Chapter 48
Cindy was back at her condo at 12:56 PM. She retouched her make-up and gave the perfume bottle a few pumps. She was back out the door in her black miniskirt and electric blue blouse at 1:07 PM. She was feeling very confident about her look. I hope David likes my outfit. I know he will.
At 1:13 she was approaching MetaGallery on Front Street. When she got to the large, street-front window, she saw David inside studying a piece of lurid, semi-abstract, quasi-surreal artwork. So, he likes modern art.
She walked in and tapped on his left shoulder from behind. David quickly whirled his head around, like he thought it was a hit-man.
“Hello there,” David said while recomposing himself. “I believe that we’ve met before.” Wow, she looks hot!
“You do look suspiciously familiar.” Cindy played along. God, I want to ride his pole.
“Are you familiar with this neo-surreal artist?”
Cindy looked at the strangely nebulous artwork, then looked down at the title card on the wall. “Mike van Tryke … hmmm … no, never heard of him. No, wait; I have actually heard of Tryke. His work was mentioned in a novel by Patricia Cornwell. Oh, what was the title? I just read it three months ago. Ok, I just remembered; it was Hornet’s Nest. It was set in Charlotte.”
“Good memory. I read that one, too.”
They then walked over to a wall of radical-symbol () art by Lepton Neutrino (Steve Holt). They noticed that he was working out of Charlotte, too. What’s the square root of imagination?
David then walked over to a table that was covered with whimsical mixed-media creations by an artist going under the nom de brosse of Grandé Love. What a wig-out!
“It must be the Charlotte Invasion show, Cindy. Another Charlotte-based artist over here.”
“Yeah, it must be,” Cindy said while looking at the back of David’s legs, about fifteen feet away. I can’t wait to feel those limbs in action.
Cindy rejoined David in the gallery’s small lobby. The curator – and presumed owner – just glanced at them from time to time. He seemed to be sending out e-mails and text messages.
“So, why exactly did you come down here so early, David?” Relax, the female mind often assumes the male is up to the worst.
“Exactly?” David gave her a teeth-clinched smile.
“Yes, exactly. Don’t be evasive, David.” She’s definitely a reporter.
“I just knew that I would be anxious and bored in my house in Raleigh all day, just thinking about our dinner tonight. I thought, might as well get down here before it gets super-hot.” I guess I can believe that. I’ll try my best to assume he’s innocent of pumping some puday [Filipino slang for vagina] until proven guilty. His facial expressions don’t seem to indicate that he’s lying. I’ll give him a pass for now.
“Already bored with your treasure?” Wow, that’s right; she’s knows about the gold. Remember, you sent her the two gold coins? Where is your mind, boy? Wake up! Stop looking at her breasts – you can’t think when you do that. And, she’s probably aware that you are staring at them. She was.
David chuckled lightly. “I think we need to continue this conversation elsewhere. The curator’s ears are getting larger by the second.”
“How about in my condo?” Wow!
David hoped that Cindy didn’t notice him swallow his saliva. But, she did. That sure got his attention.
“Sure, that sounds great. How far away is it?”
“Just a few blocks away. I walked here.”
“Cool. I’ll give you a lift back to your condo.” I guess it’s safe to get in his car. We’ll be pumping in twenty minutes.
<><><>
They were silent on the short drive. The sexual anticipation was intense. I hope he brought a condom.
Cindy led him up to her condo. Once in the living room, David looked out the bay window. The sky was unusually clear for an afternoon in late July. The Cape Fear River was slate blue, and was lazily flowing southward.
“You’ve got an amazing river view here, Cindy. I love it. You scored. It’s a great pad.”
“A great pad? Is it extra-absorbent?” Cindy laughed at her juvenile wordplay joke. David did, too, a second later.
“Let’s just cut to the chase, Cindy. What do you think I have?”
“Two gonads and a seven-inch, white-guy penis.” Wow! Holy smoke! She wants to get down right now. Where is that condom? He felt his left-front pocket and was relieved to feel the latex ring.
