THE SANCTUARY (20 page)

Nineteen

THE INDUCTION CEREMONY AND THE ZOO INCIDENT

“N
ext!” Liz commanded. She reached into the box and pulled out some of the condiments Sonya had commandeered from the dining hall and the jockstrap Julia had to steal from the boys’ locker room as part of the CGF induction ceremony. “Does anyone recognize these items?”

“You kept the jockstrap? Gross!” Julia said as Liz threw it in her direction. She ducked and screamed.

“And what have we here?” Liz asked, removing some wax figurines from the box.

“My monkey!” Julia screamed, jumping up and snatching it from Liz.

“What say we take a food break?” Grace asked. “I’m starving.”

“Good idea,” Lydia said. “With your permission, Our Queen?”

She nodded.

After they had filled their plates, they all sat back down.

“Who would like to share this story?” Liz asked.

“I’ll do it,” Sonya said. “It was almost graduation time, and Liz invited us over to her apartment. When we got there, Lydia asked what’s with all the cloak and dagger secrecy stuff.”

“Oh no. It must be bad. She’s got a Carolina Kit,” Julia exclaimed.

As they pawed and poured their way through all the goodies, Liz began explaining. “This is our senior year. Our one and only senior year. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” they said, looking suspiciously at their friend.

“We need to do something memorable to commemorate it. Some call it a senior prank, but I prefer to call it ‘The Great Animal Adventure.’”

“Animal Adventure?”

“I think we should break into the Columbia Riverbanks Zoo,” Liz said.

“What? Where would you get such an idea?” Sonya asked.

“Are you crazy?” Julia asked.

“I like it,” Lydia said. “Tell us more.”

“Look, I want us to do something that we’ll remember years from now and will still be shocked and pleased that we did it whenever we think back on it. I want us to think that we can’t believe we did that. Streaking across campus or shutting off the power in Russell House is not going to do it. I’ve got it all figured out if you want me to tell you,” Liz said.

“Well, you can count me out,” Julia said.

“Big surprise,” Liz retorted.

“And just what is that supposed to mean?” Julia asked.

“Just what I said. You don’t have an adventurous bone in your body. Hell, you’re scared of your own shadow.
Boo!
Don’t you ever get tired of that?” Liz asked. “I just thought that once in your life you might want to try to conquer something that you’re afraid of, that’s all.”

“That’s easy for you to say.”

“Just do me a favor. Hear me out. Think about it before you decide. Fair enough?”

“What can it hurt to just listen to her idea?” Lydia asked.

“Fine, but I won’t be goaded into doing something stupid,” Julia swore.

“I knew this would happen,” Julia moaned. “Once Liz wants something, she doesn’t take no for an answer.”

“We all agreed to this,” Sonya reminded her. “Now smear some more of this camouflage stuff on your face.”

“And for goodness sake, tuck those gold curls up under your hat, Lydia, or we’ll be spotted a mile away,” warned Liz as she struggled to harness her own wavy mop of hair underneath a ball cap.

They stood on the northeast perimeter of the Columbia Riverbanks Zoo. They had parked just off Bush River Road and hiked the short distance so the car wouldn’t be detected by security in the empty parking lot.

“Now remember the plan. We help each other over the fence and then off we go to find our animals. I wish I dared having you take a photo for proof, but the flash would do us in. We’ll just have to take each other’s word for it. You’ve got fourteen minutes to get to your exhibit and spot the animal. That leaves six minutes for our getaway since we only have twenty minutes between security checks. Okay, take one last look at your maps,” Liz directed.

The girls quickly scanned the miniature maps that Liz had carefully drawn. They had looked at them dozens of times already but still studied them like they had never seen them before.

“Okay, it’s go time,” Liz said. “You first, Lydia.”

Lydia climbed up Liz’s hunched-over back and onto the fence. As she swung one leg over the top, Julia announced, “I don’t think I can do this.”

“Too late to back out now. The clock is ticking. Get a move on,” Sonya said as she shoved Julia up onto the fence. As they pulled themselves up the fence, the sound of the metal rattling seemed thunderous.

Finally, Julia and Lydia swung their legs over to the other side. Liz helped Sonya climb the fence. After Sonya reached the top and began to descend the other side, Liz said, “See you in a few minutes.”

It was a high fence. It was easy to climb though once you got above the mid-section because there were better footholds. Since Liz had no one to help her, she had to improvise. She opened the little footstool she had brought for this purpose and used it to reach the upper fence.

Lydia ran to where the zebras were housed in the African Plains exhibit. She spotted one, whispered a silly “pleased to meet you” greeting, and ran back to the gate.

Sonya made her way to the aviary and found that all the birds were inside this time of night. Now what? Should she lie and say that she saw one? Who would know? She would know, that’s who. She checked her watch and began to panic at the lack of time she had left. After circling most of the structure, she finally found a small owl sitting on his perch. It looked at her and hooted a greeting. She hooted back, smiling at her success.

