the check-cashing minimum, and if Perris wondered why he was getting gin and rum, he didn't say a word. Earl hurried out of the parking lot with his bags and threw them on the seat next to his, Vicky's seat.
     He didn't bother with checking for a spot in the parking lot, but pulled up on the street outside of the motel and carried his packages to his door. It was locked, and Earl didn't remember locking it.
     He kicked the door, and there was no answer. He set down his parcels and opened his door with his key.
     It was empty. The bed was unmade and still showed traces of the mornings frantic lovemaking. Vicky's scent lingered in the air, a soft and delicious reminder of the person Earl most wanted to see in the world. He checked the bathroom and she wasn't there, and he hurried outside and down to her room.
     He knocked on the door and waited. There was no sign of any activity, no whispers and rustles of anything getting dressed or hurrying to the door, and Earl knocked a little louder.
     He waited some more and tried the knob. The door was unlocked and he opened the door. Unlike his room, the maid had been through here and there was not a thing out of place. It was obvious to Earl that the room was empty, and not just empty of Vicky but empty of any tenant. He checked the closet, and there were no clothes hanging and nothing except the spare blanket on the shelf. The drawers which he'd seen the policeman check a few days ago no longer held any sweaters, socks or underwear, but were empty and looked hollow.
     There were no personal items in the bathroom, none in the room, and Earl just stood in the empty room. His stomach felt worse than it had when Scott had punched him, and Earl felt his eyes fill with tears, which he quickly wiped away with the back of his hand.
     He left the door open and returned to his room. The bags he'd brought in were still on the bed and his clothes were in his closet or scattered around, but none of Vicky's. He checked under the bed and found his cigar box and Simone's stocking from the night before.
     He began searching the room furiously, looking for a note or for some message from Vicky, but found nothing. He noticed at last that the message light on the room phone was on, and it took Earl a moment to realize what that was.
     In all the time that he'd lived here he'd never had a phone message. Everyone who called him used his cell phone, and Earl couldn't even recall ever talking on the room phone. He studied the card attached to it, and dialed the manager's office to pick up his message.
     "Hello?"
     "Yeah, this is Earl in room 103. I got a message or something on my phone."
     The line was quiet a moment, then the manager came back.
     "Mr. Potts?"
     "Yeah, that's me."
     "I tried to reach you earlier today and you weren't in. I remember that you'd mentioned you wanted to move into the Tower room if it became available, and earlier today it was vacated."
     Earl moved the heavy phone from one ear to the other, and used his free hand to begin digging a bottle out of the bags on the bed. "The Tower Room?"
     "Yes, I called you earlier when it was free, but you weren't in. Unfortunately, the room's since been occupied, but I'll let you know if it becomes available later."
     The manage hung up and it took Earl another fifteen seconds before he set his phone down. The tower wasn't his, but could have been if Mark hadn't screwed up welding the BCS job. Vicky was gone, and there was no sign of her having ever existed. He had another girl's stocking and an ashtray full of used condoms to remember the greatest day in his life by and Earl sat down on his bed and was close to sobbing.
     He cracked the seal on a bottle of rum and took a long sip, shaking his head in reaction to the straight liquor. He screwed the top back on and set it on the floor between his feet and pulled out his cigar box.
     Earl had no desire to get wired right now. The last thing he wanted was to be up and have no escape from his loneliness. What he wanted was to get completely shitfaced and pass out, to fall asleep and Earl didn't care if he woke back up or not. He filled his small pipe with as much of his dwindling stash as he could cram in it and lit the bowl.
     He alternated between hitting on the pipe and drinking from the bottle and was trying to get as fucked up as he could as soon as he could.
     There was nothing romantic, nothing measured about Earl's efforts. He was drinking for the effect, not the taste, and he was ramrodding as many mind-numbing chemicals into his system as he could fit, and as quickly as he could do it.