“Uh, yeah, I have those items, too.” I’m going to pounce on him. I can tell he’s already firming up his pistol.
“Let me check to make sure.” Oh, my dearest demigod!
As David stood looking out the window, Cindy crouched down below the wainscoting and unzipped his black jeans. He was already partially aroused. She sucked his lollipop like the girls that she had seen on an Asian porn website a few nights ago. God, he’s starting to ooze his gooze. [sic] Tastes great!
They made it over to her queen-size bed and David satisfactorily performed his manly duties. Cindy loved his maximum pumpage, [sic] replete with much happy-clapping. And, David loved the taste of her bilat (vagina in Filipino), and the feel of her soft-yet-firm breasts. He thought about Chantelle for a few seconds while pounding it in Cindy as she kneeled on the edge of the bed, moaning louder and louder. I think Chantelle would approve. She wouldn’t want me to be lonely. If it was reversed, I’d be cool with her hooking up with a cool dude. Oh, why the hell am I even thinking such thoughts? Maybe I’ve got Mark’s disorder: golden insanity.
After their inaugural sexual romp, Cindy went to the kitchen to make some ice-cube-filled mint tea. David got dressed and took a seat on her blue, floral-patterned sofa. Soon Cindy returned and sat next to him. David loved the sight of her sexy, bronzed legs. Such a perfect natural tan these Filipinas have. If someone could bottle that tan, they’d be a billionaire from sales in America and Europe.
“How long have you had this place, Cindy?”
“I got it about a year ago for a bargain price. Thankfully, I didn’t buy it before the real-estate bubble popped.”
“Cool deal. A lot of my friends are upside-down with their mortgages now; they bought in 2006 and 2007, right before the market crashed.”
“Did you like getting upside-down with me?” Wow, looks like there will be a second round. I need some time, though. At least forty minutes. And, I need to get another condom out of my car. That’s when I’ll bring in the big surprise.
“I most certainly did, you erotically charged, sexy Filipina.”
“Thanks for reawakening my libido, dodong.” [‘handsome man’ in Filipino]
“Doe dong?”
“A charming male.”
“A male?” I guess that I’m channeling Chantelle.
“A sweet, affectionate, kind, endearing male. The man who I am looking at right now.” She really likes me.
“That sounds better.” He wants my thing again. I can feel it.
Cindy looked out the window. It was becoming a picture of a swampland sauna as the temperatures soared. Heat waves were readily visible.
“The heat and humidity are coming back later today. It will feel just like Manila by the evening.”
“Do you miss the Philippines, Cindy?”
“At times. But, I don’t want to live there. Well, not now. Not for at least thirty years. Maybe when I retire. Making decent money over there is just too hard – too few legitimate opportunities right now. However, after I accumulate a nice nest egg here in the States, I may very well go back. The dollar goes so much farther over there – almost triple, David.”
“What did you think of those gold coins?” A test question?
“I love them! Thanks so much, David! And, how many more might the goldsmith have? Relax, it’s just a rhetorical question.” Not really.
“It’s a fair question for someone who provided me with gold-medal-winning, time-sensitive, invaluable information one Saturday evening. Let’s just say that I still have to work, but I’m totally debt-free, or soon will be. I already took care of the balance on my car; the house is next.”
“Excellent, David. That’s very smart.”
“I feel that I owe you more than just sixty-three hundred dollars – the approximate value of those coins, based on the Friday gold close.” Yes, keep going.
“You didn’t have to give me anything. Really.” But I’m certainly glad you did.
“If you didn’t throw me that bone of advance notice, I wouldn’t have anything. Really. It’s the truth.”
“It’s funny how life works in unexpected ways.”
“Yes, sometimes very fortunate and sometimes very tragic.” He thought about Chantelle. She knew he was.
