It would be great if Susan found out her mother was moving them to Florida or better yet, the Antarctic! Jeremy would have to find a new girlfriend, right? What if she was pregnant and it wasn't Jeremy's? He would never speak to her again. Then, after the original shock had worn off, he might decide to find a younger girlfriend. One who'd better fit his image of what a good woman should be. That sort of had a Cinderella-like feel to it, didn't it? Olivia thought. And who better to play the starring role than the ever maturing Olivia Baker?
As Olivia continued to listen to their conversation, she was disappointed.
"Mom promised to buy me a new prom dress and I wanted to know your favourite colour."
His favourite colour! After dating for three years, this hussy didn't know his favourite colour? How imbecilic could you be? If Olivia Baker was Jeremy Atkins' girl, he wouldn't have to wade through such drivel. No siree! Every utterance Jeremy spoke would go directly into Olivia's subconscious and conscious memory, to be retrieved in a split second! If this she-devil had any brains, she'd know his favourite colour was . . .
Not knowing the answer herself, Olivia leaned over the stairwell railing.
"My favourite colour?" Jeremy thought aloud. "I guess it would have to be . . . ah . . . mauve."
It took Olivia a few seconds to figure out what colour mauve was, but when she did her whole world came together.
Mauve, of course! she thought. His scarf is mauve and so is one of his shirts! How could I have overlooked this vital piece of his psychological makeup? They always say that a way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but what about his eyes? What if he were to see something pleasing every day on the same person? Maybe then he would forget about these nobodies and look for a real woman!
Olivia ascended the steps two at a time, alerting the couple below someone had been listening to them talk. Jeremy stepped out from beneath the stairs and looked up, only to catch a glimpse of a skirt before it disappeared.
"It would appear you have an admirer," Jeremy lied, turning back to Susan.
"Perhaps it was an admirer of yours. Did you think of that?" she replied with a smile.
Jeremy looked up the stairwell. "As you know, sweet Susan, I only have eyes for you."
Susan put one hand on Jeremy's cheek and placed her other hand roughly on his crotch. "It's not your eyes I'm worried about, big boy," she said with a smile, planting a kiss on his lips. "I have to get to class," she said. "I'll tell Mom about your mauve preference and call you tonight, all right?"
"You do that. Talk to you later." Jeremy looked down the deserted hallway and smiled. "High school, what a waste."
During the weeks following Jeremy's colour revelation, Olivia spent all her saved allowance and birthday money on mauve shirts, skirts, socks, pants and even a set of pale purple matching bra and panties - these she hadn't worn yet, saving them for "The Big Night" that would inevitably come. Alas, these new and highly recognizable clothes got everyone's attention except Jeremy Atkins', unless he heard about the girl they were calling the Purple People Eater.
By all accounts, at the end of the school year, Olivia Baker was still a nobody as far as Jeremy was concerned.
With another school year on the horizon, Olivia hoped her new method of getting noticed would arrive in time. When she made her daily pilgrimage to the department store and spotted the expanded makeup display, she believed her pleas had been answered. She'd realized that what a boy looks at first is a girl's face, not her clothes. If she had attractive features, only then would he check out what she was wearing.
Back home Olivia emptied the contents of her shopping bag: 10 packets of mauve lipstick and eye shadow. She ripped open one of each and headed to her full length wall mirror. With extreme care and time consuming accuracy, she applied both products to her youthful face. When she was finished she inspected the results, which were better than she had thought they might be. Her eyes appeared wider, wilder, and more mysterious than ever. Womanly, she concluded. Though she had worn lipstick before, this mauve colour (a shade she ordinarily wouldn't have thought to wear), gave her a different, almost exotic look.
In her reflection she saw the transformation from a naive teenager to the ambitious woman she wanted to portray.
"In the right clothes, Jeremy Atkins won't take his hands off you," she said aloud. "The right time and place are around the corner." As an odd smile crept across her face, she began to assess her ever-developing body. "You better watch out Susan Parker, 'cause you've got only one thing that I don't - Jeremy Atkins."
She turned in front of the mirror and admired herself. Not a true beauty, she could be a passable substitute. In seductive clothes and a change of outward attitude, she could be competition for many girls, although there was only one female in Lasting she had her sights on.
"Hey, Susan," she commanded, "I hope you're ready for me, because when I start to fight, it's going to be to the death."
CHAPTER FOUR
Dale kept off the main highway, thinking he might wander into a town where he could stay overnight. It was mid-afternoon and the sun's warmth was too hot for comfort. He wasn't a summer person, liking the cooler seasons better.
Dale couldn't get enough of winter and the work that was involved with it. Shovelling snow was the only activity a youngster could do that was both legal and paid well. To suit up after a big snowfall was akin to winning the kid lottery. Once told by a customer that if he worked slower, he could do a better job, Dale replied, "If you don't like my work, you can shovel it yourself!" The man was taken aback by the boy's candor, but could see from his eyes that something possessed him to go quickly, to get the job done.
Those same eyes managed to get Dale most of his work, whether the people he approached needed his services or not. It was as if they were afraid of what he might do if they declined his offer.
Growing up in the small town of Freeling effected Dale's life considerably, as it had as many disadvantages as advantages. The biggest hindrance was the lack of work, with the main source of employment being the local lumber mill.
Dale's father was one of those poor suckers dying little by little, long shift by long shift. Awake at 6:00 a.m. and out the door an hour later was his regular schedule, which meant there was no time for his three good-for-nothing boys.
Stan Hawks' plans hadn't included any children. Unluckily for him, his high school bride was as fertile as a rabbit. It was as if every time he touched her, she gave him another boy to carry on the Hawks' legacy. When she passed away giving birth to Dale, Stan also wanted to die. What did he know about kids? His wife had raised the other two almost single-handedly. With both of them now over 12 and old enough to take care of themselves, what did Stan need with an infant?
He decided to pay a kindly mother of six to raise Dale, figuring he could easily handle the two older boys. Then when Dale reached school age, tragedy struck: his father moved him back home, ripping him away from the devoted arms of Mrs. Davenport and her loving family.
If a psychologist needed an example of how a child's robust outlook on life could stop instantaneously, Dale Hawks would be the perfect test subject.
In his spare time Dale was basically not allowed to play, be it before school, at lunch time and especially after school. With his other sons now out of the house, Stan took advantage of the new healthy, albeit small, body around. While he slaved away at the mill, he expected Dale to keep the house tidy by doing a few menial tasks like emptying the garbage cans. In the evenings, Stan had Dale fetch him a beer or two, making it seem like a fun game they were playing together. Stan figured in a year or two Dale would be old enough and tall enough to do more strenuous chores, such as washing the dishes and vacuuming. Until that day arrived, if Dale got out of line, Stan would simply put him back in place with a powerful smack of the hand. When things got really out of hand . . . .
Thinking of that night always made Dale shiver, from both