     He didn't want to think about Vicky, and he didn't want to think about losing the tower. He was so close to coming home and seeing someone who wanted to see him, and to coming home with the best possible news and it had all gone horribly and quickly south. There was nothing, Earl felt, that could salvage this day, this once in a lifetime day that had started off so well.
     Yesterday at this time he was kissing Simone, and he could still feel her butt in his hands. Then, the excitement he felt as the girls joined his life and the dancing, spinning Vicky who twirled for eight hours as alive as a family of triplets. Simone's gentle apology ran through Earl's mind, and Vicky's cautious attempts at kissing and oral sex. And all of it was speeding away, dwindling in the past, and then to have his only desire dangled in front of him only to be snatched away was more than Earl could deal with. Instead of announcing to Vicky that they could move into the Tower, Earl got to sit alone and drink as hard as he could.
     When the pipe was empty Earl hardly noticed. He held it in his hand, let it grow cool, and die, and he didn't even notice the tears until they ran down his cheeks and into his beard. He hardly noticed then, but a knock on his door brought reality crashing in on him and pulled him from his sorrow.
     He shuffled to the door and opened it, and Vicky was standing there. She started to move toward him, but stopped.
     "My God, Earl, are you all right?"
     Earl wiped his nose and face with the back of his hand and reached out and took her in his arms. Immediately he became aware of her scent, of her presence, and he held her so tightly that she was more a part of him then she'd been that morning when he was inside her.
     "Vicky!" he shouted and leaned back to look at her before hugging her again.
     "What's the matter with you? Are you all right?" She pulled herself free of him and started toward his room. He didn't want to let go of her, but he let her slide passed him and into his room.
     "Are you okay?" she asked and immediately sat down on the bed and reached out and took his hands. He noticed her stare, but didn't mind it a bit and more tears dribbled from his eyes.
     "I thought you were gone," he said. "I thought you were really gone."
     "I'm right here," Vicky said. "I didn't go anywhere at all."
     "But your room..."
     "You went to my room?"
     "Yeah," Earl said. "When I got back and you weren't here, the first thing I did was go to your room. It's empty, and you weren't here and you weren't there and I thought you were gone for good."
     "Oh, Earl, I'm sorry." Vicky leaned forward and they kissed. It was a long kiss, and a pretty good one, and when it was done Vicky said, "I have a surprise."
     "What's that?" Earl asked. "And where are your things?"
     "That's the surprise, silly," Vicky said. "I moved."
     "Where to?"
     "C'mon, I'll show you." Vicky stood up and took Earl by the hand. "It's not far."
     She led him out of his room and across the lot. As they neared the stairway that led up to the tower room, Earl's heart began sinking and pounding.
     "Up here," she said. "Scott's stuff was moved out today and I asked the manager and she said I could move right in! You should see it! It's got a little kitchen area and everything!"
     Vicky began tugging Earl's hand and running in front of him. She led him up the steps and into the Tower Room, which looked much the same as it had when Scott had let Earl visit.
     There were the two windows, the tiny loveseat in front of the one, and the postage-stamp sized linoleum kitchenette. "Isn't it great?" Vicky said. She dropped his hand and began spinning, showing off her room and the extra size it had.
     Earl walked over to the front window, the one by the loveseat that looked out across the street. The drapes fluttered in the breeze and in response to Vicky's gyrations and the air disturbed by the cars passing below. He turned his back on the window and watched Vicky, who walked over to be near him.
     "I just love it," she said.
     "I know," Earl answered. "It's a great place."
     "It's much nicer than the ones down below."
     "I know."
     "I hope you come up and visit me all the time up here," she said. "But I'll still come down to your room, too."     
     "Yeah," Earl muttered. "Yeah, we'll do that."
     "Is there something the matter," Vicky asked. She reached out with both her hands and took Earl's in hers, then stood right in front of him. "Are you mad about something?"
