When she stopped and set the cases down, he stalled, then remembered he"d already been given his key. Last room on the stair hall, he"d been told. He put the key in- Lottie tugged his arm, shaking her head. She pointed to the door she stood beside.

"I thought your mother said last room on the-"

She seemed to lip something he didn"t catch- A strong male voice intervened, "What my mom meant is the last regular room." A tall man, thirtyish, stepped up, wearing a confident smile and jeans, work boots, and a T-shirt. "Howdy, Mr. Collier. I"m Helen"s son, Jiff."

Collier shook a toughened hand. "Hi, Jeff."

"No, sir, that"s Jiff-you know, like the peanut b.u.t.ter?" The tight T-shirt sculpted a toned upper body; he had a blond buzz cut and similar drawl. "This room here ain"t yours. We don"t rent it out." He pointed to the next door. "This one"s yours, and it"s our best."

"Well, it"s nice to meet you, Jiff."

"Lemme take these bags from my little pipe cleaner of a sister, and get"cha set."

Collier unlocked what was actually the second-to-last door, but he quickly noted that the third door stood more narrowly and sported a plaque, which read ORIGINAL GAST BATH AND WATER CLOSET. "So what"s this here, Jiff?"

Lottie glared as Jiff yanked the cases from her; she may have even mouthed f.u.c.ker!

"That room we never renovated "cos a lot of tourist folks like to see what a real bathroom from the old days looked like. I"ll be happy to show it to ya, and give ya a tour of the whole house when you"re ready."

"Thanks, I"d like a tour."

Collier entered his room, and heard Jiff mutter "out"a my way, dopey!" to his sister behind him. They seemed to be fighting over Collier"s attention. "Yes, sir, I seen your show many times," Jiff a.s.sured him. "It"s a real pleasure to have such a famous TV fella staying with us."

Collier couldn"t have felt less genuine when he replied, "Thanks."

"You here for anything to do with your TV show?"

"No, Jiff, actually I"m here to finish a book. Besides my Prince of Beer show I also write books about the art and craft of beer-" And then he quickly said, "Ah, perfect," of an antique scroll-top desk, which sat before a broad window. "I can work on my laptop right there."

Jiff put the laptop case on the desk. "I hope the room"s to your likin"."

"It"ll do just fine." Cozy, Collier thought. Heavy rust-colored carpet wall to wall, and furnishings of the expected post-Colonial bent. The four-poster bed sat unusually high. Gold and maroon wallpaper covered the half-paneled walls. "Oh, and let me check out this view your mother promised." And he went through a pair of French doors out to an elaborately railed balcony. Jiff stepped out with him.

The second-story view showed him an impressive garden bisected by flagstone trails. "Beautiful garden," Collier commented. The meld of fragrances reached him on a warm breeze.

Centered in a small cove at the end of the perimeter sat a crude chimney made of flat beige stones piled high and set with mortar. Several ducts seemed to exist in the structure"s body, and then Collier noticed a chained beam hanging on the side, attached to a large version of a fireplace bellows. A separate shed sat beside it all.

"What"s all that there, that chimney-looking thing?"

"Harwood Gast"s personal iron forge," Jiff replied. "Any rich man had a forge and blacksmith on the property. Lotta tourists and historians come here just to see that one. It"s in perfect condition; only thing new on it is the leather for the bellows."

This, like some of the artifacts downstairs, fascinated Collier. "And the shed next to it?"

"Fuel house. They used coal or charcoal; couldn"t use regular wood "cos it wouldn"t get hot enough. One fella ran the whole show, pumpin" the bellows, turnin" the ore, then pullin" out the blooms to knock the iron out of "em. Tricky process. The smith"d have to shape the iron before it got too cold." He pointed to a sawn tree stump that housed an anvil. "It was hard work but those fellas could d.a.m.n near make anything, and they did it all with a hammer and molds."

The sight made Collier realize how little he knew of the world. "I"d love to see that some time."

"I"d be happy to show it to ya whenever you like," Jiff said. Then he pointed beyond. "And there"s the mountain."

Collier could still see it, even at this distance, its peaks and edges ghosted by mist that looked purple. But past the garden stretched an endless scrubland that wasn"t much for scenery. "How come no one farms all that land out there?"

