"Lady Bountiful has just sent her faithful cavalier to dance with the poor wallflower. What do you think I mean?" Tina giggled as she watched the emotions pa.s.sing over Julia O"Reilly"s face as she debated
whether or not to accept her cousin"s largesse. "I think, right now, Julia would have been happier if you had been voted prom queen, rather than have her friends see you lending her your boyfriend."
"Matt"s not my boyfriend. I told you what happened. He was in the stable when Kevin asked me to the
prom. I"m really grateful that he didn"t deny it when I claimed he had already asked me to the prom."
"Yeah, Right." Tina gave Liz a very superior smile and let her eyes drift from her friend to Matt and
Julia who were now gliding around on the dance floor. Her eyes back on Liz she asked, "Have you ever asked yourself what a guy with no time for horses was doing in the stable just when you needed him?"
"Oh," responded Liz a little taken aback.
"Right. "Oh." I think the guy"s got the hots for you," she said with a smile.
"Well, nothing can come of it." Liz shook her head gently, a blush growing. "Matt"s said he wants to join
the Marines. He reckons that they"ll have more use for his swimming than the army."
"If he wants to use his swimming, surely the navy," Tina said.
Liz stifled a giggle. "That"s what I said. Matt said that the navy has boats precisely so they don"t have to
swim."
As Liz, Tina, and a few of the unpartnered girls started talking amongst themselves the couples slipped back onto the dance floor.
* * * It was the change in the beat of the music that drew them out of their huddle. "I think it"s absolutely disgusting and shouldn"t be allowed," muttered Tina, her eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with humor as she joined most of the guests in watching the couples dancing with the floor to themselves.
"What are they dancing?" asked Liz.
"Well, I"m no expert, but I think it"s supposed to be a Tango," said Paola Villareal. "It sure looks like they are enjoying themselves, doesn"t it."
"Yeah. They"re really dancing up a storm. Who is the guy with Miz Stevenson?" asked Liz.
Tina looked at Liz. "Didn"t you see the Christmas ballet? He was the Sugar Plum Fairy"s cavalier." At
Liz"s shaking head, Paola and Tina exchanged horrified looks before turning back to the cultural desert that was their friend. "What about "Bad Bad Brillo" and the continuing adventures of Brillo? Surely you have seen some of those, even if just on TV?"
"The Brillo saga. Yes, I"ve seen some of that. So, what part did he dance?"
"Lizzzzz. How could you fail to recognize Brillo?" Tina asked in a pained voice.
"Because Brillo"s not a horse, obviously. You know Liz and her horses. If its not a horse, she"s not
interested. It"s a wonder she didn"t try to bring Speedy as her partner tonight, " Paola said. She turned her attention back to the dance floor. "It"s a conspiracy," she muttered to her friends, pointing at the dancers.
"Look at who has joined Miz Stevenson and her partner. There"s Glenna Sue"s sister Miz Haggerty, Miz Salerno, Miz Matowski, Glenna Sue and Joe, and Rich.e.l.le and Jon. You realize they"re all from the ballet. I bet those down-timers are guys that partnered the en pointe dancers in Nutcracker. It"s a recruiting drive I tell you."
Liz, Tina and Paola, like most of the rest of the guests, stood watching the dancers dance the Tango,
leaving the floor to the experts. It was a pleasure to watch, but too soon it came to an end.
Matt came to collect Liz for the next set and escorted her to the floor for yet another slow number. Tina turned to Paola. "Well, there is a lineup of guys holding up the opposite wall watching the dancing. It doesn"t look like any of them are going to come over here to ask us to dance."
Paola looked at the males, then back at Tina, "You"re right. If we want to dance, there is only one thing for it. We"ll have to do the asking." Paola turned and offered Tina her left hand, "Miss Logsden, may I have the pleasure of this dance?"
"Why Miss Villareal, I"d be delighted." Tina smiled and she put her right hand in Paola"s left and started onto the dance floor.
"Hey, just a minute. I asked. That means I get to lead," protested Paola.
"But next dance it"s my turn to lead."
The Graduation Picnic at the old quarry.
"Rich.e.l.le. Are you all right?" Liz Manning asked. Rich.e.l.le was bent over in the bushes, vomit pooling in
front of her.
Rich.e.l.le Kubiak looked up at the voice, Her wide unfocused eyes dominated a porcelain white face. "I do not feel so well."
"That"s an understatement. Have you had anything to drink?" Liz asked.
Rich.e.l.le tried to focus on her friend, "Drink? A little small beer."
