“You know, you really need to piss or get off the pot”, Lillian said startling Phil quite badly. He hadn’t known she was aware of his presence.
“I don’t know what you mean”, he said blushing furiously.
“Yeah you do”, Lillian said as she scraped dirt from her blade, “You’ve been watchin’ me almost since I stepped off of the bus. Piss or get off the pot. A girl can wait only so long.”
Phil opened his mouth but only a clicking sound came out. He closed it and opened it again, for a second try, “I….” he managed to get out.
“You...wot?” she asked smiling at him in amusement.
“I...have a girlfriend. You must excuse me, I don’t mean to be taking up your time like this.”
“S’no bother”, Lillian said seemingly unmoved by the news that he was taken, “So you gonna give her the boot or wot?” she asked.
“Give her...oh you mean break up with her? The next time I see her I suppose” , he said surprising himself but apparently not her.
“Splendid. Well you just do tha’ and then we’ll see wots wot”, she said.
“Right. Okay”, Phil said finding that he was walking away from her, heading toward the jeep. He had some meat to pick up from the slaughter house anyway; he’d promised Leyla he’d do it for her so she could go do something mysterious in the woods. He could pass by the flower shop and...end it with Sally. He found that he was curiously light headed at the thought that the decision was made and he would be a free man before the end of the day. It made him want to sing with joy. He would buy some flowers for Lillian while he was there; red or white - not yellow. He grimaced thinking that that might not be the best idea he’d ever had. Buying flowers from his future ex-girlfriend to give his hopefully future wife would not go down well with either of them he suspected. Besides, it was tacky, he could see that. No, he could maybe pick her some flowers from the garden.
He got in the jeep and drove off quickly, eager to get the hard part behind him. He arrived at the slaughterhouse first and picked up the rotted meat which was used to feed the alligators before heading for Sally’s flower shop. He found the ‘closed’ sign hanging on the door and went round the back to see if she was in her apartment. He rang her bell and waited for quite a while before he heard footsteps on the stairs. He straightened unconsciously wanting to meet her head on when she door opened. To his surprise, it was her brother who opened the door, not her.
“Yes?” Charles le Carre said as if was a stranger who hadn’t sat at Charles’ dinner table not two weeks before.
“Er, I wanted to see Sally. Is she in?” Phil asked.
“She’s asleep. You should come back another time”, Charles said and began to close the door.
Phil reached out to stop the door from banging shut in his face, “It's important that I see her”, he said.
Charlie sighed and widened the door again, “Fine, I’ll wake her up”, he said padding up the stairs and leaving Phil to get the door. Phil shut it behind him and followed Charlie up the stairs. He did not like Sally’s brother - there was just something cold and lizard-like about him. He was glad that he didn’t have to associate with him again after today. Charlie walked to the bedroom, shutting the door behind him and Phil meandered about the living room, picking up knick knacks and putting them down. He knew that some of them were priceless artefacts that she’d acquired on her travels either with her brother or on her own. He also knew that the place had state of the art security in spite of its simple setting.
Sally emerged from the bedroom, smiling to see him waiting. Charlie wasn’t with her.
“Phil! What a pleasant surprise”, she said holding out her hands to him. He took them, and kissed her cheek and then let them go.
“We need to talk”, he said.
Sally smiled, “The four most dreaded words in the English language”, she commented. Phil smiled but didn’t contradict her. He looked down at his hands and then back up into her eyes.
“I’m sorry Sally, but I-” he began to say.
“Don’t. Don’t say it”, Sally interrupted him.
He stared soulfully at her, eyes misty as he shook his head, “I didn’t want this to happen but it has and-”, he said.
“No Phil, just no”, Sally said shaking her head and moving away from him.
“I’m in love with someone else”, he continued with ruthless honesty.
Sally gasped theatrically and clutched her head shaking it from side to side repeatedly, “You don’t mean that”, she whispered.
“I do. I’m so sorry Sally; I wish I could spare you this knowledge. But I respect you too much not to tell you the truth.”
