Arriving home my cell phone was ringing. I don’t carry it constantly, because it’s a leash, and the friends that I have seem to worship them. The screen was alighted, vibrating on my bed, and the number I could see was Aeric’s. He called then he called again. I waited, did nothing, because I needed the job and then I received the text:
NAOMI, THAT WAS ME, ALL ON ME, I AM SORRY YOU HAD TO SEE THAT. PLEASE COME BACK WHEN YOU CAN. TODAY, COME BACK TODAY. AC.
Aeric
I didn’t hear from Naomi for two more days and then it was time to open. My father’s not a Grand Opening type. He wants it in the paper and also online and then he said “unlock the doors. Make the motherfucker make money.” His email said exactly that. Naomi ran the maids from seven until three and after that if she was needed I could call. We did a basic breakfast, nothing over the top, because Waco is pregnant with restaurants.
The first night we booked thirty rooms. It increased to forty during the weekend and the interstate traffic kept it steady. It was hard, but I left her alone. We would pass and say “hello,” her chin always down and that was upsetting, because Naomi wasn’t submissive. Naomi Leighton didn’t cow, before me or anyone else.
On the Thursday night after we’d opened there was an incident in room fourteen. The one right next to my office. There was a local dentist, always a dentist, who’d booked a room for the night. I supposed when they passed me that he was with his wife, but he wasn’t, the woman was a hooker. She cleaned up nice for a whore. One of the maids, not Naomi, told me that back in the 80’s Waco was a lot more fun. They had skanky clubs and debauched porn theatres and a bevy of illegal food joints. Places where people would open their kitchens to sell home cooked Mexican food. Development and Christians tend to ruin all the joy and the local college didn’t help. They bought a huge chunk of Waco and now pastures were gorged with buildings and the homes of the wealthy serving vaguer gods unnamed. The maid said her parents used to buy gag gifts at the seedy porn establishment near the college. They had a particular affinity for raunchy postcards with Santa Claus fucking a reindeer. Or an elf sodomizing Mrs. Claus. They mailed them to their family and friends and in return would receive their own. Good fun. Great times. Fucking wrecked. Now Waco is as plain as khaki. A boring monolith of convenience. Thank God it’s filled with Texans.
When the wife of the dentist with the hooker tracked his phone she kicked the door in and attacked. He had the prostitute on her back, somewhat doubled up with her knees behind her ears and she was screaming “papa daddy! You’re killin’ mama’s pussy! Mr. Toothy’s got a big dick!” The wife of the dentist emptied the revolver in the opposing wall behind them. She meant to make a point. I heard the gun fire and I exited my room and when I did the woman was there. This was our conversation. She was calm and knew what to do. I enjoyed dealing with her.
“Are you Aeric Copeland?”
“If that pistol is empty I am.”
“I didn’t kill anyone. That was just a warning. And now the fucker will be served.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“If no one was aroused I hope the police can be avoided concerning this particular upheaval. Here’s money for your trouble and your sheetrock.”
She brought from her purse a roll of hundred dollar bills and extended her hand before me.
“There are thirty in the roll. Is that sufficient?”
“You were never here. They were never here. Our manifest has suddenly vanished.”
“Mr. Copeland you’re not a plane. Neither are you a ship.”
“I’m sorry. The gun makes me nervous.”
Then she was gone and her husband just as quick, though the hooker wanted to blow me. I had Vishy escort her to the office. That was a bad idea. Naomi was using the computer. She came to fourteen in a hurry.
“Aeric, do you want me to clean it.”
“Can you plaster bullet holes?”
“Actually, yes I can.”
“The police…”
“They won’t come. There’s nothing back there and with these weird acoustics her shots probably sounded like a horn.”
It came over me then and there. She was too perfect to let it go by and I had to say something to her.
“Naomi. I’m sorry. So sorry. My history with Vishy is of a sexual nature and I don’t know what to say. I promise not to do it again.”
