Page 42 of Rigid
“Didn’t bother putting the bikini or the chopsticks up?”
She reached for the chopsticks and shook her head. “I always have chopsticks.”
“Why?”
“In case I need to eat something, and there aren’t any.”
I was fascinated. “Do you eat everything with them?”
“Anything I can pick up. Not hamburgers or hotdogs, but a lot of other things.”
I found her response, and her affinity for the wooden sticks, cute.
“What about the bikini?”
“In case I want to lay in the sun.”
“You just hop into it, huh?”
“Uh huh.”
“Change in your car?”
“Wherever. The beach. My car. Whatever.”
I nodded toward her keys. “What are you going to do with that can of Mace?”
“Spray someone.”
“Like who?”
She reached for it as if offended. “Whoever nabs me.”
“Are they after you?” I asked, stone-faced. “The men in the black helicopters?”
“Don’t be a dick. I’m a girl. Men try to snatch us all the time. If someone tries, I’m going to spray them. Or, cut them with that knife.”
“That’ll just piss ‘em off. I’ll show you how to use a gun. Put a bullet in their chest and they’ll let go every time.”
“I don’t have a gun.”
“You will.”
“I don’t know if I could--”
“I’ll teach you how to use one.”
She put the car keys in her purse, and then sighed. “I run everywhere at night. I’m always scared someone’s going to get me. I run from store to my car. I run in and out of the gas station. I run in and out of the club. Everywhere.”
“How often do you go to the club?”
“Oh, I work at one.”
I took a sip of the lukewarm coffee. “I thought you were a waitress at the fish place? With Lex?”
“I am. But I work at the Main Attraction, too.”
I choked on my coffee. “The strip club?”
