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was a long scarf wrapped around his neck. Its tails should've been flying behind him as he sped along, but when he twirled Maureen saw that they were plastered to his bare back. |
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He carried an assault rifle with a banana clip. |
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Watching his approach, Maureen had wondered about her chances of jumping him and taking the gun. |
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If she got her hands on that sucker, she could blast Buddy and Doug and Lou and Sheila and Cyndi. She could blow their heads off. |
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He'd blow off mine if I tried, she thought. |
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Then, fearing that he might spot her, she'd scurried deeper into the dark beneath the Jeep. |
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He'd pranced and twirled past her hiding place, and the sound of his roller skates had faded to silence. |
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Some time later came the quick smack of footfalls on the sidewalk. Maureen had pushed herself sideways, savoring the rough rub of the street against her breasts and belly and groin, and peered over the curb. Two womenfat things in hair curlers and clinging housecoats, were chasing a kid. One of the women brandished a cordless electric carving knife. The other didn't seem to be armed. Those were probably her scissors sticking out of the kid's shoulder. The kid wore pajamas. He looked no older than seven. He seemed to be outrunning the gals. |
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Maureen wanted the electric knife. |
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It was no assault rifle, but a lot better than nothing. |
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She started to squeeze up between the curb and the undercarriage. |
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But the squawk of gate hinges warned her in time |
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