Sally laughed wryly, “I wish you respected me a bit less”, she said.
Phil sighed, “Look, Sally; I just came here to be honest with you about how things stand. I’ll leave you now. I hope that one day when all this is less raw, we can be friends”, Phil said walking toward the stairs that led to the door.
“Phil?” Sally called.
Phil stopped and turned to look at her, “Yes Sally?”
“Who is she?” Sally asked hoarsely.
Phil didn’t pretend to misunderstand, “Lillian. Her name is Lillian Ecclestone”, he really couldn’t help how his face lighted up at her name.
“And you’ve been cheating on me with her?” Sally asked sounding close to tears.
“No! No Sally, I wouldn’t do that to either of you”, Phil protested.
“Either of us huh?”, Sally said. She sounded bitter.
Phil was silent, just looking at her, not knowing what to say to make it better.
“I’ll leave you now”, he said quietly walking out quietly. His heart was hammering in his chest; sure he’d done it fast and hard, like ripping out a rotting tooth. Didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell. He and Sally had come a long way together; for it to end this way was…sad. He straightened his shoulders thinking about telling Lillian about this later on in the day. He couldn’t help it; his heart was speeding up for a whole different reason.
Charlie emerged from the bedroom and studied his sister, “You want me to go break his legs?” he asked. That was all the trigger Sally needed to burst into tears and run into Charlie’s arms. Her brother held her close as she cried her eyes out, petting her back over and over again as his eyes narrowed, looking inward, making plans.
“Oh baby”, he said rubbing harder. His hands were becoming less soothing, more seeking as his lips came down on her neck, licking and biting gently. Sally burrowed deeper into his chest, still crying and Charlie lifted her up and carried her to her bed. He placed her down gently on it and then straightened up to take his shirt off. He leaned down and pushed her dress above her waist, even as silent tears left a trail down her pale cheeks. He divested her of her panties, discarding them on the soft white woollen carpet next to her bed. Then he took each of her lanky legs and spread them as wide as they would go. He stood back, surveying his handiwork before reaching for his fly and discarding his pants. He stepped forward, putting one knee on the bed as he stared at her exposed centre concealed by a mass of blonde curly hair. His eyes glazed over as his hand reached out to touch… pressing forward into her. She watched him face blank, still leaking at the eyes as his other hand fingered his dick until it stood stiff and straight, a deep red purple colour with fat veins prominent, spreading out in tributaries along his shaft. He leaned forward, clutching at his member as he sought her entrance and pressed into her with laser concentration. His hips undulated slowly eyes on his pelvis, following his own movements as he plundered her. Their eyes did not meet. Somehow they never did maintain eye contact while engaging in their incestuous passion. Charlie’s hips snapped forward faster and faster. His breath hitched and sped up with every plunge. His big hands, red veined and powerful reached out to grasp her breasts as an anchor as he rutted into her. She made little squealing noises of need in the back of her throat.
“Uhh huuh hu uhhh”, he groaned as surrendered all control; fucking into her with no more semblance of coordination or conscious thought. His eyes were closed, veins standing out and face red as a beetroot.
“Uuuunnnnnngg”, he growled as he strained at last, whole body rigid as he emptied his seed into her. Sally whimpered through it all; not stopping even after he’d collapsed on top of her in satiation.
“Was that good?” he asked gently.
“Yes”, she replied, and sniffed hard.
Phil picked up Mya on the way back home, as he found her ambling along from school. He had to pass by her place to get to the farm via the back road so it wasn’t going out of his way. Besides, he liked talking to Mya. she was by far the most mature fifteen year old he’d ever seen. Not that he’d seen many; his family, what was left of it, still lived on a reservation up north and he hadn’t seen them in years. He’d done his CPA in New York city right out of high school and then worked in various places as an accountant, never settling, always finding a reason to move on. Until he came to le Marais that is, and met Sally and got a job at the ranch. He had not felt as at home anywhere else as he did in this town, and now that he’d met Lillian, he felt like she was the reason. The one he’d been waiting for all his life. Of course, she might not want to stay here. She might want to return to the country of her birth or her visa might expire. In that case, Phil made his mind up on the spot that he would follow her. He’d follow her to the ends of the earth if that’s what it took to keep her. Phil had always been a passionate man, but his feelings for Lillian had shaken even him to the core.