     Earl looked into the clear bright eyes that stared up at him and lost himself for a moment in their sparkling innocence. "Vicky," he started to say, and her attention was on him so completely that he lost track of what he was going to say. He paused, wondering if he should say anything at all. Her joy at her new home was so transparent that Earl couldn't bring himself to mar it in any way.
     "Did you mean it?" he asked. "About me coming up here?"
     Vicky leaned forward and kissed Earl on the side of his lip that wasn't injured. "I did."
     "Can I come up now?"
     "You goof, you're already here." She spun away from him and danced over to the front window. She was wearing an oversized man's white shirt and Earl could see traces of her body silhouette on the fabric. She looked lovely, he thought.
     "I guess I am."
     Vicky left the window and wandered over the five feet or so to the tiled area of the room, the kitchenette. She leaned down and opened the small refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of milk. "Would you like some?" she asked.
     Earl shook his head. "I've got some rum and coke down at my place," he said. "I got it for our celebration. Do you want me to go down and get it?"
     "I don't think I could take another night like last night," Vicky said. "And what's this about a celebration?"
     "Our anniversary," Earl said. "Tonight marks our one day anniversary."
     Vicky laughed, and poured some milk into a glass. "And what did you get someone for a one day anniversary?"
     "I was thinking about dinner," Earl said. "I'm starving."
     "I'm not so sure about that," Vicky said. She was backing away, and not just physically, Earl thought.
     "I'm buying."
     "I have a lot of work to do," Vicky said. "I didn't get it done last night, you know."
     "Work? What kind of work?"
     "Studying, mostly. I need to be ready for when I take the Survival Course, when I get the money for it, that is."
     "That twenty-five hundred?" Earl asked.
     "Yep. Vicky turned and walked over to her little couch and sat down, crossing her legs under her. "You see those books and things?" she asked, pointing at her small and rickety bookshelf. It was filled with heavy looking volumes and plastic folios.
     Earl nodded and took a step or two in its direction.
     "Those are my coursebooks. I've studied those, but I still have so much to learn. And now, with this Danger Condition, I'm even farther behind then before."
     "I don't think you're in any danger," Earl said.
     "You wouldn't see it," she said. "But I am."
     "You're serious about all this stuff, aren't you?"
     "It's the most important work on the planet," Vicky said. "I have to take it seriously."
     "And that means you can't go out for dinner?"
     "I really shouldn't."
     Earl turned and faced the books. Instead of coming home to a happy relationship and having a weekend of fun to look forward to, he felt as if he were getting the brush off. If she didn't go to dinner with him, it didn't look like they'd be together tonight at all. It was all so much different this morning, he thought, and wondered when and how it had all changed.
     "Do you want me to leave?" he asked.
     "I want you to be happy."
     "What does that mean? Were you happy last night?"
     "Last night was different," Vicky said. "I think I had too much to drink."
     "So what does that mean?" Earl asked. He was getting scared. "Does that mean you're sorry about what you did?"
     "I shouldn't have done it," Vicky said. Earl wasn't sure which of the activities that occurred last night was the one she was talking about. He wasn't sure if she meant getting high, or sleeping with him, or anything else.
     "I loved having you around last night," Earl said. "It was wonderful waking up with you. I thought about you all day when I was at work."
     "Oh, Earl, don't be like that," Vicky said. "I didn't mean that."
     "You didn't mean what?" he asked, and his voice was louder than he expected. "You didn't mean to make me choose you and then dump me?"
     Vicky got off her couch and walked over to Earl and hugged him around his stomach from the rear. "It's not like that."
     He turned, still held in her arms, and backed away outside of her embrace. "What's it like then? You don't want to go out, you don't want to get high..."
     "I want you to be happy," she said. "Like you were last night."
     "But I was happy last night cuz you were with me. I can't be happy like that without you."
     "Yes you can," she said. "Listen, why don't you go and get something to eat. When you're done, come back up here and we can talk then."
     "So you *do* want me to go."
     "Just for a little bit. And then I want you to come right back."