“Vishy explained it to me. That woman scares me to death. But her knowledge of calculus and the history of the world is better than both of my professors.”
“You should hear Vishy speak Arabic. She ordered in the language at a restaurant in Portland and I almost had a stroke. And yes, Vishy is frightening.”
We sat in chairs around a modest table and then I asked if I could close the door. She said that would be okay. I told her that my mother was sequestered in her rooms and that my father paid heavy for security. In Paris that isn’t cheap. She was quiet and from the country and she didn’t want the Copeland name.
“When he got her pregnant he was young and wealthy and my grandfather forced him to do it. They were very much like you and I. Though what he did makes me ashamed. I’m not allowed to have contact with her. They stop me in the fucking street.”
“What did he do? Was she Parisian? Did her family come after your dad?”
“No Naomi. My mother’s from here. Born and raised in Waco, Texas. She’ll never come back again.”
We talked for an hour and no police came and then I offered her the woman’s cash. She said “no, I haven’t earned it.” I then looked into her eyes and asked if I could hug her and she came around to me and smiled. “Aeric, just hold me and be normal. You can be exactly who you are. Not what your father tried to make you.”
She met me half way and it was wonderful. Our lips brushed and she bit my lower lip before pressing into me with her body. I tried to keep it down but I couldn’t. I was desperate for Naomi Leighton. She pulled away and I thought I had lost her.
“Naomi. I’m sorry. I’m a man. That’s a thing I cannot help.”
“I don’t want you to ‘help it’. I only need you to be patient with me. I don’t know your world. Nor do I understand it.”
“Can we act like Vishy didn’t happen?”
She smiled and chucked my chin. “If we can act like Patricia didn’t either.”
Naomi
The following weekend, because he wanted to “know me,” we decided to go to dinner. I asked him if he would mind driving by the home so I could sit with my mother for a while. We stayed for two hours and she was in good spirits and even knew that Aeric owned The Comfort. She was able to stay on subject, even spoke about her past with men. When she became fairly graphic about a specific escapade, I thought she was kidding, but she wasn’t. I let her go on because I knew she was lucid and my mother had always been saucy. The women in my family were comfortable with their sex and understood the power of the female. By the time she was finished my jaw was on the floor and Aeric was pale and weak. He crossed and uncrossed his legs and I knew he was getting an erection. A crowd had gathered for her story and there were off duty nurses who refused to leave for the day. Two staff doctors were sitting in the room and they joined with the janitor to listen. This is what my mother related. I was shocked and somewhat horrified:
You there, Aeric Copeland. I’ve fucked a big man or two like you. When I was twenty-one or twenty-two, I could suck on a cock till the balls drained empty and then seek something else for dessert. My mother loved sex and my daddy did to and it was accepted for discussion in my home. One summer, I don’t know, ’81 or ’82, I worked out in Speegleville, Texas, at a shitty lifeguard stand. Nobody ever swam, but I was hired, so I stayed, smoking weed and drinking beer. It was a Wednesday around noon and the place was empty when a fisherman dropped his anchor, right dead center inside the buoys. This motherfucker was perfect. A big sumbitch like you Aeric Copeland, except he was blonde and had huge feet, which means he had huge hands, which meant his dick was a hammer.
I yelled at the fella to move his fucking boat because this was a swimming area. He said “he didn’t see anybody and wanted to throw his lure.” Just a cast or two and he would leave. I replied “go ahead you arrogant shit!” and he screamed “whoa there sister! I don’t want any trouble outta you!”
To interrupt for a second and at this particular juncture I didn’t know this about my mother. As she spoke I asked the doctor if this was necessary and he replied “let her unwind her spool. In her mind she’s going through hell. Her brain has betrayed her and she sounds really good. Let her talk as much as she wants. Humans need to be fucking offended. I look for the shit every day.” Aeric answered his response with a hardy “amen” and then my mother proceeded.