"Used to be one of the biggest cotton plantations in the South," Jiff said, "back before the war."

"World War Two? Or do you mean-"

"The War of Northern Aggression, sir."

Collier smiled. He struggled with more distraction when Lottie listlessly leaned over the rail and looked down, and was just able to resist overtly looking down the top of her denim frock. "So it"s just wasteland now? Surely it"s been farmed since then."

"No, sir. Not a square foot."

"A developer"s sitting on it?"

"No, sir."

The deflection of the issue intrigued Collier. "Well then why not use all that valuable farmland?"

Lottie looked at him. She slowly shook her head.

"Folks think the land"s cursed is all, Mr. Collier," Jiff informed. "Lotta old legends and ghost tales "round here, but don"t pay "em no mind. Man who used to own that land was Harwood Gast. The cotton his slaves harvested clothed most"a the Confederate army, and the soybeans he grew out there fed it. bet"cha didn"t know they had soybeans back then, did ya?"

"Actually...no." But Collier delighted in ghost stories. "And why is the land supposedly cursed?"

Jiff crooked his head. "Aw, you don"t wanna hear that silly talk, sir. Oh, look, there"s them folks from Wisconsin."

He sure changed that subject fast. Collier"s eyes darted down and, indeed, there walked the married couple he"d seen downstairs. The woman seemed to sense Collier"s eyes, and jerked around to wave.

"Can"t wait for that autograph, Mr. Collier!"

Jesus... Collier nodded and smiled. "Let"s go back inside."

Lottie skipped ahead of him; he couldn"t take his gaze off the toned, gymnastlike legs. But then his loins surged when the spry girl leaned over for his suitcase. Jackpot! Collier thought. The action afforded only a glimpse, but as the top edge of the frock dipped from gravity, Collier noted b.r.e.a.s.t.s the size of peaches, and probably as firm. Good G.o.d...This sudden thrill of voyeurism left him mystified; it simply wasn"t like him. Nevertheless, the glimpse made him feel as though he"d received a wonderful surprise gift.

She hauled the suitcase atop the bed, opened it, and began to hang his clothes up in the wardrobe.

"Thanks, Lottie, but that"s really not necessary..."

"It"s our pleasure, Mr. Collier," Jiff offered.

Next, Lottie grabbed a pair of shoes from the case, then turned and bent down to place them at the bottom of the wardrobe. Collier got an adrenaline jolt from a perfect shot of her white-pantied bottom.

Jiff gave her a hard smack. "Have some respect, girl! Mr. Collier don"t wanna look at your scrawny bee-hind!"

Yes I do! Yes I do! Collier objected. The girl stood straight, grinned sheepishly.

But it was just more incomprehension. Even the air seemed gorged with desire; he inhaled it like smoke. Collier had all but forgotten such s.e.xual awareness, but all of a sudden...

His chest felt tight. He felt antsy.

"So what was that you was sayin", Mr. Collier?" Jiff repaired the awkward moment. "You come here to work on a beer book?"

"Uh, yes, Jiff. I"m writing a book about cla.s.sic old American beers, and the reason I"ve come to Gast is because I heard some fellow connoisseurs speaking particularly of a beer brewed in this town, at a place called-"

But Jiff was already nodding, arms crossed. "Cusher"s, ya mean. Next words out"a my mouth was gonna be how the Prince"a Beer surely must throw a few back at Cusher"s."

"It"s a restaurant and tavern, right?"

"Sure is, and a fine one. Old-time vittles like they made in the old days, and some beers they make themselves right there in the place. I stop in myself every now and then. It"s right down on the corner of Number One Street."

This was good fortune, and Collier didn"t like going to new places by himself, especially in a strange town. "That"s very helpful, Jiff. And if you"re not doing anything later, I"d love to take you and your sister there for dinner. My treat."

Jiff and Lottie showed gushing grins. "That"s a right nice"a ya, Mr. Collier. I"d be a honored to go out with a celebrity such as yourself," Jiff accepted, but then shot a scowl to his sister. "Unfortunately Lottie won"t be able to join us on account she"s still got all the guest linens to wash-"

"Oh, that"s too bad-"

Lottie"s lips pressed together, infuriated.

"Which she"d best get to doin", like right now. Right, Lottie? Ma done told ya already."

