from her perch on a nearby boulder. She looked like she had been crying! “I was just going to show you my rock, that’s all,” Lauren gulped. “I didn’t see anything, honest.”
Midge blushed. Although she was upset by the turn of events, she wasn’t nearly as upset as she had been a moment ago when she had heard Velma call out another girl’s name!
“Oh, sweetie, don’t cry,” Velma begged as she ran over to the young girl.
“Are you mad at me?” Lauren asked in a quivering voice.
“I could never be mad at you, Lauren,” Velma assured her. She hugged the girl to her soft bosom and kissed her on the forehead. Lauren beamed. “Let’s put all these rocks back in the trunk before the tow truck gets here,” Velma suggested.
Although she would rather have left the cumbersome rocks behind, Midge kept her mouth shut. The truth was, Midge would do just about anything to keep in Velma’s good graces. The gang at the Miraloma Club back home, where Midge and Velma socialized every Friday night, often teased her about her devotion to her girl, but Midge just laughed it off. “The way some of our gang change partners, you’d think we were at a square dance,” Midge often quipped.
She and Velma had known they were destined to be together always since the first day they laid eyes on each other at the women’s penitentiary. Not that they hadn’t had their fights! Midge could remember many a time in the early days when she’d been thrown out of bed and forced to sleep on the stiff, white vinyl sectional sofa.
“But all the bad times are behind us now,” Midge thought with relief.
“Let me do that!” she cried when she saw Velma bending to pick up a rock. If she remembered correctly, some of Lauren’s rocks were pretty heavy, and she didn’t want Velma hurting herself!
“There. That’s the last one.” Midge wedged a large, black rock with a glassy surface and jagged, sharp edges, into the trunk. Although the trunk of the 1959 Chrysler was deep and wide, it had taken some doing to squeeze in all their luggage and Lauren’s entire rock collection. “Good thing we don’t have a spare tire; we’d have no place to put it,” Midge joked. “Golly, Lauren, how the heck did you fit these in here the first time?”
But the girl wasn’t listening. She was busy fretting over her rocks. “I know there’s one missing,” she said. “I don’t see my sample of cobaltite anywhere! One, two, three—”
Midge snapped the trunk shut and locked it. She pocketed the keys. “Lauren, you have dozens of rocks in there. What on earth is your mother going to say when you come home with all of these?”
“My mother has a rock garden,” Lauren explained.
“I thought you said you live in a high-rise apartment in downtown San Francisco,” Midge quizzed her.
A funny look came over Lauren’s face. She thrust her hands into the deep pockets of her worn, dirty overalls and stalked away.
“What did I say?” Midge turned to Velma. “What’s up with her, anyway?”
“She was really embarrassed earlier, Midge,” Velma said. “I’ll go after her. You stay with the car.”
“No, stay here with me,” Midge urged. But Velma didn’t hear her, as she was already running after Lauren.
“I’ll stay here and guard the car in case someone wants to steal these rocks,” Midge joked sourly. It seemed to her Velma was always running after that girl. “She’s gonna spoil her,” Midge thought. She was fishing through her pockets for a cigarette when the tow truck pulled up. A good-looking gal with short gray hair and a friendly manner waved to Midge.
“This must be the place!” the driver cried as she hopped out of the truck cab and ran around to the passenger side, opened the door, and helped Cherry down.
“Thank you ever so much!” Cherry cried as the strong girl scooped her up in her arms and helped her safely to the ground. Cherry blushed as she buttoned her blouse, which had somehow popped a few buttons on the way down. Midge had to grin when she saw how red Cherry’s face was. But her smile turned to a frown when she realized Cherry was alone.
Where was Nancy?
While the capable tow-truck operator got to work, expertly attaching hooks and chains to their automobile, Midge quizzed Cherry as to Nancy’s whereabouts.
“She kept saying how much she needed a drink, so I got her a refreshing soda and left her in a cool spot under a big juniper tree next to the service station,” Cherry explained.
“Not a martini?” Midge joked dryly.
“Why, it’s awfully early to have a cocktail, Midge,” Cherry pointed out. “We haven’t even had supper! Oh, look, there’s Velma and Lauren!” she cried. She had spied the pair walking toward the car arm in arm. And Lauren had a big smile on her face.
The girls piled into the cab of the tow truck. It was so crowded that poor Cherry had to sit practically in the driver’s lap!
“Good thing I’m a good sport,” Cherry thought as she balanced herself on the girl’s strong right thigh. While the confident girl steered the truck over two miles of unpaved, bumpy road, Cherry busied herself asking pertinent questions about their destination, the town of Dust Bin, Wyoming.
“Did you hear that, Midge?” Cherry squealed in delight when she found out there was a square dance that very night. “Maybe we can go while the car’s being repaired! It will be good for us to get some exercise after sitting all day in the car!” She wriggled about in excitement when she thought about how much fun it would be to do-si-do that very night!
“My, that was an invigorating ride!” Cherry exclaimed when they pulled up to the service station. She scampered out of the truck and fanned herself with her handkerchief.
The driver donned a pair of overalls, picked up a heavy box loaded with all sorts of interesting tools, and got right to work on their automobile. Another girl clad in a similar fashion came over to assist her.
“Honey, we’re here,” Cherry called. When there was no reply, she ran to the back of the building and gave a cry of alarm when she realized Nancy was no longer in the cool, shady spot where Cherry had left her.
The mechanic’s assistant informed them as to Nancy’s whereabouts. “Your friend said she was dying of thirst, so I directed her to town,” she said helpfully. “I offered her another cold soda pop, but she said she needed something stronger.”
“She probably went to get a refreshing ice cream soda,” Cherry realized aloud. “Golly, I’m tired. I sure could go for one, too. But first I simply must freshen up!”
Cherry disappeared into the washroom and came back five minutes later looking invigorated and relaxed, and with a new hairstyle and fresh lipstick, besides.
“What’s that smell?” Lauren cried. She wrinkling her nose in disgust. “Pew!”
Cherry blushed to the tips of her toes. “It’s Tabu, Lauren,” Cherry said. The washroom had a perfume dispenser, so Cherry had dropped in a dime and chosen the exotic fragrance.
Lauren held her nose and pretended she was choking.
“Perfume is as important to a girl as scent is to a flower,” Cherry told Lauren in a hurt tone.
Lauren started to laugh but stopped when she saw the disapproving look on Velma’s face. “Uh,