In those days I looked great in a bikini. The city provided bland overshirts, but I rather enjoyed the sun. I was so tan I nearly cracked. Anyway, that bastard out on his boat got mouthy with me after that. He called me a bitch and said he’d “whip my ass!” so I told him “motherfucker come whip it!” I remember he stripped off his shirt and pulled down his blue jean shorts. The wad in his pants was tremendous. To this day it makes my crotch slip and slide. I was a touch frightened because of his frame, but I was so stoned I thought “fuck it. Let him roll his ass up this beach.” And that’s exactly what he did. He dove in that nasty, piss warm lake and swam the fifty yards. Nothing on but his tight underwear. When he came from the water everything was wet and I could see the snake of his cock. He knew we were alone and that he could overpower me, but I took the initiative and approached, closed on the fucker like a hunter. We cursed back and forth for a minute or two before he said “hey, I know you. Didn’t we go to church together?” Well, I hadn’t been to church in a while, but he had me, yes, he did. When we were children we attended the same Sunday School and I remembered his face and name. “Yes, that’s you, I believe.” He replied “it is” and he hugged me. That got me so wet it soaked my shoes as he apologized for being psychotic. I accepted his apology and invited him to join me for a toke and a beer if he’d like. He said “sure, is my boat okay?” I replied “yes, fuck your boat. Come on. Let’s burn a shorty.” We went up to the pavilion on a picnic table to split a doobie and drink a beer. Though the man was half naked and his cock was really hard I didn’t think he would move on my offer. I dug my elbow into his ribs and said “I’m ready for that whipping. Are you the man to give it?” He replied “what?” and I then said “whip it. Redden my ass. I’ll bend over the table right now.” I slid from my position, put my hands on the wood and stuck it out for his abusing. He froze and couldn’t do it. I said “wait” and dropped my bottoms. The big man leapt to his feet. He smacked my left cheek three or four times and then he pounded my right past stinging. I told him to pat it in a quick succession and then pop that fucking ass. As he did I reached behind me to rub his taught cock through the transparent film of his shorts. That was going up inside me. I had to have that dick. After he’d thoroughly spanked my round brown ass I told him to take off my top. When we were both naked I made him suck on my pussy, from behind while I was bent over. Naomi, your father loved to do that. But this is waaay before your daddy. I had tons of cock prior to him, and I loved ever goddamned inch. Miles of good long dongs.
At this point I wanted to crawl in a cave or at the least underneath my chair. By now there were twenty people in the room and this was going viral. She continued, my God, did she continue.
I had him tongue my ass and then I scratched through his hair and said “okay, how about that cock?” He was stunned, stoned and all but drunk, yet obeyed like a fucking hireling. He sat back on the table and I got between his knees and put it down my throat till he moaned. Shoved it deeper until he said “I love you.” I went up and down and felt that throb in my gullet and even hummed a little. A time or two he tapped on my head, but I refused to swallow his load. “Don’t waste that shit in my mouth. I want to lie back and take it.” He meekly responded “yes mam. But I’m gonna have to stop looking at your suck or its coming without my permission.” I then stood straight and he got to his feet. There was a car coming down the entrance. We went to hide in the restrooms. Inside, until they left, there was a bunch of heavy petting and he almost came in my hand. I ceased stroking his meat and made him rub my clitoris until the fools in the car drove away. They probably wondered why a boat was anchored and a bikini and his shorts were on the ground. Fuck them. I’m glad that they left. We then commenced to return to our table of fuck where I lay slab flat on the wood. He lifted my legs and spread them apart and I scooched my ass to the edge. In went that wonderful cock. My asshole puckered and the electric hit my body and he could’ve banged me until I went blind. I encouraged more violence and he gave it to me and I knew he couldn’t hold it. A dick like that, and what comes with it, you only get a time or two. Now, if he shot it in me, we may have us a family come May. Nope, that wasn’t for me. No offense to you Naomi, but I was not ready for children. I told that big bastard to work it up to the shot and let me know when that was. He hit it for about thirty more seconds and for every splinter I had in my ass, there was a paralyzing and accompanying orgasm. That man could fucking stroke. He went fast, slowed down and the sun was boiling on my nipples and my stomach from its perch. “Now,” he said. “Oh shit!” I came from beneath and pushed him away and grabbed that cock two handed. I stroked once and dropped to my knees, took his batter right in the face. Made him watch me receive every drop. When he was done he said “thank you” and I swear I saw a tear. And that, my friends, from so very long ago, was a particular summer day in my life. Thank you for listening to me.
