Desert Trading Post

by Marilyn Foxworthy

  I said, “No Sir. I think your daughter wants to have us stay with you for a while. Oh, I have a house of my own and all. We’re not moving in!”

  Dan said, “I know, and I wouldn’t mind if you did. But hmm, Dave, we have to do something about that Sir stuff. It’s OK for me to call you Son, isn’t it?”

  I said, “Well Sir, my own father was declared lost at sea, kind of, and pronounced dead a few days ago. If it isn’t too soon for me to say it, it does feel really good when I hear you call me that.”

  Dan said, “Good. So let’s do something about this Sir business. I appreciate the respect expressed and everything, but it would sure be nice if we could get past that. Call me Dan if you want to. Or go ahead and call me Dad if you want to. Kitty calls me Daddy and always has. Hell, you’re my son now, I can just feel it. This is going to last. You and Kitty. Dotty and I just feel it. Don’t freak out, but we know what we know and I’ll tell you right now, your children will call me Grandpa, and I don’t mind if we start having you call me Dad, right now. Listen, um, this has been a long time coming, so let’s not waste any more of it. I’m not rushing you to have kids, but let’s not spend years getting comfortable with each other. Let’s just jump in with both feet. You’re a grown man and you do what you want, but I want you to know where our hearts are and what’s available if you want it.”

  I sat quietly for a second as I thought it over.

  Finally, I said quietly, “Dad, Courtney means the world to me. I’m overwhelmed that you would trust me with her. And that you would offer me this kind of relationship so quickly. I am afraid to say it, but like Courtney told you, we have this agreement to tell each other the truth and now that means I tell you the truth, too. The truth is, I really do want to call you Dad, and more than that to let you be my dad in any way that you want to.”

  I was nearly in tears as I said it.

  Courtney’s mom made some kind of grunting sound or something and stood up and leaned over me, grabbing my head by both ears, and kissed me. I mean, she kissed me. On the mouth. It wasn’t sensual, but it was incredibly passionate. Like she really meant it. Whatever it was.

  She sat back down and reached for my hand under the table and said, “Both of you! I just can’t believe it. Kitty home, with a wonderful husband, and a new son for us. Son, call me Mom, or whatever you want to.”

  I said, “What would you like me to call you?”

  She looked at me seriously and said, “Surprise me. Reach inside and see who I am to you. Call me that.”

  Just then, the waitress came to see if we were ready to order. The other three knew what they were having without looking at a menu.

  I took a chance and said, “Is this the kind of place where I can ask you to just make me what you think I might like? Like maybe something you would make for yourself or your friends? Even if it isn’t on the menu? Is that OK? If not…”

  The waitress grinned and said, “If that’s what you want, I’d be happy to.”

  Dan, I mean Dad, said, “Wait, hold on. Can I get some of that deal? That never would have occurred to me! Can we really do that?”

  The waitress smiled and waited to see what the ladies would say.

  I said, “If everyone wants to, and if you don’t mind the extra trouble, would it be possible to serve us family-style and just bring whatever you think would be good? We won’t even ask what the prices are. Just charge us whatever you want to, and I’ll make sure that we tip accordingly. Dad, let me do this, OK? I’m family, right?”

  Dan said, “You are. But this is pretty much the wedding dinner that I didn’t get to give yet, so this is on me. Tell you what. We’ll do it as a team. You work out the arrangements and I get to pay. Trust me, Son, it isn’t a problem. Unless you make it one. Oh, maybe there will be times when you should call me Sir, after all.”

  I smiled and said, “Yes Sir. OK, can we do that?” Then, to the waitress, “And if it makes a difference, we did just get married this morning, and he’s right, this is our wedding reception.”

  The waitress grinned again and said, “Oh yeah! That makes all the difference. I couldn’t believe it when I saw Courtney walk in the door. Courtney, you didn’t even recognize me. And to tell you the truth, I didn’t recognize you at first either. And you got married today? To a guy who knows how to get the best food in a restaurant without ordering at all?”