Liz found the lions and allowed herself a minute to study their beauty. They may be dangerous, but they were also beautiful creatures. Lions and tigers had always been her favorite zoo animals, perhaps because they were exotic and dangerous. As if sensing her presence, the two lions turned in her direction and peered into the semi-dark where she stood. Even in an enclosed exhibit, the sight of the five-hundred-pound predators looking at her like a late night snack made her heart race. “Got to go, guys,” she said as she turned and ran back to meet the others.

“Where is she?” Liz asked as soon as she reached the gate and found only Sonya and Lydia.

“I don’t know,” Sonya said.

“I didn’t see her, did you?” Lydia asked them.

They both shook their heads. “The monkey habitat is in the opposite direction of the African Plains and the Aviary. We wouldn’t have run into her,” Liz explained.

“Do you think she got lost or had a problem?” Sonya asked.

“Oh my God. What if security found her?” Lydia asked.

“Okay. You two get out of here. I’ll go get Julia, and we’ll meet you at the car,” Liz said.

“Are you sure?” Lydia asked. “Maybe we should stay and help? All for one and one for all.”

“No, we’re not the Three Musketeers. I’m the one who got us into this, and I’m the one who’s going to get Julia out of here or get caught along with her,” Liz said. “Now get going.”

Sonya and Lydia continued to protest, but Liz pointed towards the road. “Seriously, it’ll be easier for one of us to slip back inside without getting caught than for the three of us to try it. Just go get the getaway car ready.”

“Perhaps we’d be more valuable on the outside,” Sonya reasoned. Lydia paused, hesitant to leave her best friend.

“I swear it’ll be all right. Just go,” Liz pleaded. “We’re wasting time.”

Sonya and Lydia began climbing the fence. By the time they reached the top and looked down, Liz was long gone.

“Jules,” Liz whispered. “Can you hear me?” She called out as loudly as she dared when she got near the monkey habitat.

“Over here,” Julia answered.

“Ssshh,” Liz hissed as she went in the direction of her friend’s voice.

“You’d be practically screaming too if a monkey had you by the hair,” Julia said miserably. “Do something, please.”

In the dim light, Liz could see that Julia had her back to the cage. A monkey held a clump of her hair in its hand. “How the hell did you manage to let that monkey get so close to you?” Liz wondered.

“Can we discuss this later, like after we’re out of here? That is, if I ever get out of here. This stupid monkey won’t let go. Ouch!” Julia said.

“Will you remember who saved you if I free you from the monkey? I think that makes you indebted to me for life. In some countries, you’d be in servitude to me forever,” Liz joked.

“
Liz
,” warned Julia.

Liz reached out and swatted the monkey’s hand. He retracted it and then hissed in retaliation. Liz pushed Julia out of the way as soon as the monkey let go of Julia’s hair.

“Oh God. Thank you,” Julia said gratefully as she stroked the sore spot on the back of her head.

“Don’t thank me yet. We may not make it out of here without getting caught. Security’s due to make a sweep through here any minute.”

As if on cue, the golf cart ambled along the sidewalk headed right for them. Liz pushed Julia down behind a clump of bushes just as the headlights on the golf cart would have spotlighted them. The cart slowed down briefly, but the security guard kept on going, passing within a foot of where the pair crouched down. Liz and Julia ran back to the gate and scrambled up and over it like two adrenaline-pumped youths.

Lydia pulled forward, out of the shadows, as soon as she saw two figures running towards the car. As the girls jumped in, she took off at breakneck speed, spewing gravel in her exodus. She didn’t turn on the headlights until they were a half mile away.

“What happened?” Sonya asked a few minutes later as they sipped celebratory milkshakes at Sandy’s. The place had the worst hot dogs and soggiest fries in town but the best ice cream shakes, which was just what they needed to calm their frazzled nerves.

Julia explained that she had been peering into the monkey cage looking for monkeys. She didn’t realize it, but there was a monkey on a perch just above her. The animal reached down and grabbed Julia’s hair. She tried everything but couldn’t get the monkey to let go. She was nearly hysterical by the time Liz found her. Sonya and Lydia laughed uncontrollably at the image.

“Sorry Jules, but I can’t help it. I can just see this little monkey with a death grip on your hair and you standing there about to pee in your pants,” Lydia said, wiping the tears of laughter from her face.

Sonya was just as bad. “Now that’s a photo I would have treasured.”

Liz did not join in the laughter. Instead, she brought Jules another chocolate milk shake. “Extra thick, just the way you like it,” she told Julia.

Twenty

LIZ

“W
e always let your mother talk us into those kinds of things,” Julia said to Grace. “We never had enough sense to say no.”