"I mean alcohol. Have you had anything stronger than the small beer?"
Rich.e.l.le tried to shake her head in negation, but the effort told on her and she collapsed back onto her
hands and knees, dry retching.
"If it"s not that, then is it something you ate?" Liz asked, wrapping her arms around Rich.e.l.le"s trembling body. She looked around for help. "Diana, can you come here? Rich.e.l.le"s unwell."
Diana Cheng made her way quickly over to Liz and Rich.e.l.le. After a hasty physical a.s.sessment, she
used a stick to stir the pool of vomit and sniffed it. "Come on. Liz, you take the other side. We need to get Rich.e.l.le warm."
"Is Rich.e.l.le all right?" someone slurred.
Liz turned to the voice. The pale face of Maria Pflaum struggled to hold eye contact.
"h.e.l.l. Maria, are you all right?"
"I don"t feel so good."
Liz and Diana exchanged looks. It seemed that something was going around. Leaving Rich.e.l.le in Liz"s care, Diana knelt down beside Maria and checked her over. "What have you been eating, Maria?"
"Nothing. I haven"t eaten anyth . . ."
Diana waited until the dry heaving stopped. "Are you sure?"
"Nothing, I"ve only had a drink of small beer since I arrived."
Diana looked over at the barrel of small beer sitting innocently on the back of a wagon. "Liz." As Liz
turned to face her, Diana continued, "would you check out the drinks barrel and bring back a cupful?"
Leaving Rich.e.l.le wrapped in a picnic blanket, Liz moved over to the beer barrel and tapped it for a cup.
Sniffing it first, Liz then took a small sip. Looking back at Diana, she shrugged her shoulders before taking the cup to Diana. "What do you think?"
"Well it doesn"t smell bad." Taking a small sip and then spitting it out Diana looked at the cup of
offending liquid. "I don"t know. The only thing I can think of is someone has spiked the barrel with
booze. But what kind of dumb idiot would do a thing like that?"
"I can think of one name," said Liz, "but I wouldn"t think it would be him. He should have learned his lesson at the senior prom."
Diana looked around the picnic site. There were a couple of girls suffering some kind of mystery illness.
"If it is alcohol I suppose it"s too much to hope its not home made "shine.""
Liz looked questioningly at Diana, "What?"
"People who know what they are doing throw out the first couple of ounces of flow to get rid of the methanol." Seeing Liz"s confusion, Diana elaborated. "Methanol fractions off at a lower temperature
than ethanol, so the first bit of flow contains some methanol. It"s a toxin. If you don"t dump it, anybody drinking your alcohol risks blindness, or," she pa.s.sed her eye over Rich.e.l.le and the other girls huddled in blankets around the fire, "you get illness. Mind you, they could just be reacting to too much alcohol."
Diana and Liz"s contemplation of the huddled shapes by the fire was disturbed by a scream and splashing. Both looked towards the sound, to the beer barrel, then, with dawning horror, at each other.
* * * Matt Tisdel was used to the walk to the swimming hole at the old quarry. It was one of his favorite swimming holes. The short munic.i.p.al pool made training for distance swimming difficult; all that constant turning every few seconds or so interfered with the rhythm of his stroke. He was deep in his daydreams of what might have been but for the Ring of Fire when the high pitched scream penetrated. Looking up he could see splashing near the pontoon anch.o.r.ed fifty yards from the beach. Dropping into a jog Matt made his way towards the water. As he neared the bank he saw a girl strip down to her swimsuit and dive into the water. Sprinting now, he ran to the bank. Looking down the ten feet into the water he searched for the would-be rescuer. Spotting a body floating in the water Matt quickly stripped down to his swimsuit, then after scanning the water for any floating or submerged branches, jumped feet first into the water.
The frigid water almost robbed him of breath as he went under. Shooting to the surface in the shallow water he searched for the floater. Spotting the body he struck out with a powerful freestyle stroke that quickly closed the distance. Arriving at the floating body he quickly rolled the girl over. Kicking to stay afloat he felt for a pulse. He couldn"t feel anything. Looking towards sh.o.r.e he could see people gathering on the short pier that jutted into the quarry. Rolling onto his back he took hold of the girl and kicked out for the sh.o.r.e. "She"s not breathing," he called as helping hands dragged the bleeding girl out of the water. With a hand holding onto the pier Matt looked back towards the pontoon. There were a couple of people on it trying to drag someone out of the water. Their movements appeared uncoordinated.
"Are you all right, Matt?"