     It didn't make much sense to Earl, and it didn't answer any of his questions, but it was something. She wasn't dumping him, not right now, and Earl hoped that if he came back that he would be in a better mood and maybe he could charm her as he'd done last night. Maybe it was because he was tired and hung over, and maybe it was something else, but Earl would go out and when he returned, maybe it would be better.
     "Okay," he said. "I'll go get something to eat and come right back. But I need a kiss before I leave."
     "Oh, you do, do you?"
     "Yes I do." And Vicky smiled and gave him his kiss.
     "That's better," he said and Vicky agreed.
     Earl took off down the stairs, still uncertain about Vicky and what or how he should be feeling. One thing he knew was that he needed to get wired and that would take care of the hunger. Instead of going out to eat, he would wait in his room and get high. When he felt right, he could go back and see about conquering fortress Vicky.
     About a minute after he was back in his room, the needle was back in Earl's arm. With the speed rushing through his system, he pulled the spike out and tried to remember if he'd cleaned it after using it on Simone. He didn't worry about AIDS, not with her, but Earl felt a little thrill at the notion that maybe some of her blood was now adding to his trip.
     He bounced out of the bathroom and went to get something to drink. It was easier now, without all the women, and Earl was happy just sipping on a tall can of cold beer and watching the nothing that was happening out in the parking lot. He guessed that he'd over-reacted with Vicky, and that maybe everything was just fine between them. Earl didn't think about her books and her studying, and had decided it was a good thing that she didn't want dinner.
     He sucked on his beer and rolled and tiny joint to smoke now and a bigger one to take upstairs. No matter what she said, Earl felt that Vicky would want to smoke a joint after studying. It wasn't like last night, when everyone was all wired and drinking, it was just a little joint. He didn't think that she would object to that.
     He sat on his bed and smoked his joint, occasionally getting up and looking out the door to see if there was anything going on. Nothing was, but Earl was antsy and he walked out to the street to watch the traffic and to see if a train would come by.
     When he felt a decent amount of time had passed, Earl went back to his room and splashed himself with some more after-shave. He had the one joint tucked behind his ear, but needed something to sip on while they talked or whatever, so Earl mixed a rum and Coke in a glass and took it with him. He thought they were a little sweet, but Vicky might want a sip, in spite of what she'd said.
     He climbed the stairs and knocked on her door, and a moment later it opened. The white shirt and khaki trousers were gone, and Vicky was back in the bathrobe that Earl figured she must wear all the time. She was wearing floppy blue ankle warmers and had thick white socks on, and maybe that was because this room was much cooler than the ones down on the street level. That extra window, Earl thought, made all the difference.
     Vicky greeted him with a smile, and from what Earl could tell, was glad to see him. He didn't press his luck and ask for another kiss, or try to grab or hug her, and when he walked in the room he was glad he hadn't.
     Perris and Simone were seated on the small couch, just standing up to come over and greet him. Simone was wearing a tight black skirt that reached down to her ankles with a provocative slit most of the way up one side and a thin silk top that exposed her midriff. From what Earl could tell, she was both cold and in need of a bra. Perris, of course, was dressed as he had been at work: a button down oxford shirt, gray slacks, and loafers. He looked, if anything, more despondent than before.
     "Still at it," I see, Simone said, offering a cheek for Earl to kiss. He did so, and then shook Perris' hand.
     "Yeah, well, y'know," Earl said. He wasn't sure if Simone was using an expression or making an observation. He rubbed his arm unconsciously, and then thought of Simone's blood mingling with his own.
     "Everyone's here," Vicky chirpped. "You're all in my new place."
     There really wasn't anything that Earl could say about that, but he nodded. "Yep."
     Simone and Perris headed back to the loveseat and sat down. Perris slumped into the seat as soon as it took his weight, and Simone took his hand and held it in her lap.
     "I'm fucked," Perris said at last. Since only Earl was surprised to hear that, he guessed that they'd been talking about it before he arrived.