“When I first met you, I wanted you, David, but you were with Chantelle. I respect relationships. I don’t interfere with them. I am very sorry she died. She seemed like a lovely, young lady. I certainly would have wanted us to end up here under different circumstances.”
“She would be happy that we are here together. I know it. She would not want me to remain alone the rest of my life chanting Latin psalms while staring at her candle-lit, eight-by-ten-inch photos.” He must have been raised Catholic, too.
“You paint quite a picture with your words, David.”
“Maybe I just channeled her; she wanted to be a novelist. She was always taking notes.”
Cindy walked over towards the main window and looked down. A gaggle of canoes were making their way up the languid river.
“I hope that they know which fork to take,” she remarked.
“The river splits going upstream, doesn’t it?”
“It most certainly does. And, what’s weird is that the wider right fork, when viewed going upstream, is actually just the northeast branch of the Cape Fear River; the narrower left side is the Cape Fear River proper. I know this because just last year, some friends and I kayaked up there. We took the right fork thinking it was the main channel of the river. We never saw the oxbow lake that was our turnaround destination, because we were on the wrong side. We paddled for three hours on the wrong channel.”
“Sometimes I wish that I hadn’t sold my kayaks.”
“Well, I guess Mr. Gold Coins has plenty of money to buy many more.” Mr. Gold Coins? Very Chantelle-like.
“Cindy, please excuse me for a minute. I’ve got to get something out of my car.” A gun?! Please, not that.
“Are you going to get a revolver to kill me, now that I know so much?” What the fuck! Is that why the sex is so good with these women? Do they think I’m mega-rich and just might kill them for sport? Do I really look so unpredictably dangerous? Is there that much latent homicidal drama humming from inside me?
“I’m going to follow through with Gerald’s plan,” David said with a suddenly serious expression. “I’m very sorry, Cindy. This is where your story ends.”
“What?!” Cindy screamed out of sheer fright. Oh, no!
“Gotcha!” David announced and began to chortle.
“You lousy kano! You son of a glitch! Son of a glitch? Chantelle’s spirit is in the room.
“You fell for that one, hook, line and sinker, Cindy.” I sure did. He might be a good actor. Has he taken drama?
“Yeah, you really got me, David.” She removed her hands from her face and forced a laugh. I’ll get him back later.
<><><>
David returned two minutes later with a wide, flat, red toolbox in his hand. Please don’t let there be body parts in there. No fingers. No toes. Please, dear God, no!
“Would you like to open it?” David asked as he offered the box to Cindy. Should I?
“Is something going to jump out at me like a jack-in-the-box?”
“No, nothing like that. But, you may be startled in a good way. Don’t worry; it’s not a prank.”
“Ok. I’m trusting you, David.”
“Hey, I’m trusting you, too. Bigtime.”
Cindy undid the clasp-type locking mechanism and opened the box. Her eyes greeted the larger golden boomerang – the nearly twenty-two-pound, C-shaped, lustrous, gold nugget. Wow! God only knows how much this is worth.
“What a nugget! So, this is what was buried in Dale Smite’s back yard?”
“This and a slightly smaller one were buried behind that metal shed in soft sand.”
“How deep?”
“About two-and-a-half feet.”
“Let me guess – you melted the smaller one down into coins, like the ones you sent me.”
“You got it. Eighty-eight two-ounce coins and eighty-seven one-ounce, cube-shaped ingots.”
“Have you been able to sell any of it?”
“Yes, and with no problems.”
“Nice. Very nice, David. And, exactly how much does this gold nugget weigh?” ‘Exactly’ again. She likes to get the correct numbers for her reports.
“Twenty-one pounds, nine ounces. Melted down into coins and ingots, one could probably get half of a million dollars out of it. However, if it were sold as is – intact – it could fetch up to eight-hundred-thousand dollars. This is because gold nuggets earn a premium over the current ounce price. For this nugget, it would easily be forty percent higher than the ounce rate; most likely fifty percent higher, or even more. It’s one of the largest nuggets found in North Carolina – the largest found in almost one hundred ninety years. I really don’t want to melt it down, but selling it intact will be tricky.”