“It sounds like y’all always had a good time,” Grace said. “Didn’t y’all ever get into it with each other? Have a big blowout? Big problems?”

“Are you kidding?” Sonya said. “We had plenty of fights and problems. Julia’s mother committed suicide during our freshman year. She was having frequent nightmares. It was an awful time for her.”

“And we got stuck with two loser roommates. First, there was Swookie with her foul-smelling incense. She was this hippie girl who burned incense like three times a day in the ridiculous belief that it could get rid of negative energy and provide a pure, idyllic environment,” Julia recalled.

“Then there was Alisha, who was a shy, quiet girl from Great Falls, SC. The big city of Columbia was the farthest she’d ever been from home. She called home every night at 7:30 p.m. to tell her mother about her day. The girl didn’t listen to music or watch television. That could be because she was partially deaf and didn’t feel comfortable blasting the volume on the stereo or television. Who knows? She wore these big hearing aids, but she must have been nearly deaf because as far as I could tell they didn’t help much. Even though I yelled when I spoke to her, I think she read my lips rather than heard anything I said. But the worst thing was that she rarely left the dorm room, except to go to the dining hall or classes. We invited her to join us for dinner and stuff sometimes, but she never accepted the invitation.”

“We wouldn’t have had any problem if your mother moved into the dorm, but she wasn’t interested in dorm life, and our parents weren’t about to support our living off campus. But it all worked out. For junior and senior years, we chose a gal we knew down the hall who wanted away from her horrible roommate,” Lydia said. “But there were still times that we got on each other’s nerves and got into stupid fights.”

“Remember after we went to Myrtle Beach one weekend, Julia stopped speaking to us for like a week. Talk about stupid fights!” Liz said.

“It wasn’t stupid. It was a big deal!” Julia yelled.

“It’s not like it was our fault,” Sonya said.

“No, but y’all sure thought it was funny,” Julia replied.

“Come on, admit it. It was funny!” Lydia said.

“No, it was humiliating,” Julia said.

“I guess it depends on your perspective,” Lydia replied.

“Truthfully, it probably would have been no biggie if it had happened to anyone other than Julia. But because she’s so prim and proper…” Liz explained.

“You mean, prudish,” Lydia corrected.

“Someone tell me what happened,” Grace begged.

“We were at the beach for the weekend and had gone into the ocean to ride the waves. We saw this giant wave forming,” Liz recalled.

“It’ll break long before it reaches us,” Sonya guessed.

They watched in awe as it built in scope. It was one of the biggest waves they had seen this far inland.

“Too bad we don’t have surfboards,” Liz said.

“Wait for it. Ten, nine, eight, seven…” began Sonya as the tsunami-like wave inched dangerously closer.

Julia was already swimming as hard as she could towards shore. “That monster is going to break right when it reaches us,” she predicted.

Liz began paddling
towards
the wave. “Come and get me,” she challenged.

Sonya and Lydia treaded water, powerless to move. It hit with such force that Lydia was dragged under water as if there was a powerful vacuum sucking her in. The tide of water continued to drag her under and propel her forward at the same time. This seemed to last an eternity. Just as she was thinking she couldn’t take much more, it was suddenly over. Gulping and gasping for air, Lydia shot to the surface as fast as her tired, beat-up body would move. She was disoriented as she emerged from the water, but then she began looking for her friends. She saw Sonya floating a few feet away.

“You okay?” Lydia called. Sonya’s hair was plastered to her head and she was still gasping for breath.

“Yeah, if by okay you mean feeling like a drowned rat.”

“Me too.” Lydia looked around and spotted Liz next. She was farther out, floating peacefully on her back. She waved nonchalantly to them.

“Can you believe that?” Sonya croaked. “She must have swum under the wave and missed the backlash.”

Before Lydia could respond, they heard a familiar voice, screaming. It was Julia. Turning frantically in all directions, they finally saw her. She was near the shore but crouched down so that all they could see was her head.

“Hang on!” Sonya called out as they swam towards her. Liz caught up to Lydia and Sonya just before they reached Julia.

“What’s wrong, Jules?” Liz asked. “Are you hurt?”

“I’ve lost my bathing suit top. It got swept away during that tidal wave.”

The others howled with laughter.

“It’s not funny. What am I going to do?” she asked miserably.

“No biggie. I’ll just grab your beach towel and be right back,” Liz said.

They waited while Liz swam to shore. They had been carried a good distance down the beach by the current, so it took a while. She waved the towel like a flag and then got back into the water. The problem was the tide was now coming in, and their efforts to stay put were nearly futile. If Liz didn’t get there soon, they would have to swim out to keep from being dumped onto the beach, but Julia refused to remove her arms, which covered her bare breasts as if her life depended on it. Liz threw the wet towel at Julia, who reached up to grab it.

“Hey, check out the tits on that girl,” a teenager called to his friends. The four youths turned around just in time to get a quick look before Julia was able to secure the towel. “Damn, man! Nice tits!”