There was a gasp or two, and someone said “thanks,” like they’d heard a poem recited. In the back of the room the janitor was clapping and I swear I saw two women hug. One of the doctors was scribbling something on her chart and I went to his side and made note. He wrote “a good day, a very good day, for Mrs. Leighton on the sun porch with company.” I then looked to my mother after speaking to Aeric and his response was “fucking ingenious. That’s better than Melville or William fucking Faulkner, what we just experienced was brilliance. Raw verve from the beauty of the mind.”
I went over to her in the mumbles and silence of this and that space on the sun porch. She was sitting in a chair, staring out at the flowers that were planted around the building. Her face was now stone cold. It was there for the story and then it went away and I witnessed the thing and its evasion. Watched her sanity go astray.
“Mother, what flowers do you see? We had those right there planted at our house and those over yonder are bluebonnets. Kind of late in the year for their blooming. I wonder how they managed that?”
She looked me in the face and said “whoever you are, there’s one thing you don’t understand.”
That made me sad and sapped my strength. She’d done this with me several times before but after her tirade and her melodic irreverence I didn’t expect her to go that quickly. To leave this crowd for the darkness of her mind. I had to respond, so I did.
“What thing is that mother?”
She looked me in the eyes and behind her own was the vacancy of non-remembrance. Thoughts were there, but couldn’t be found. Not by the person who housed them. Neither for the daughter that loved her.
“What did you say?” she asked. “Ask that woman if I can go to my room.”
“Okay mother. I will.”
Aeric
“Naomi, have you eaten here before?”
“When I was little we came to the circle. We never stopped at any of the restaurants. There was never any extra money. We’re not eating at any of these.”
Right next to I-35 Waco has a circular loop. There are businesses around it and you have to solve the puzzle of how to reach them without being killed. She wouldn’t give me any instructions so I circled several times. Naomi thought it was funny. I finally realized I had to look to my right because other drivers were looking at me. They knew I wasn’t from here. I’d seem similar loops in London and anothe
r in Mexico City, but I’d always had a driver. I thought of another in Caracas, Venezuela, but that was my year on coke. I think I drove it while running from police, but cocaine has an interesting way of making days into weeks and years. I never want to feel that good again, not in this life or the next.
“Okay daredevil, loop it one more time and then shoot down that road over there. We’ll go past a meth lab or two and then there’s a Mexican joint. It’s low key and familiar with yummy food and you have to eat what they have. Like the old style Mexican cantinas.”
“I’m glad to see that the college has left this alone, there seems to be character here.”
“The character stops with those apartments. Straight ahead on the left with the gates. The university has bought to there. Soon we’ll have manicured lawns with expensive cars whizzing past.”
I did as she instructed and we drove towards the college before turning on a roughish side street. There was a dilapidated house with several cars parked sideways, smoke drifting from the back and the top.
“Naomi, what’s this place called?”
“It’s called A PLACE TO EAT REAL MEXICAN. And not that nasty over-cheesed goop.”
We were in my vehicle, embarrassingly so, a second car I did not need. A quarter million-dollar G Wagon. Another ridiculous thing I’d purchased. Naomi didn’t care and she wasn’t impressed by this hulk that wasted fuel. I had nowhere to travel in this house-sized behemoth and I felt really stupid when she saw it. As we drove around the circle other drivers were staring, because firstly I was confused, and secondly, they thought I was a student. Some goofy white kid from the college. She explained where we would be eating.
The Book of F*ck Page 3