“Yeah, and don’t forget the taxman. He’s going to chop off a big slice.” She caught the tax issue just like Chantelle. Very sharp. Very keen.
“Great point, Cindy.”
“It’s too expensive and too attention-grabbing to safely sell on ebay.” Just like Chantelle. Uncanny.
“You’re right. And, it’s way too expensive for local jewelers and those ‘we buy gold’ outfits.”
“Hey, I think I’ve solved your gold-to-cash dilemma.”
“The floor is yours, Ms. Santos.” Literally.
“Break it into about two dozen pieces – nothing over a pound – and slowly sell the nuggets one by one on ebay. Only accept paypal or a cashier’s check.” Cindy was looking at gold nuggets for sale on ebay on her smartphone.
“I think you have solved the problem. That’s an excellent idea, Cindy.”
“It looks like most of them are way under a pound. In fact, most of these gold nuggets on here are just one to three ounces. Thus, you better break it into over a hundred nuggets. You’ll have a nice steady income stream. You won’t be able to blow it all on a motor yacht.”
“Motor yacht? What makes you think that I would blow it all on a motor yacht?”
“Oh, I just threw that out there as a frivolous, just-came-into-money male purchase. You could substitute Ferrari.”
“No, it won’t be a fancy boat or a high-end sports car, nor even a big house. In fact, there won’t be any big purchase. None. Period.”
“That’s smart, David. I’ve already done a story on a Wilmington-area family that won the North Carolina Lottery. They had over a million dollars after taxes. Twenty-two months later they were filing for divorce and bankruptcy. I believe it was in that order.”
“Were you always this smart … and sexy?” David asked as he ran his right hand up her right thigh. She didn’t stop him. Cindy felt a tingle go up her spine and the heat rising in her tunnel of love.
They were soon back on the bed for round two. She rode him fast and hard. As David looked into Cindy’s brown eyes, he knew that he was falling in love again. I could live with this woman. / I want him … to stay with me … forever.
Cindy hoped that he wouldn’t bust his load before the deepest wave of pleasure moved through her body and radiated through her brain. Mr. Scrapalski held out just long enough. Baseball in July.
<><><>
After a two-hour, post-coital nap of interwoven dreams with overlapping themes, they awoke and kissed softly.
“David, I’ve got something very serious to tell you.”
“What is it, my sexy Pinay?” [a Philippine woman] Pinay? He must have done some research on my ethnicity. That or he’s already had a Filipina girlfriend somewhere in his past. I hope that he didn’t screw some disease-infested pok-pok [Filipino slang for a prostitute] in Newport News.
“I think I’m already ad-dick-ted to you.” Too funny.
David just chuckled and smiled at her. “Well, your puki [vagina in Filipino] makes me go kooky.” So silly.
She grinned. “Do you want to go to dinner early, before it gets crowded?” Cindy asked while bending over to put on her beige panties. God almighty, she’s got a killer snatch. I don’t think I’d ever get tired of that. Am I getting aroused again? Down, rover, down. Take a break. Enough already.
“Sure. I’m hungry.”
<><><>
They arrived on foot at Engorged on The Walk at 6:06 PM. The restaurant only had four occupied tables; there were plenty of places to sit. The dinner rush hadn’t started yet. The mid-30-ish, white waitress led them to a table with a view.
“You know, Cindy, your condo has a better view than these waterfront restaurants.”
“I know.” She paused for a second as she thought her remark sounded too boastful. “I mean, I ate at all of these river-view restaurants and bars before buying my condo. When I walked into that condo for the first time and looked out the window, I knew this was the one for me. We Filipinas like seeing water. We are a nation of over seven thousand islands.”
“Well, it’s a definite score. Premium digs.” Digs?
“Thanks, again, David.”
“What is this place known for?”
“Falling in love