The girl"s eyes dampened with tears; she stormed out. Collier was fairly sure she"d mouthed Eat s.h.i.t! to her brother upon exit.

Jiff shrugged. "Lottie-G.o.d love her-is a little off, Mr. Collier. It"s best she stay "round the house. She gets all silly even after, like, one beer, and then she gets to cryin" and all on account she can"t talk."

Collier felt saddened by the cruel fact but then his mind served back up the glances he"d stolen. "Oh, I see...Anyway, how about seven o"clock?"

"Seven o"clock it is, Mr. Collier." Jiff clapped his hands. "Ooo-eee! First time in my life I ever been out with a genuine celebrity!"

Collier sighed.

"You need anything durin" your stay," Jiff said and pointed, "just you let me know."

"Thanks, Jiff." When Collier tipped him a ten, the man"s eyes beamed. "See you at seven."

Jiff left, whistling. Collier locked the door.

He set up his laptop but found himself contemplating the sudden and unlikely s.e.xual awareness that seemed to envelop him since he"d arrived. Christ, what"s wrong with me? Since the minute I got here I"ve felt hornier than I"ve been in years. Yet, it had been six months at least since he and Evelyn had made love and probably as long since he"d had a potent s.e.xual fantasy.

Why all this horniness now? he wondered.

It was a good question. Now that he thought about it, he realized his s.e.x drive had been pretty much dead since the second season of the show. The spoiling marriage only killed it more. Job stress, stress at home, and just the stress of living in that California h.e.l.lhole, he guessed. I NEVER think about s.e.x anymore...until today. I walk into this place sweating a book deadline and suddenly I"ve got the s.e.x drive of a seventeen-year-old. I"m going bonkers over an old lady with Jack Palance"s face and her redneck daughter who can"t talk.

So much for self-revelation.

He pulled the laptop power cord from its case but inadvertently dropped it. When he leaned down to retrieve it, he noticed something...

The gap under the bedroom door...

Somebody"s standing right outside my door-right now, he could see.

Bare toes showed in the gap. Must be Lottie, he guessed. She"d been barefoot, hadn"t she? Collier got on his hands and knees and crawled over. The toes were still there; they hadn"t budged. It occurred to him that he should stand up right now and open the door.

But he didn"t.

The keyhole...

The lock, k.n.o.b, and keyhole were likely original: old, well-crafted bra.s.s. Collier held his breath and put his eye to the hole.

You"ve got to be s.h.i.tting me...

A woman"s pubis was positioned directly on the other side of the keyhole. It was creamy white, freshly shaved-a beautiful, private triangle.

That"s what Collier saw when he looked through the keyhole.

He leaned back, blinked, and sighed. There"s a nude woman standing on the other side of this door, he resigned. But that was impossible, wasn"t it?

It must be a trick of light.

He looked again. The shaved pubis was still there. He noticed a detail now: a single freckle an inch above the c.l.i.toral hood.

All right...It was no trick of light; it was really there. He let his mind tick a moment, mulling choices, but there were really only two. I can ignore it, he knew. Or...I can open the door and see who it is.

However...

Who could it be?

It was almost as though she knew Collier would see.

Impossible.

He stood up and opened the door.

No one faced him in the doorway, just the open atrium beyond the railing of the stair hall. Collier looked quickly left, then right, and saw no woman, nude or otherwise, hurrying away.

This is screwed up, he thought. This is REALLY screwed up.

He sat on the bed and he considered the day in objective terms. He"d come to Tennessee in search of an obscure lager he thought might be worthy of inclusion in his book. The conservative sedan he"d booked at the car rental company hadn"t been available, so he got a preposterous lime-sherbet VW. What should"ve been a one-hour drive turned into a four-hour drive. After which Collier had arrived at this strange little bed-and-breakfast only to find his normally dead-in-the-water libido sent into the red zone by an old woman with a great body and her probably r.e.t.a.r.ded daughter. In summation, all of the above aggregated into the most bizarre day of his life. And just when he thought it couldn"t get any more bizarre...

A woman flashed her shaved beaver in my keyhole...

Collier rubbed his temples.

I either saw it, or I had a hallucination.

Was there something wrong with him? Something clinical, perhaps?

It couldn"t be.

I know I"m not crazy...and I never took drugs so it couldn"t be some sort of a flashback.