Abigail Rath Versus Bloodsucking Fiends

Macy’s. Hello, neon spandex.
After we finished dinner, we set out. Mom, hands clenched behind her back, walked in front, talking to Coral. William and I fell back a tad. “Thanks for helping Coral fit in at Wolcroft,” William said.
“I’m only being nice to her to make her feel secure. Saturday I will lower the boom and beat her at limbo. I’m really a very manipulative person.”
“Oh, me too.”
We dodged a couple of little kids who had gotten away from their parents. “What brought you here from Portland?” I asked.
“Mom wanted to move closer to family. She’s originally from Los Angeles. She used to attend Wolcroft, so that’s where Coral went. No private school for me, though.”
“Where’d you learn to skate?”
“Coral and I always went to the rink at home.” William rubbed his chin. “Vince tells me you like horror movies?”
I shrugged. “Some.”
William’s eyes twinkled. “Me too.”
“Really?” I was skeptical. Let’s see what this guy knew.
“Universal original Dracula?”
“Made in 1931. Stars Bela Lugosi. And there’s a rat that’s really a opossum.”
“Okay, but that was pretty easy. Satanic Rights of Dracula.”
“Hammer Studios. Made in 1958. Stars Christopher Lee, not to be confused with Anvil Studio actor Lee Christopher, which may or may not be his real name.”
“Better.” I was going to have to challenge William seriously. “Lucifer’s Gladiators?”
He shot off the stats like a staccato machine gun. “Made in 1990. Your dad was the chief centurion. The makeup for the demon-possessed Gaius Lucien took five hours. Lucifer was one of the first completely computerized characters.”
I whistled and stuck out my hand. He shook it, a self-satisfied grin settling on his lips.
We stopped in front of a store with jeans and off the shoulder shirts called Adorable. Technopop blasted out the front. Mom glanced about the store. She grabbed something and held it up. “What do you think, Abby?”
It was hideous. The sleeves were like drifting handkerchiefs. The rest of the shirt was a clingy fabric covered with purple flowers. “I don’t think this is me.”
Coral disappeared into the store while I fended off Mom’s attempts. No wonder her wardrobe was so conservative! She had no idea how to do this.
Coral wandered up with a couple of tops. One was an elaborately printed t-shirt, dark purple with lavender scrawling. The other was longsleeved with a couple of frills down the front. Thank goodness, both were acceptable to me and Coral, and William gave a thumbs up to the one with the frills down the front. Coral’s fashion sense was spot on, and Mom and I made the purchase in a brusque, no nonsense manner. Mission accomplished. Mall visit, with minimal pain to me, and likely an object lesson for Mom she didn’t want to do this again ever. Normal girl lessons had turned into normal mom lessons. She didn’t like it any better than I did.
Coral, William, and I bought Orange Juliuses. Or Orange Juli-i, which I think is the right plural. Mom waited for us by the railing indulging in a giant Godiva chocolate coated strawberry, which seemed to sooth her taut nerves.
“Let me pay for that,” said William at the Julius booth.
No independent woman would have let him.
“Thanks,” I said. What was wrong with me?
“I was wondering,” said William, “Sometime maybe we could do something? I hear Kaplan Kone is opening this weekend. Would you like to go?”
“Can’t. Got a busy weekend.” The truth was Vince and I were already meeting at Kaplan Kone. We were going to have our first hot fudge banana splits of the season. Or I was going to have a marshmallow shake. I love marshmallow shakes. I really did want to go with William, but this was a tradition with me and Vince. It would not have been cool to change it.
“Okay,” William said. “Well, maybe a movie sometime?”
“You betcha.” I took a swig of Julius. You never drink Juliuses with a straw. It’s not done.
I turned around to check on Mom. She was chatting with Mr. Cooper and Vince who had appeared from the throng of shoppers. Coral, William and I dodged shoppers and made our way over to them.
“Hi,” said William.
Vince did the cool appraisal thing boys sometimes do. He looked like he didn’t approve of me and William and the Juliuses, though he was pretty smiley at Coral.
“Don’t usually see you here,” said Vince.
I thumbed in Mom’s direction. “A whim,” I said. “Coral helped me find these awesome tops, so there’s that. You?”
Vince held up a bag from Game Stop. “Dad had Irreverent Evil 6 on order. So you’re not on a date?”
“Unless I’m on a date with Mom, no.” I had read about the phenomenon of male posturing, and I’d seen it in the movies, of course, but I never thought I’d see it from Vince. What was his problem?
“Hi, Vince!” Coral lit up the already brilliant mall with her extra whitened teeth.
Vince straightened and pulled in his tummy. “Hello, Coral.”
Now it was my turn to get all posture-y. “Vince, don’t forget our trip to Kaplan Kone Saturday.”
“Oh,” said William. “That kind of busy.”
“You can still go?” said Vince. “I thought that was off after last weekend.”
“Not that kind of busy,” I said to William. “It’s our tradition. A friendly tradition.” I emphasized the word friend. “Vince, normal girls eat ice cream, so it’s still on the agenda.” I figured Mom or Dad would come, because we were going all the way to Santa Monica Pier, but otherwise it would be okay.
“Whaaa?” Coral looked from me to Vince to William.
I had to give Coral some intellectual points for the whaa?. I wouldn’t have been able to follow our conversation as an outsider either.
“Maybe William and I could join you guys?” Coral continued. “At the ice cream place?”