A Summertime Journey

missing, and the pumps themselves are rusted and long since inoperable. Over the awning, the rusted sign reads Shell Gasoline ~ Diner and a smaller sign reads Owned and operated by Garland and Genevieve Parsons. The building was yellow and red at one time but is now long faded and the paint chipped away.
Joey pulls the Camaro under the awning as if stopping for gas. Once parked, he turns the ignition off, and all four of us get out, stretching and yawning. The building has two sides; one is the service station and garage, and the other must have been the diner. The front of the building displays rusted and faded signs, and some are lying on the ground, clearly long blown off, leaving only silhouettes of where they once prominently hung. Signs that read Shell Motor Oil, Puritan Motor Oil, and Gasoline .18½ (No Knock) lie on the ground. Around us is nothing, not one tree or bush, no hills; it’s flat and desolate as the rest of this world.
Charlie swings open the diner door and in a deep voice, says, “Hi, everyone… did you miss me?” Who’s he talking to? I wonder.
Once inside, I begin looking around. The inside does not reflect the outside of the diner. The interior seems brand-new: a counter runs the length of the restaurant, with a top made out of shiny, hammered copper. Fourteen chrome barstools with red sparkly vinyl seats provide the seating. Along the wall and windows are gray booths with Formica tops and red-and-white plush vinyl benches. The floor is red and white checkerboard tiles, and Coca-Cola signs and Elvis Presley memorabilia adorn the walls. In the far corner is a shiny silver Seeburg 45 rpm jukebox.
Joey and Jeremy come in behind me and say, “WOW, look at this place,” at the same time. I was so consumed by the layout that I didn’t even notice the three girls standing behind the counter.
Joey notices them first. “Hey, there are girls in here,” he says with a big smile that soon turns to a look of shock. One of the girls is Wendy. He remembers her from the apartment. “Wendy, right? Wow, what are you doing here?” he asks as he begins to move around to the side of the counter. Before she can answer, he stops in his tracks. He remembers her smell. Instead of excited, he’s now terrified.
“Master told me to come,” she says, looking at Charlie, twirling one of her pigtails.
“Joey, what’s wrong? I thought you would be happy to see Wendy. You have a crush on her, don’t you?” Charlie asks. Jeremy and I slide into one of the booths to see how this plays out. “Charlie, her breath…” Joey says with a disgusted look on his face. Charlie is already waving for her to come over. Wendy wraps her arms around Charlie’s neck and puts one of her legs between his and nibbles on his ears. “There’s nothing wrong with her,” Charlie says as he turns his head and kisses her. All three of us are watching Charlie and Wendy; Jeremy and I are watching Joey for his reaction. Now Joey looks jealous. Jeremy and I don’t have any context, so we don’t understand what’s going on.
The other girls have come out from behind the counter, and one walks over to the jukebox. Jeremy jumps up and saunters over to her and introduces himself: “I’m Jeremy.”
She pauses and places her hand on top of his and says, “I’m Becky. What kind of music do you like?” Giggling, together they pick a song, “Light My Fire,” by The Doors. The girl with Jeremy is wearing Daisy Dukes and a skintight white tank top. She grabs Jeremy, and they start slow dancing.
“Jo-Jo, don’t you like me anymore?” Wendy says, still hanging on Charlie. Confused, Joey starts second-guessing himself and wonders if he imagined Wendy’s smell from their first meeting. Plus, she looks incredible right now, wearing the same Daisy Dukes and a black tank top. Charlie pushes Wendy off of him and toward Joey. Charlie pushed her so hard that she slams into Joey, and he takes an involuntary breath when he catches her. He smells the sweet scent of perfume. Happy that he must’ve been hallucinating the last time, and now it looks like he was finally going to get lucky, he grins ear to ear.
While all of this is going on, a petite girl who looks like Farrah Fawcett and I are having a great conversation while sitting in my booth. She tells me her name is Toni. She has her hand on my thigh and is rubbing it. I’m a teenage boy, so of course, I’m getting excited. All three of us have temporarily forgotten where we are and what we are doing. We’re having fun with these beautiful girls in this great restaurant, and we’re sure we’re going to get lucky.
Perched on one of the stools, Charlie is watching all of us the same way he did when Joey killed Ryan; we’re all part of a personal play just for him.
After a while, Charlie decides he’s growing bored and wants to spice the party up. I’m in the booth making out with Toni, my hand up her shirt, fondling her braless breasts. Jeremy and his girl are two booths down, and I think he’s even further along the bases than I am. Unlike me, Jeremy’s not a virgin. Joey and Wendy have disappeared into the kitchen area, but I can hear Wendy giggling and moaning.
Charlie blinks, and the jukebox turns off, killing the music. None of us notice—we’re all too busy. As I’m making out with Toni, I feel something odd in my mouth. We stop kissing long enough for me to take it out. I turn my head and pretend to cough so I can spit it into my hand and rub it off onto my pants. We continue making out, and I feel something else in my mouth. I chew it, and