Free Matheson, Richard - ss by Dance of the Dead

Dance of the Dead
    by Richard Matheson
     
    I wanna RIDE!
with my Rota-Mota honey
by my SIDE!
As we whiz along the highway
    "We will HUG and SNUGGLE and we'll have a little STRUGGLE!"
    struggle (strug'l), n., act of promiscuous loveplay; usage evolved during W.W.III.
    Double beams spread buttery lamplight on the highway. Rotor-Motors Convertible, Model C, 1987, rushed after it. Light spurted ahead, yellow glowing. The car pursued with a twelve-cylindered snarling pursuit. Night blotted in behind, jet and still. The car sped on. ST. LOUIS—10.
    "I wanna FLY!" they sang, "with the Rota-Mota apple of my EYE!" they sang. "It's the only way of living.…"
    The quartet singing:
    Len, 23.
    Bud, 24.
    Barbara, 20.
    Peggy, 18.
    Len with Barbara, Bud with Peggy.
    Bud at the wheel, snapping around tilted curves, roaring up black-shouldered hills, shooting the car across silent flatlands. At the top of the three lungs (the fourth gentler), competing with wind that buffeted their heads, that whipped their hair to lashing threads—singing:
    "You can have your walkin' under MOONLIGHT BEAMS!
At a hundred miles an hour let me DREAM my DREAMS!"
    Needle quivering at 130, two 5-m.p.h. notches from gauge's end. A sudden dip! Their young frames jolted and the thrown-up laughter of three was wind-swept into night. Around a curve, darting up and down a hill, flashing across a leveled plain—an ebony bullet skimming earth.
    "In my ROTORY, MOTORY, FLOATERY, drivin' machi-i-i-i-ine!"
    YOU'LL BE A FLOATER IN YOUR ROTOR-MOTOR.
    In the back seat:
    "Have a jab, Bab."
    "Thanks, I had one after supper" (pushing away needle fixed to eye-dropper).
    In the front seat:
    "You meana tell me this is the first time you ever been t' Saint Loo!"
    "But I just started school in September."
    "Hey, you're a frosh!"
    Back seat joining front seat:
    "Hey, frosh, have a mussle-tussle."
    (Needle passed forward, eye bulb quivering amber juice.)
    "Live it, girl!"
    mussle-tussle (mus'l-tus'l), n., slang for the result of injecting a drug into a muscle; usage evolved during W.W.III.
    Peggy's lips failed at smiling. Her fingers twitched.
    "No, thanks, I'm not …"
    "Come on, frosh!" Len leaning hard over the seat, white-browed under black blowing hair. Pushing the needle at her face. "Live it, girl! Grab a li'l mussle-tussle!"
    "I'd rather not," said Peggy. "If you don't—"
    "What's 'at, frosh?" yelled Len and pressed his leg against the pressing leg of Barbara.
    Peggy shook her head and golden hair flew across her cheeks and eyes. Underneath her yellow dress, underneath her white brassière, underneath her young breast—a heart throbbed heavily. Watch your step, darling, that's all we ask. Remember, you're all we have in the world now. Mother words drumming at her; the needle making her draw back into the seat.
    "Come on, frosh!"
    The car groaned its shifting weight around a curve and centrifugal force pressed Peggy into Bud's lean hip. His hand dropped down and fingered at her leg. Underneath her yellow dress, underneath her sheer stocking—flesh crawled. Lips failed again; the smile was a twitch of red.
    "Frosh, live it up!"
    "Lay off, Len, jab your own dates."
    "But we gotta teach frosh how to mussle-tussle!"
    "Lay off, I said! She's my date!"
    The black car roaring, chasing its own light. Peggy anchored down the feeling hand with hers. The wind whistled over them and grabbed down chilly fingers at their hair. She didn't want his hand there but she felt grateful to him.
    Her vaguely frightened eyes watched the road lurch beneath the wheels. In back, a silent struggle began, taut hands rubbing, parted mouths clinging. Search for the sweet elusive at 120 miles-per-hour.
    "Rota-Mota honey," Len moaned the moan between salivary kisses. In the front seat a young girl's heart beat unsteadily. ST. LOUIS—6.
    "No kiddin', you never been to Saint Loo?"
    "No, I …"
    "Then you never saw the loopy's dance?"
    Throat contracting suddenly. "No, I … Is that what … we're going