     "It will be okay, sweety," Simone said. "It'll work out, somehow."
     "What's the problem?" Earl asked. He walked over across from the loveseat and sat on the floor. Vicky came and sat near him, between him and Simone.
     "Oh, fuck. Where do I start?" Perris said. He rubbed his face in his hands. "First, I just lost my job."
     "What?"
     "Nothing to do with me, they said. But a new owner took over and has all his own people, mostly his son and his friends. They don't need me, and so I'm out of a job."
     "That sucks," Earl said. "That really blows."
     "They just showed up tonight with Mort, and told me the news. I just found out."
     "What about Mort?" Earl asked. He didn't know why he asked that, and didn't really care about Mort.
     "He's gone too. All of us, even Alicia."
     Earl didn't know the name, but there was a girl who sometimes worked during the day and he figured this must be her. "No notice or nothing?"
     "Nope," Perris answered. "Just thanks and good-bye."
     "What are you gonna do?" Earl asked. "Did they mention any place that you could go?"
     "Nothing," Perris said. "But that's okay, that's not the worst part."
     "It gets worse?" Vicky asked. She squirmed and tucked her legs under her, and the gap that always popped up in her robe came to life. Earl looked at the sliver of thigh, and remembered kissing and touching it last night.
     "Yeah, tomorrow the house is having a vote. They're gonna decide if I get kicked out or not, and it looks like I'll be gone."
     "It's because of that fight thing," Simone added. She was directly in front of Earl and when she crossed her legs he had to choose between Vicky's little gap and Simone's whole leg. The leg won, for now, but he thought Vicky might ask him about it later, so Earl tried to just look Simone in the eye. At this he was mildly successful.
     "Because of Scott?" Vicky asked, and Perris looked at Earl before answering.
     "No," he said. "Not really. It's more because of Earl."
     Earl stirred in his seat, uncomfortable. He knew what Perris meant, but didn't like being singled out, being in the spotlight.
     "What did Earl do?" Vicky asked, and she reached out a protective hand and laid it on Earl's knee. That distracted him from the conversation, and again Earl wondered if Vicky was for real or not. One moment she'd act like they were a couple, and the next as if they were complete strangers.
     "I was there, that's it."
     "Pretty much, yeah, that's it," Perris said. "It was a case of having too many strangers running around the house, that and hosting a fight between non-Greeks."
     "Are you Greek?" Vicky asked Earl.
     "No."
     "Greeks is just a name for fraternity members," Simone explained. "It's what they call themselves because of the Greek letters in their house names." She looked pleased with her definition.
     "We can get in a lot of trouble for hosting the fight," Perris said. "And the house is thinking that maybe it will be better for them if they can say that they've evicted the brother who was responsible."
     "And that's you?" Vicky asked.
     "Yep. That would be me."
     They all sat silent a moment, digesting the information. Earl also took advantage of the time to check Vicky's and Simone's legs.
     "Why don't you tell them what happened?" Vicky asked Earl. "Tell them that it wasn't Perris' fault?"
     "He can't do that," Perris said. "If Earl shows up, it will be the worst. Then the police and everyone get involved and I may go to jail."
     Simone squeezed Perris' hand harder at that. "That isn't going to happen, sweety."
     "So, at the very least, I lose my job, I get run out of my fraternity, and I may even be thrown out of college. Other than that, not a bad day." Perris was bitter, and it showed.
     "That's terrible," Vicky said. "Scientology can help you control your life," she added, hopefully.
     "Not now, Vicky," Simone urged, gently. "Please."
     It was a downcast group, and the silence that followed Perris' enumeration of his woes and current state was solid and palpable. Earl looked down at his feet, visible between his knees, and then at Vicky. Perris had his head in his hands and Simone was studying Earl.
     "Hey, I've got an idea," Earl said. He pulled the joint from behind his ear. "Let's get wasted."