  Courtney exclaimed, “Belinda! Oh my gosh, it is you! You’re right. I wasn’t expecting to see anyone I knew, so I didn’t even notice it was you. How long have you been working here? Lin, this is Dave. Dave, Lin was one of my closest friends from high school. Lin, I’m staying at home for a while. You have to come over to swim, like the old days!”

  Belinda said, “We’ll both be wearing different sized bathing suits than last time, won’t we? You look incredible.”

  Courtney said, “So do you! We have changed, haven’t we? My gosh, Lin, you have to come over. Hey Daddy, can we go out on the river some evening? And Lin can come?”

  Dan said, “Sure Honey. Of course.”

  Belinda said, “That would be so fun. Um, I have a lot that I could tell you about things in the past ten years. But let me go see what we are going to have you eat. Anyone want drinks?”

  Dan asked, “A beer, Son?”

  I said, “Well, actually, I’m don’t drink much alcohol. I hope that’s not a deal-breaker.”

  Dotty said, “Of course not. We don’t hardly ever have it either. Dan was just letting you know that you could.”

  I said, “But Belinda, you could make us a few pitchers of non-alcoholic blended fruit drinks, couldn’t you? I really like mangoes and berries.”

  She smiled and said, “Oh, for sure. You’ll like what I have in mind. And waters for everyone?”

  The others shrugged their shoulders and Belinda left to get our dinner started.

  Dotty said, “It’s nice to see her again. I didn’t recognize her either. And Dave, she likes you. You made an impression.”

  Courtney said, “He makes an impression everywhere we go. I love it. I’ve never ordered a table full of nothing before. This is exciting!”

  I said, “When you go to the barbershop, and there are two barbers, which one do you have cut your hair?”

  Dan said, “What do you mean?”

  I said, “And the same goes for hairstylists. No answers? You always wait for the one with the worst haircut. Think about it. Who cut that one’s hair? It was the worst barber in the shop. You want to pick the guy who gave the other barber a good haircut. It can be sort of the same at a restaurant. Especially an ethnic restaurant. You want to eat what the cook or the waitress would pick for themselves. Especially if it isn’t on the menu.”

  Dotty said, “What wouldn’t be on the menu?”

  Dan said, “I think we’re about to find out.”

  Courtney exclaimed, “See Daddy? I told you! You love him already, right?”

  Dan said, “Kitty, I loved him the moment you said he was bringing you home and that you were happy again. You weren’t really happy, were you? You said you were, but Kitty…”

  Courtney said, “No Daddy, I wasn’t really happy. I didn’t even know what happy was. I was doing the best with what I thought I could get. Hey, it’s crazy to see Lin. Did you know we used to go skinny dipping in the pool?”

  Dotty said, “I did. I did it with you, remember?”

  Courtney said, “Oh, that’s right! One time, anyway. But we used to do it whenever we thought we could get away with it when Daddy wasn’t home. And we’d sunbathe topless. Like Mom does. We tried to get up the courage to join you more often, but Lin was scared. We joked about how nice it would be to be in the boat and take our tops off. I was saying that to Dave on the drive down.”

  Dan smiled and said, “You can do that if you want to. I can make sure Dave knows how to handle the boat and you three can go out on the river.”

  Dotty said, “Or we could all go.”

  Dan said, “Oh, I don’t want to
encourage that kind of thing.”

  Dotty said, “Dan, it’s not like they’re still in high school. Kitty’s all grown up. I’m sure she and Dave would enjoy sunbathing with us. And if they don’t, how are you and I going to get our sun. Neither of us ever wear suits these days. Kitty, you and Dave will get used to it. You probably…”

  Dotty caught herself and said quietly, “Oh Kitty! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say something I shouldn’t. I’m so glad you’re home and I don’t want to say anything about the past.”

  Courtney squeezed her mother’s hand and said, “It’s OK. We probably need to talk about that. And, I’m going to need to go to the restroom before we finish dinner and I need to explain something before I do.”

  Courtney tried to explain her past few years in porn to her parents. She didn’t hold anything back, but she did keep her voice low so that other patrons wouldn’t be part of our conversation. After several warnings to her father not to get upset and that it was all worked out and that I was the lover that she had always dreamed of, she even told them about what she had been forced to do against her will. That led to the story of the car chase and the expectation that her pursuers had died in the crash.

