Megan's left breast, fair and soft, spilled out over her C cup into the cold autumn air.
Felix had shook her awake, just before dawn, and she and the dullard had followed the pornographer out of camp, past the dozing nurse, the stern-faced reverend and his snoring wife. They didn't hear a sound.
Now, with the sun high overhead and Leroy muttering into his fingers, she watched Felix return from his scout trip to the next high ridge. She tossed her turtleneck on a log and pushed her nipple back inside the nylon and Lycra blend. As she buttoned up the front of her '69 Cubs jersey, she saw Leroy standing, staring at her. He was frightened. His chest was packed tightly within the seams of his Mets jersey, and his baseball pants lay down around his ankles. In between, his tool stuck straight out. It was much like his mind, Megan decided, thick and short and lacking any useful purpose. Mostly though, she sighed, it was just thick. The whirring of an engine invaded her consciousness slowly as she stared back at Leroy. He stood catatonic, eyes bulging, and he was crying. Then, from behind the ridge, roaring into view, came the Cessna Skymaster. Megan had a split second to decide. Wave your arms and be saved, or duck into the tall reeds at the foot of the riverbank. Did she really need the paycheck? Megan didn't know where they were. Felix said they had crashed within a day's walk of the shoot location. But he was a hippie turned smut peddler who had never set foot outside California. As a habitual if not practicing Catholic, she made the sign of the cross and hit the dirt. Looking skyward, she was close enough to see the eyes of her would-be rescuers. There was a man, and there was a dog.
The plane passed over, and there was Leroy standing as rigid as before. She thought she'd done everything in the business, until she set eyes on Leroy. Clearly he was retarded. Would he know where to stick his knob?
Penis and Crackerjack would be her last.
Purty. Like Betts.
Megan was pretty, like Leroy's sister Betty.
Bad Jeff--he hit a, hit a, hit a.
His uncle Jeff beat them after Leroy and Betty's mother died.
Stiff. Don' know wha' tha' is. Wish she'd stop lookin' at a. Stiff. Don' know why tha' is.
Leroy couldn't pull his pants up, because the pants that Felix had given him were several sizes too small. He didn't know anything about sexuality or his own body. He didn't know anything.
Teet. Seen Betts' once. Bad Jeff bit a. Bit a right off.
Uncle Jeff molested Betty.
Maw fought.
Leroy's mother wouldn't allow Jeff to abuse her children--or herself--while she was still alive.
Maw kilt.
Leroy's mother was kicked in the head by a cow.
Bovines. Bam! Dead.
Leroy always cried when he remembered his mother. He cried out of sorrow and he cried out of anger.
He was so lost in his thoughts--or visions, since Leroy didn't really have thoughts--that he didn't hear the Cessna's engines until the plane was right above the trees.
Pup. Seen a pup like that once. Et a bovine's liver. Blood dripped off 'em fangs.
Leroy stood upright, his erection waving in the breeze, as he wept for his dead mother.
Felix bought Leroy for two hundred dollars.
Jeff Hayste, a drunkard from Anchorage with an appetite for the boy's little sister, was more than happy to be rid of him. Hayste was pure evil, and Felix felt exonerated in that he had taken Leroy away from a life of beatings. That life would soon turn to death was a moral issue the moviemaker was currently struggling with. Certainly the boy was about to enjoy an experience that he would otherwise never have been afforded. Bright or dim, the mortal mind craves sexual relations. But what girl would ever have slept with Leroy? Penis and Crackerjack, in one quick stroke, would humanize a lost soul, and euthanize a body and a mind that were ready for eternity.
Felix struck his second-to-last match to light his last cigarette, but the wind came up and snuffed it out. This time Felix cupped his hands around both Camel and match, but the last match was damp and wouldn't catch. Felix tossed the cigarette down and stepped on it as he reached the top of the ridge.
They're here.
A half-mile distant, just this side of the woods, the small camp had been made. Felix saw brown canvas tents, two trucks, smoke from a fire, and a large steel animal cage with bars on its doors. His heart thumped as he trotted forward. Quickly, though, he turned on his heel and headed back down into the river valley. Get the other two first.
