Free Baggage Check by M.J. Pullen Page A

so. She fumbled for the dials to reduce the vibration but just got the squirmy thing instead. Before she knew it, there were fireworks all over again.
    Except that she really was hearing fireworks, she realized. They were crackling overhead, and no sooner had Rebecca noticed them than there was an enormous explosion right over the house, a boom like thunder. She fumbled with the Goddess’s buttons and dials but could not turn the thing off. Meanwhile, the loud noise had interrupted the couples on either side of her, whatever they’d been doing when she was no longer listening. She could hear movement as people got out of bed and came out of the bedrooms. She heard conversation in the hall.
    â€œWhat was that? Kids, you think?” The sliding glass door opened to the deck.
    Rebecca pulled the vibrator up above the covers, still trying without success to find the power button. She figured out how to slow the vibration but it was still making noise. Maybe even louder. Then light appeared under the door and she heard Marci and Kate talking in the hall.
    â€œThat really was loud.”
    â€œYeah, what do you think? Maybe some teenagers or drunk college kids with bad aim?”
    â€œProbably. Why fireworks tonight, though?”
    â€œI know—it’s not the Fourth of July yet. Don’t they know people are sleeping?”
    â€œWell, not exactly sleeping yet, but close.”
    A slight chuckle. Awkward silence.
    â€œDo you hear that?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œIt’s like a buzzing sound.”
    Oh, God. Rebecca frantically hit every button on the damn thing, and none of them turned it off.
    â€œNo, I don’t—wait, yeah.”
    â€œIt sounds like an electric razor or … or something. Could somebody be mowing grass this late?”
    â€œI don’t think so. Do you think the fireworks hit something, like on the roof, or a power line?”
    â€œI guess. Maybe. But that really doesn’t make sense. It sounds like—”
    At this point, Rebecca was struggling blindly to get the thing open to simply take out the batteries, but of course, that wouldn’t budge either. I am going to kill Valerie, she thought. She forced herself to get out of bed, the Goddess in hand. She could think of no other options; it was clear everyone in the house was up, and they would not believe she had slept through the noise of the fireworks, especially with people talking outside her door. She reached for one of the higher baskets on the little bookshelf and tossed the vibrator inside, hoping the sound would be muffled, and then flipped on her light. She buried the velvet bag in her suitcase and grabbed a thin robe at the same time, and then emerged into the hallway, trying to look sleepy and bleary-eyed in the light. She heard Beth’s soft snores on the couch and wished she had faked sleep.
    â€œWhat was that noise?” she said, somewhat convincingly.
    â€œWhich one?” Marci said with the trace of a smile.
    Thankfully, the guys emerged from the back deck at that moment. “Yep, just a bunch of drunk kids,” Jeff announced. “Did Dylan and Suzanne come out?”
    â€œNo,” Kate said, grinning. “I guess they’re assuming we’ll come get them in an emergency. Since this is not an emergency, however…” She took Jeff’s hand and led him back to their bedroom, shooting an impish look over her shoulder as she went through the door.
    Now alone with Jake and Marci, Rebecca was beyond uncomfortable. She tugged at her robe, which was already closed, trying to cover herself more.
    â€œCold?” Jake asked. Then before she could answer, he said, “What is that sound?”
    Rebecca tried to look around so that he and Marci wouldn’t see that she was now bright red. “Do you hear it, babe?” he said to Marci. “Like a weird kind of buzzing?”
    â€œOh, that?” Marci said, tossing a glance at Rebecca.