  And then she came to the pertinent info about her current “Weirdness”.

  She said, “So, you guys, here’s the thing. Since I met Dave, I haven’t been able to be apart from him or I start to feel really afraid. The truth is that if I lose sight of him, I panic. Like I’m falling down a hole and I’m going to die. I start to think I’m going to vomit and pass out.”

  Dotty held Courtney’s hand and said, “Oh Sweetie, how awful. But as long as Dave’s there, it’s OK?”

  Courtney said, “Yeah. But Daddy, that’s not why I married him and…”

  Dan interrupted and said, “Kitty, you don’t need to keep worrying about that. I trust you. And I trust Dave. If you are having trouble, I’m glad that you have each other. Is it really that bad?”

  Courtney said, “I don’t think that you can imagine how bad it is. So, about the restroom…” and she let her voice trail off while the implications sank in for her parents.

  Dotty said, “Oh, so you can’t be alone at all? But what if I go with you?”

  Courtney said, “It won’t work. I’d be a screaming hysterical puddle as soon as I couldn’t see him anymore. Mom, we haven’t been apart since I got in his car. If he has to get up in the middle of the night, he has to wake me up and take me with him, because if I woke up and he wasn’t there, I’d panic.”

  Her parents seemed to sympathize and offer whatever support and accommodation that they could make for their daughter.

  Her mom said, “So, bathroom, getting dressed, even showering, it all has to be together?”

  Courtney said, “Yep.”

  Dotty said, “Well, that could be a lot worse, I suppose. At least there’s the upside of being together that way. Dan, why don’t we try that? From now on, we always shower together. Oh, that reminds me. Did you guys get to try out your loins together?”

  Courtney jumped in and said, “Oh yeah! Since I’m telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, be careful and only ask me about things you really want to know. But let me assure you, it’s more than I ever hoped for.”

  Belinda was at the side of the table, putting down a plate of something wonderful and apparently overheard that last little bit.

  She said, as if it were in no way inappropriate, “How’s his penis?”

  Courtney was surprised but answered immediately, “Lin, it’s fantastic. I could not be happier!”

  Belinda smiled and said, “So when I come over to swim, we’re wearing bathing suits or…?”

  Courtney laughed and said, “Belinda! You shock me! Of course we aren’t wearing bathing suits! For goodness sakes, the very idea! Didn’t we always say that when we grew up and could do whatever we wanted that we be skinny dipping every day?”

  Belinda smiled and said, “I just wanted to know if the deal was still on. Things change.”

  Courtney said, “Oh, they change alright. You sure have.”

  Belinda walked away and Dotty smiled slyly.

  She said, “Well, I guess that settles it, huh?”

  Courtney said, “Settles what?”

  Dotty said, “That settles the fact that Dave is going to learn to sunbathe in the nude and be comfortable with it. You just promised that Lin can come over and swim naked in our pool, and since our Davey can’t leave your sight, he’ll have to do it too.”

  Courtney said, “He can’t leave my sight, so he’ll see both me and Lin naked, and you if you join us, but that doesn’t mean that he has to take his shorts off.”

  Dotty said, “But it wouldn’t be fair otherwise.”

  Courtney laughed and leaned toward her mother and said, “Oh, he’s going to do it. He totally will. I’ll see to it. If Lin is curious, I’ll make sure she’s satisfied. But, Mom, Daddy, are you saying that you’re cool with it? That you guys do it too, and we can all do it together?”

  I said, “Um, hang on, I’ve never done anything like that before. We’re just teasing about all of this, right? Courtney? Mrs. Hammersmith? You’re teasing me, right?”

  Dotty patted my arm and said, “Davey, Honey, we are…but…”

  Courtney said, “But we’re totally telling the truth too! The only weird thing will be seeing Daddy naked. Actually, I think it will be cool. You won’t feel weird, will you Daddy?”

  Dan laughed and said, “At first, maybe. But I’m so used to your mom and me being naked that it will only be weird because it’s you and Lin. Dotty, we can make this comfortable, can’t we?”