Megan was down by the river putting on her '69 Ron Santo jersey--no. 10--and Leroy was standing under a tree with his willy hanging out. After walking all morning, Leroy was bewildered and becoming agitated, so Felix let him and the girl rest while he walked up the hill for a look. Before he left, Felix presented Leroy with his gift, hoping it would calm the boy down. The Mets uniform was too small for the young man's large dimensions, but Leroy was so touched he started to sob. Felix realized Leroy probably hadn't been given new clothes since his mother died. There were dark stains on his pants that must have been dried blood from the slaughterhouse.
When Leroy looked at him in this way, and Felix saw the flame of life flickering deep within his dull gray eyes, it made him feel rotten. But Felix could repel sentiment quickly. He simply would not feel guilty about taking Leroy away from Jeff Hayste.
The girl was another matter. Megan knew that a bear cub was to be used in Penis and Crackerjack, but she figured it was just another animal kink film. They'd hold it down, and she'd jack it off. That's why the money was so good.
Felix knew better, and he was worried that Megan might get hurt. He and his financier, Ron Santo, were advised by the animal trainer that a certain fish oil, soaked into Leroy's clothing, would interest the bear cub. Megan would be safe so long as Leroy was on top of her. The bear's sense of smell would target Leroy, and Megan could slip away unharmed. Then the cameras would roll from five different angles, recording the drama between Leroy and the hungry bear.
Whenever Felix thought of the scene, he felt nervous with anticipation. It would be his premier achievement in porn. It would also mean his retirement from the business. He couldn't do a movie like this more than once. These were the perfect circumstances: Leroy was the only actor he could feel justified in working with. Hey, with Leroy's size, and with the bear being just a cub, it might be a fair fight. And Santo was the only man fanatical enough, with sufficient funds, to see a project like this to its conclusion.
Felix felt a little peeved whenever he thought of Santo. The man had a unwavering vision for the film. Central to the plot would be a beautiful young virgin (Megan would have to do), who is a fan of Ron Santo and the 1969 Cubs (this would be a period piece), attacked by a New York Mets thug (Bud Harrelson, played by Leroy), whose virtue is saved (almost--Leroy would penetrate her first) by a real cub (of the four-footed variety).
But Santo micro-managed the project down to every detail, and he and Felix were often at odds. Santo had collected real uniforms from Mets teams that he played against. Apparently, he paid off Wrigley Field clubhouse attendants back in his day, and they'd steal uniforms for him. He proved to Felix that they were authentic. "You see," he'd say, "this is the anniversary patch that all baseball teams wore on their sleeves in 1969. It commemorates the 100th year of major league baseball."
Felix would just shrug. He was a director and cared only about how the costume worked in the scene. "Leroy's never going to fit into this Bud Harrelson uniform, Ron. Why don't we use the Rusty Staub or the Ed Kranepool? They seem to have been huskier fellows."
Santo would get red in the face at the suggestion. "If you want to ruin the movie, go ahead and use Rusty's jersey. Anyone knows that Rusty Staub didn't join the Mets until 1972."
"What about Kranepool, then?"
Santo hedged. "Eddie was a decent guy." The truth was that Santo would get drunk with Kranepool whenever their two teams met. "I'd hate to see Eddie get mauled by a bear. Bud was the real asshole on that team."
Felix trotted down the hill, still miffed at the thought of his last encounter with Santo. Visual evidence of Santo's bad judgment stood before him. Leroy was gawking at Megan. He had a hard-on, and he couldn't pull up Harrelson's pants.
Felix was not surprised by the roar of the airplane. He'd been listening carefully for interference from the outside world all morning. The last thing he wanted was to be rescued. He dove into a gully, pulled some thick weeds around himself, and hoped the pilot hadn't spotted the smoke rising at the edge of the woods.
He looked up and a snowflake fell in his eye. A dog seemed to be navigating the plane.