Evil Dreams by John Tigges Read Free Book Online Page A

things that might easily be normal.
    “Let’s go on vacation,” he said suddenly.
    “What?”
    “Let’s go on vacation.”
    “All right. Where do you want to go this summer?”
    “Not this summer. Right now. Tomorrow!”
    “Tomor—? I can’t. How could I? School isn’t out for another five or six weeks.”
    “Quit.”
    “I can’t. You know that. What brought this on?”
    He shrugged.
    “It can wait until next month,” she said patronizingly.
    “Don’t do that!” Jon snapped. “Don’t humor me. I want to go now.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t know. I just feel I have to go someplace.”
    “Where?”
    “It doesn’t matter.”
    “You must have some idea.”
    “West. To California. Yeah. Come on, Trina. We’ve never gone west. Let’s do what Horace Greeley advised.”
    “That leaves me out, then.”
    “Why?”
    “I’m not a young man,” she giggled.
    “That’s not funny.” His voice harbored an unfamiliar air of authority along with a tone of injury.
    Trina only caught the hurt in his voice. “I’m sorry, darling.”
    “I just feel an overwhelming desire to go to California.”
    “You’re certain?”
    “Positive.”
    “You aren’t trying to avoid seeing Doctor Dayton, are you?”
    “I just said a few minutes ago that I’m looking forward to seeing him again. But you know, somehow, it doesn’t seem to be California, now that I’ve said it out loud.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You know, like when you’re trying to think of someone’s name and you can’t quite get it. Then you try saying it aloud and suddenly you spit it out. It’s like that—only now that I’ve said California, I know that’s not the place I want to go.”
    “Well, why not sleep on it?” she asked. “You’ve had a different type of day. You might be thinking about everything you and Doctor Dayton talked about more than you realize.”
    “I don’t think so,” Jon said irately. Dropping his book on the floor, he fluffed his pillow. “I’m going to sleep.”
    “When school’s out, we’ll go wherever you decide.”
    He grunted and turned his back to her. After several minutes of silence, he said, “I wish you’d quit teaching tomorrow, regardless of any trip.”
    “I can’t—not this close to the end of the school year. I wouldn’t mind, though. It would be kind of nice to lead a lazy life for a change,” she said, leaning over to kiss his ear. She ran her tongue over the top, jabbing him with it once above the lobe. “G’night, sweetheart.”
    “G’night,” he mumbled, slipping off to sleep.
    Trina often wished she could go to sleep as quickly as Jon. Tonight, in addition to her normal rolling and turning until she fell asleep, she would rehash the unusual event that had taken place earlier. His wanting to have her quit teaching so suddenly, too, was out of the ordinary. Really extraordinary. She recalled how they had planned their budget for one year to allow him to take his leave of absence. At first, he refused, saying it wasn’t right to use part of her inheritance to support them while he tried to write. But in the end, she had had her way.
    Maybe he really needed a vacation trip to someplace. They had always gone to Florida during Christmas vacation and to the Wisconsin woods during any summer trips they had taken. She had never been to California and something different might be just the thing the doctor ordered. The doctor. She made a mental note to think about calling Doctor Dayton on Monday morning to tell him of the change in Jon’s personality and his peculiar limp. After a while, she dropped off to sleep, an unnatural scowl on her oval face.

 
    CHAPTER 3
    Trina clung to Jon, their lips pressed together in a lingering kiss. Holding her away from him at arm’s length, he studied her. “What’s the matter? Don’t you want to go to work?”
    “In a way, no,” she said, fluffing her hair into place. “I thought about it all weekend. Maybe I should take some time