“How was school today?” he asked Mya to take his mind off things.
“Great. Only one kid tried to pull my hair today and they ran away when I glared at them. I thought about baring my teeth like this”, Mya demonstrated, putting all 35 of her pearly whites on display, “but then I thought, overkill. Save it for next time.”
Phil smiled at that, being Navajo and small, he was no stranger to being picked on, “That’s the spirit” he said.
“Yeah, and a funny thing happened too; this girl in my calculus class asked me for a love potion, can you imagine?” she laughed.
Phil frowned, “Why would she ask that?” he said.
Mya shrugged, “If I was to guess, I’d say its probably because of the massive crush she has on that boy. The one who's your boss’ nephew?”
Phil laughed, “I like the way you say ‘that boy’ as though you’re your grandmother’s age and not slightly younger than the ‘boy’ in question”, he said.
“Well….these kids make me feel pretty old”, she said with a sigh.
“You mustn’t let them get you down”, Phil said patting her thigh.”
“Anywho, how about you? Have you won the fair English maiden yet?” she asked.
“Nooo but we’re making progress. I broke up with Sally today.”
“Yay!”, Mya clapped, “I never liked her for you.”
Phil rolled his eyes, “Now she tells me.”
“I should probably have told Susan the same thing huh?” Mya asked thoughtfully.
“Who is Susan?” Phil asked.
It was Mya’s turn to roll her eyes, “The girl? the one who wanted a love potion?” she said exasperatedly.
“Oh”, Phil said, “Yeah, you probably should have.”
Leo was training at the basketball court. He was also hungry as fuck; he’d missed lunch because he had a make up test to do and his entire afternoon was filled with classes. He didn’t dare miss any because he didn’t want anymore residual exams to do. Being held back in school did not fit in with his plans. A bar of Raven’s Revenge appeared in his sight line and he looked up to see that Miles’ hand was attached to the bar. He reached out and took it.
“Thanks man” he said gratefully.
“No problem. How was the test?”
“Ace”, Leo said.
Miles nodded, “Good, now eat fast because I saw couch coming and he didn’t look happy.”
“What’s the issue today? Arthritis acting up or hangover?” Leo asked.
“Probably one thing led to the other?”
Leo huffed a laugh, “Well anyway…”, he said.
“Yeah”, Miles replied as if he’d completed a full sentence, “Not all of us can be teacher’s pet though.”
“Teacher’s pet my ass; he just knows how to value the MVP”, Leo said with a grin. Miles made a face at him and went to do his warm up laps. Leo tore into the candy; it was one hundred per cent sugar which was good enough to power him up; after the game though, he needed to get a decent meal inside him. He joined Miles in his laps, jogging along effortlessly as the couch came into the gym.
“You wanna come home with me for dinner?” Miles asked.
It was like he could read Leo’s mind.
Miles’ mom was working late so she gave them some cash to go eat at Fat Sal’s. It was early when they got there so the dinner crowd was still fairly light. They spotted Leo’s uncle Jamie; who wasn’t really an uncle, more of his mother’s boyfriend. He waved them over and invited them to eat with him…his treat. Miles and Leo smiled conspiratorially at each other, thanking him politely as they split the cash Miles’ mother had given them for dinner.
“So how have you been Leo? I haven’t seen you around in a while”, Jamie said.
Leo shrugged as he dug into his steak and potatoes, “Been busy”, he said.
“Yeah I figured; your mom was complaining the other day that she never sees you”, he said.
Leo grimaced, “She sees me; she’s probably just too drunk to remember”, he said nastily.