  Dotty said, “Of course we can. But Davey, tell me the truth. How do you really feel about this? Deep down. Past your fear. What’s down there? What’s wanting to come out if you let it?”

  I gave that a minute’s thought and said, “I’m excited about it. I’ve never been naked like we’re talking about before. Courtney seems really comfortable with it.”

  Courtney said, “More than ever in my whole life. I’m free for the first time ever. And it feels so good, and I want to share it with Dave so much!”

  I said, “So yeah, it feels exciting. But a little scary. Well, I guess it could get embarrassing if I…well, you guys must be used to it and don’t get…you know…”

  Dotty looked concerned and said, “Kitty, what’s he talking about?”

  Chapter 17 - Reeducation

  Courtney said, “Oh, well, I feel so good naked that I can’t help but get excited. And he’s so beautiful that I feel my heart start to race every time I see him, or even think about him. We’re going to talk about sex, right? Because it’s not shameful or anything right?”

  Dotty said, “Of course Honey. I’ve been waiting for this day for so long. Being able to talk to you about whatever you want to, especially about sex. Your dad and I want to be as open with you both as we possibly can. We enjoy sex a lot and we want to help you in any way we can. Don’t be ashamed of anything. Your father is a beautiful man too, and I get so wet when he even just looks at me in a certain way.”

  She paused as if a thought had just occurred to her. As if she’d suddenly understood something that had been puzzling her.

  Dotty held Courtney’s wrist and said, “Kitty, if you think he’s beautiful, he gets your motor running, and your juices flowing, and he obviously feels the same about you. But it doesn’t show on you unless you really start leaking. But if Davey here feels that you are the most beautiful and attractive and sexual creature on Earth, he can’t hide it if he’s at the pool, suit or no suit. Is that what he’s trying to get at?”

  Courtney said, “I think so.”

  Dotty looked sympathetic and supportive as she turned to me and said, “Son, that won’t be a problem at all. I know this is serious right now and I don’t want to ever tease you so much that I make you really uncomfortable. I forget what it’s like to be younger than Dan and I are. I know that you’re almo
st 30, but life is so much less complicated later on when things don’t seem as critical and important as they once did. Baby, if your penis is as pretty as Kitty says, be proud of it. And even if it’s not. Her father has a beautiful body and I love looking at him. And don’t fret about popping a boner at Kitty if that’s how you feel. We’ll show you how to handle that situation and none of us will be embarrassed about it at all. It’s no more inappropriate than the two of you kissing and holding hands and blushing when she says she’s horny for you. It will be as cute as you stammering over asking her for a date. Except that you’ll be naked and getting a stiffy because she’s a treasure.”

  Dan said, “Son, you find her attractive, don’t you? Of course you do. I sure hope you do. Think of it this way: if you bring her flowers, and treat her lovingly, and take the time to listen to her day, I’ll be happy for her. I’ll be glad to have you as my Son. And if she thinks you’re wonderful enough to make her nips poke out the way her mom’s do, I’m happy for her. And dude, if you respond to her with a good dose of desire, I’m happy for you, as long as you aren’t a jerk about it. And I know you aren’t. You could say, but what about what about what about, all you want, but you aren’t an asshole. Mom and I fully expect that your desire will be entirely holy and sacred. Can you understand that?”

  Dotty said, “But you have to be a caveman, too. For Pete’s sake, I hope you do grab her at the pool and throw her over your shoulder and carry her off somewhere nice and…damn, I’m just going to say it…carry her off and fuck her silly so that she screams like a banshee in heat.”

  I had my mouth open, staring awestruck.

  Dotty said, “I bet Kitty hasn’t told you what either of us did for a living, has she? No? Dad and I are both retired now, but he was a boating and water skiing instructor, and I was a family therapist, specializing in sexual health. What I just told you is what I’d wish for all of my clients, and that includes my daughter. I always wanted her to start with everything I’d learned and surpass me by a mile. I was afraid that it was all of my lessons about sexuality that went horribly wrong and led her into a lifestyle that wasn’t pure at all. But this is. I can smell it.”