The Contestant. Stephanie Doyle
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my stomach really hurts,” Marlie whined.
They were circled around the fire, no one yet ready to call it a night. The air was beginning to cool and Talia watched as a scattering of clouds drifted overhead, periodically blocking her view of the fabulously starry sky. She was dry, warm, a bit hungry, but overall quite content.
She’d forgotten how much she loved camping. As a family, she and her parents had taken trips several times a year before her mother had gotten sick. Then after she was gone, Talia and her father had continued the tradition. It had been difficult at first trying to pretend to have fun when they both knew how much they were missing the same person, but eventually she and her dad had been able to take comfort in each other. They’d developed a camaraderie that hadn’t existed before and had become a unit of two.
Unfortunately as she’d grown into her teens, her training and competition schedule had left them little time for vacations. She made a mental note that when she got back to civilization she was going to rekindle this particular tradition. If she didn’t decide to murder her father…then she would ask him to come along, too.
“You’re just hungry,” Gus responded to Marlie’s complaint.
“Are you sure? What if it’s some kind of parasite in the water?”
“No one else is feeling sick, dear.” The soft words came from Iris. Talia could see she was rolling her eyes at the young woman. Iris and Talia shared a conspiratorial smile.
“But it really hurts,” Marlie complained, this time with a high-pitched quality in her voice that had Reuben, who was on Talia’s right, clicking his teeth together as his jaw clenched shut.
“Are you kidding?” he asked. “This is day one.”
“So?” Marlie’s lower lip protruded in a pout worthy of a three-year-old.
“So if you can’t handle a few hunger pains, little girl—”
Talia reached out and patted his hand, stopping what she imagined would have been a blistering tirade. After all, it was day one. There was no point in him making enemies of everyone.
“I have an idea,” Talia suggested. “Why don’t we play a game? It will take our minds off how hungry we are.”
“Good idea,” Sam said, backing her up.
“What kind of game?” Tommy wanted to know.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “How about we go around the circle and say what each of us would do with the million dollars if we won?”
“I’ll start,” Iris began. “I’m going to buy a luxury condo in an over-fifty community. There’s one I’ve got my eye on. It’s got a pool and a community center that holds bridge tournaments every month.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with the money other than I hope it will keep me from having to be one of those greeter guys at the local Wal-Mart. I really hate those guys,” Gus explained. “It’s not about the money for me. I really came to see if I’ve still got it.”
“You did a pretty good job with the fire,” Talia pointed out.
“Yes, I did,” he said, smiling proudly. “I think maybe I’d get a log cabin. In the woods somewhere near a lake where I can fish all day long.”
“Fishing? Boring,” Tommy groaned.
“You think, huh? Well, what’s your big idea?”
Tommy was sitting back, his weight resting on his palms behind him. “That’s easy. I’m never going to work again. No more bullshit ‘do this’ and ‘do that.’ No more waking up at the same time every morning to do the same damn thing every day. I’m just going to be, you know. Just be.”
Talia heard Reuben muttering again, and could only imagine what he was saying under his breath.
“I know what I’m going to do,” Marlie chimed in. “First, I’m going to see what kind of exposure being on this show gets me in the entertainment industry.”
Talia took in the tiny triangles of cloth barely covering Marlie’s chest and decided that the twenty-year-old didn’t have to worry about being underexposed.
“Then I’m going to hire a manager because really the only way to get an agent in Hollywood is to have a quality manager. And I’ll need a publicist. I mean, a publicist can make all the difference in a career. Oh, and, of course, implants.”
“Of course,” Talia concurred tongue-in-cheek and watched every man’s head turn as if pulled by some natural force in the direction of Marlie’s breasts.
“I think you look good now,” Tommy said in what Talia assumed was an attempt to lay the groundwork for a seduction. He was going to have to get behind Dino though, who it seemed had already laid a claim.
“Oh, I know. But in Hollywood bigger is really better. For boobs, anyway.”
Talia had to swallow a chuckle. Then she glanced at Nancy who was currently checking out her own significant chest, probably thinking that being bigger had never gotten her anywhere. And Talia resisted the instinctive urge to check out her own two handfuls to see how they measured up. Not that she had to look. It seemed Reuben already had his eyes on them. She met his blatant stare with a scowl, but he wasn’t intimidated in the least. He did, however, mouth the word perfect.
Ridiculously flustered and needing a distraction, she turned to the housewife. “What about you, Nancy? What would you do with a million dollars?”
“I don’t know. I mean, of course I would pay for my children’s education.” Her voice broke on the word children, but she quickly recovered. “I’m sorry. I guess I’ve been a little emotional.”
A little? Again, Talia had to bite back words and instead listened to what the woman was saying.
“It’s just that my husband leaving me for that…girl…really shook me up. I came here because I wanted to prove to him and to my kids and to myself that I wasn’t some boring old housewife. Maybe if I win, I’ll have a makeover and get myself a younger boyfriend. That would show him.” She laughed at the idea, but there was a definite twinkle in her eyes.
“See, now I’m going to be predictable,” Sam explained. “I came here because my therapist said it would be good for me. I guess I’m having what you call a midlife crisis. So if I win, I want what all fortysomething guys going through a midlife crisis want…a cherry-red Porsche so I can get a hot young girlfriend.”
There was a smattering of chuckles, then the group grew quiet and looked to Reuben who was sitting next to Sam. A moment passed where Talia thought he would stick to his strategy and say nothing about himself. She was about to speak up when he blurted out his intentions for the money.
“I’m going to buy a bar.”
That was it. No other explanation forthcoming, but he’d played along and Talia figured that counted for something. He was at least making a small effort to be a part of the group. She wasn’t sure why, but she thought that was important.
“Your turn, Talia,” Iris instructed.
“My dad…” She hesitated, deciding that it wasn’t really fair to share her father’s screwup with strangers, and modified her story. “He likes to hunt for treasure. You know…sunken ships. It costs money for equipment and information. I would help him do that. Other than that, the money is going to help me bide my time until I get a job.”
“What do you do?” Nancy inquired.
Talia could feel Reuben sit up straighter, knowing he was going to get an answer to the question he’d asked her earlier. Since she’d defied him merely to be difficult, she didn’t see the harm in answering Nancy.
“I’m an accountant.”
“Bullshit,” Reuben erupted.
She