“Don’t be like that Leo”, Jamie chided, “Anyway, the reason I wanted to see you is that I got a jeep in my shop recently. It was totalled in an accident but I think it's salvageable with a little…okay a lot of love and care.”
Jamie was a mechanic who had his own garage. When Leo was in the mood he’d drop by and they’d talk shop and Leo would dream about what kind of car he’d like to drive. Jeeps had featured in these discussions.
“I thought ‘totalled’ meant it's good for nothing but the scrap heap”, Miles said.
“Mmm”, Jamie hedged, “Not always. It depends on how much time and work you’re willing to put in. some so called scrap heap candidates just need a little more love and care than their owners are willing to give.”
“And this is one of them?” Miles asked.
“Yeah”, Jamie said.
“When can I come by?” Leo asked.
“Any time. You know you’re always welcome.”
“Thanks”, Leo said.
When Jamie had said ‘totalled’ he had not been exaggerating. The entire hood of the car was crumpled In on itself, it was missing two tyres and the seats were all misaligned. In spite of this, Leo could see the potential. He just needed to clear an hour every day to work on it. He thought about cutting class but dismissed that as stupid. He would just have to wake up an hour earlier…he was sure Jamie would give him breakfast so two birds with one stone. He proposed this to his fake uncle who was game to be at the shop at 6am if Leo was willing to do the same. Leo smiled, that was why he liked Jamie for his mother; he made up for her inattention with his willingness to be available for Leo. It was almost like having a father…
They began work the very next morning and as predicted, Jamie arrived with coffee and croissants. Leo was impressed at the baked goods; they were clearly freshly baked.
“Madame Jean lets me in the back and gives me her first batch. She’s had a soft spot for me ever since I repaired her 1967 Chevrolet. You know the red one?” Jamie’s face lit up just thinking about it and Leo grinned at him.
“Hey should my mom be worried that you’re cheating on her with a car?” he teased.
Jamie flipped him on the shoulder, “Don’t even try that with me Leo, I know you love that car as much as I do.”
“Yeah well, it belonged to her husband who died in the goddamn Vietnam war so she’s not selling it to either of us. Better to concentrate on achievable goals.”
“I’m actually aiming to have her leave it to me in her will”, Jamie confided. Leo burst into loud laughter.
“Good luck with that”, he said.
Jamie just smiled, picking up his end of the car, “One…two…three…hup!”, he called as they lifted it onto the ramp. They cranked it up so they could work on the bottom first. It was a hell of job, but they were up to doing it.
“I broke up with my girlfriend”, Phil told Lillian rather abruptly as they stood feeding the alligators their morning meal.
“Oh yeah? How she take it?” she asked.
Phil shrugged, “Pretty well considering”, he said.
Lillian nodded and turned her head to study him, “Should I give yer me condolences?” she asked.
Phil smiled, “Well considering you’re the one who told me to get rid of her…”, he said.
“Oi! Struth! I did no such fin'. I just said yer should shit or cop off the pot. Didn’t tell yer wich one ter choose”, she mumbled.
“Yeah well…I choose you”, Phil said.
Lillian looked over at him, biting back a smile, “Good to know”, she said as she threw rotted meat at the alligators.
Phil studied her from beneath his lashes watching her muscles flex as she cut the meat and threw it. He opened his mouth to ask her something and then closed it, swallowing hard to get rid of his dry mouth and then trying again.
“Will you go out with me?” his voice came out cracked and much lower than he wanted and he cleared his throat, face red with embarrassment.
“Wot? Now?” she asked in faux disbelief.
“Er, no…of- of course not. Later…obviously”, the rotted meat fell out of Phil’s hand.
“There is a film I want ter see on the television tonight; its called Indiana Jones and the bleedin' Last Crusade. Yer can join me if yer want”, she offered.
Phil reflected on the fact that they were obviously soul mates, “I would love to”, he said in a quiet voice, smiling to himself.