“How ’bout another peek?” the guy asked. The four guys, who looked to be around seventeen to twenty years old began chanting, “Show us some love! Show us some love!”

Julia walked out of the water with as much dignity as she could muster. With her face flushed bright red, she marched off towards the beach house without as much as a word. The others dutifully scrambled behind her trying hard not to laugh. They made it to the crosswalk before nearly collapsing with laughter. Although Julia was already across the street, she heard their laughter, turned around, and shot up her middle finger into the air.

She was so busy flipping them off that she stumbled off the curb and stubbed her toe. When she bent to massage it, the towel fell to the ground. Julia stood stunned and topless on Ocean Drive for five or six seconds before she let out a blood-curling scream as onlookers applauded. She reached down, grabbed the towel, and threw it around her.

Abandoning all pride, she sprinted all the way home. Lydia, Liz, and Sonya laughed until they were doubled over and tears ran down their red faces. They tried repeatedly to apologize to Julia for laughing but kept bursting out in laughter. The more they tried to stop, the worse it got. She didn’t talk to them for a week.

Grace couldn’t help but laugh. “Sorry, Julia, but that is funny.”

Julia had to admit that while it was horribly embarrassing, it wasn’t the end of the world.

“Any more scandalous stories you’d care to share?” Grace asked.

There was one incident that sprang to everyone’s mind, but no one dared to mention it.

“Oh, gosh. There were tons of things that transpired over the years, but we’ve already shared the best stories,” Sonya assured her.

“There was one thing,” Liz began.

“Maybe you don’t want to get into that,” Julia warned.

“No, I think Grace needs to hear this. I did some really stupid stuff when I was about your age, and I hope that by sharing this with you, you won’t wind up in a situation like this,” Liz said.

Liz thought back to her junior year at USC. She spared Grace the specifics, opting just to give her the broad brush strokes, but she would never forget anything that happened that night.

“Slow down,” Liz asked.

He moved his hand back, unzipping her jeans as if she hadn’t told him to slow down.

“Whoa, boy. This isn’t a race,” she said, laughing softly.

“Are you laughing at me, bitch?”

Liz looked up and was frightened by what she saw. His eyes flashed, dark and dangerous. His face was flushed, and she noticed that his fists were clenched.

“I don’t like being man-handled,” she said as she tried to push him away.

“And I don’t like prick teases,” he said, pushing her flat on her back. He pinned her using his body while he unzipped his pants.

Liz struggled, but she was no match for a 190-pound young athlete. She scratched his back in protest. He slapped her hard across the face and grabbed her wrist tightly. She pleaded as he struggled to pull down his pants while holding her down. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Please be over soon, she silently begged.

No! She was Liz Goldberg. She was nobody’s victim. She managed to get her arm free without him noticing while he was positioning himself inside her. She was able to reach the table and grab one of his empty beer bottles. He was just getting started and was making loud grunting sounds as she grabbed the bottle. Clasping it tightly, she smashed it over his head. For good measure, she hit him again. The sound of the glass smashing against his skull filled the room. This time the bottle broke after hitting his head.

Blood began trickling out of his head wound. “You bitch!” he yelped before losing consciousness.

Liz disentangled herself from her attacker and tried to stand, but her trembling legs buckled, and she hit the floor. Shaking and sobbing, she crawled to the phone and punched in 911. After she stated her emergency, she dropped the phone and ran out of the apartment to wait for the police.

“Mom! He raped you,” Grace said, jumping up and hugging her mother. “How awful. I’m so sorry that happened.”

“Yeah, me too. But luckily it was over almost as soon as it started. I have to accept that happened by my own stupidity. I shouldn’t have been alone with him until I knew him better. It was really stupid, and I beg you to remember this before you put yourself in the same kind of situation. You’re getting ready to go to college, so this is a good cautionary tale for you. No matter how cute a boy is or how much you like him, be smart, okay?”

“Yeah, I hear you. Maybe I’ll sign up for a self-defense class,” Grace said.

“Great idea, but try not to get yourself in any questionable situations. It took me a long time to get over what happened,” Liz said.

Julia, Sonya, and Lydia remembered all too well the toll that incident had taken on Liz. She had an ugly contusion on her face, a sprained wrist, and two bruised ribs when they picked her up at Richland Memorial Hospital. It had messed with her head, too.

She had stayed in Sonya and Lydia’s dorm room, sleeping on the floor between the two beds for three nights before she forced herself to return to her place. It was another month or so before she got a good night’s sleep.

The D.A. had notified Liz that a plea bargain had been negotiated, so the case didn’t go to trial. She didn’t have to testify. That was good news, but it was months before Liz began acting flirtatious and free-spirited again. But not quite as much as before. A little piece of that carefree girl was gone forever.