Saxon Bennett - Talk of the Town

by Saxon Bennett

  “Want some ice tea?” Kim said, refilling her own glass.

  “Please.”

  Kim poured them tea from the giant frosty pitcher on the porch. “So what do I own the honor of your visit?” Kim said, plopping down on the steps. Painting was hard work but it let her sleep at night due to sheer exhaustion. Her activity was accomplishing her aim.

  “I want you to come to a soccer game tonight,” Del replied.

  “But I don’t know anything about soccer,” Kim said. “That’s not the point,” Del said.

  “What’s the point then?”

  “I want to get you away from the human heart house for a while.

  It’s not good to paint all the time,” Del said, handing Kim a wet rag and pointing to her cheek.

  Kim missed the spot. Del took the rag and gently rubbed Kim’s face. Del smiled and Kim tried to look away. Kim missed being intimate, and run as she might she still thought about Ollie.

  “You’re holding up well. I thought we could go get a pizza and then see the game. I have a few friends that are playing. They play well and they all have great legs. Will you indulge me?” Del said.

  “Where is Mallory?” Kim asked.

  “In Yarnell with the activists,” Del replied.

  “The activists?”

  “Gigi’s aunts and friends have some sort of secret sisterhood with a plan.”

  “What sort of a plan?” Kim asked.

  “It’s a secret but as long as she doesn’t get arrested I’m not too concerned. They sound pretty harmless.”

  “Never underestimate the power of a woman, and get a bunch of them together . . .”

  “I know,” Del said. “Maybe you could baby-sit me so I won’t think of Mallory being abducted by the FBI for questioning.”

  “Well, if you put it that way,” Kim teased. “I just didn’t want to be a charity case.”

  “You’re not. If anything you’re my benefactor,” Del said.

  “You are so sweet.”

  Del shrugged. “I could go get pizza while you showered.”

  “Sounds good. What time is the game?” Kim asked, getting up and pounding the lid on the paint and gathering up her brushes.

  “Seven o’clock at Pioneer Park.”

  “Rather gay friendly part of town,” Kim said.

  “What sort of a soccer game do you think we’re going to see?” Del said.

  “Oh. We’re going for the sights then?” Kim said.

  “No harm in looking is there?”

  “I guess not.”

  ***

  Angel was getting out of her postal uniform, attempting to make a sandwich and talk on the phone all at the same time. She’d been forced to do overtime and now she had all of forty minutes to eat, get dressed and drive to the game. Her friend Sally was giving her a hard time for not responding to Alicia’s overtures.

  “She’s got this huge crush on you and you won’t give her the time of day. When are you going to leave all that shit behind?”

  “I have left it behind. I don’t even think about it anymore. Don’t think about her, I don’t think about them.”

  “So when are you going to find someone?” Sally asked.

  Angel slapped a slice of turkey and provolone on her sandwich. “When the right someone comes along.”

  “How will you know that if you don’t give anyone a chance? Alicia is a nice girl. Why’d don’t you ask her out?”

  “I can’t try people out. I have to feel something.”

  “Feel what?”

  “I don’t know—that feeling you get when you look at her and something happens between you that is different from all others.”

  “You are grossly romantic and I don’t see how you’ll ever find a girlfriend.”

  “I’ll find her,” Angel said, thinking of Kim. With Kim she felt sparks even though she didn’t know her. Something happened every time she saw her even though they didn’t exchange more than an afternoon greeting when Angel handed her the mail. There was something between them and perhaps one day something more.

  “Whatever. You better hurry. It’s almost game time,” Sally said.

  “Well, if I wasn’t yakking at you I’d be ready.”

  “Can’t you just be nice to Alicia?”

  “Can’t you just stop bugging me?”

  “It’s not in my nature. I am a natural born matchmaker. I can’t help myself,” Sally replied.

  “Try.”

  “I’ll see you at the game,” Sally replied, still thinking of ways to get them together. Sally liked a challenge.

  ***

  Del and Kim sat up in the bleachers eating pizza and drinking beer while the game unfolded below. Del pointed out Celia’s niece, Alicia.

  “Now isn’t this better than painting the house?” Del replied.

  “The scenery is definitely better,” Kim said, admiring all the leg muscle so prominently displayed before her. Del attempted to explain the mechanics of the game to Kim who was still hopelessly lost.

  “Can’t I just watch the girls,” Kim asked, after frustrating Del again and again by not understanding why they were doing what.

  “Yes, you can just watch the girls if that makes you happy,” Del said.

  “Girl watching does make me happy,” Kim said, looking closer at one of the players. She appeared to be the star of the team as she would come out of nowhere, get the ball and charge toward the goal. The woman looked familiar but Kim couldn’t quite place her.

  “Do you see one you like?” Del asked, noticing Kim’s rapt attention on one woman in particular.

  “I do see one.”

  “Which one?” Del asked, leaning in closer.

  “You always smell so good,” Kim remarked.

  Del smiled. “Now which one do you like?” she asked, intent on getting Kim back on track.

  “It’s not like I can point or anything,” Kim replied.

  “How about a jersey number,” Del suggested.

  “Number fifteen.”

  Del looked closer. “Well, I’ll be damned. She didn’t tell me she was playing soccer again.”

  “What?”

  “Which one are you talking about?”

  “Remember when you asked me if I had any friends that you might like?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I do. I know her. She just moved from Chicago.”

  “I do too I think. But I can’t place her,” Kim said.

  “After the game we’ll solve the mystery.”

  Alicia handed Angel a towel and a Gatorade. She looked overly long at Angel. Angel smiled back, remembering Sally’s reproach. Alicia was a nice kid, Angel thought, but then that was the problem. She was a kid with a bad case of puppy love.

  “You played a good game,” Angel said.

  “Thanks. So did you. But you always play well,” Alicia said.

  “Hey you. You neglected to mention you’d taken up soccer again. I would have come sooner,” Del said.

  “Like that would happen. I’ve been here two months and the most I can squeeze in with you is lunch in the hospital cafeteria. How did you manage this?”

  “I’ve been pulling doubles all week and they are afraid I might go off the deep end if I don’t get some rest and recreation. Hey, I want you to meet my friend . . .” Del started to say.

  “Kim?” Angel said.

  “Angel?” Kim replied.

  “I thought you said you didn’t know her,” Del said.

  “I didn’t recognize you without your uniform on,” Kim said. “And you always wear a ball cap and sunglasses. I never really knew what you looked like.”

  “Going around in disguise these days,” Del teased.

  “A woman with a past can never be too careful,” Angel replied.

  Kim made a mental note to pick Del’s brains later. Angel was more handsome than Kim had envisioned. Her uniform hid curves, blue eyes and a flattop. Angel made her quiver in ways that even Ollie failed to elicit. She probably has a girlfriend,
Kim thought glumly as Alicia and Sally came up.

  “We’re all going for a beer. Want to come along, Angel?” Sally asked, evidently being an ambassador for Alicia.

  “Hi, Alicia, good game,” Del said.

  “Hey Del, thanks for coming. Celia is going for a beer too. She’s right over there,” Alicia said, her eyes never leaving Angel’s face.

  Kim watched, thinking that must be the girlfriend. Alicia and Kim sized each other up.

  “I don’t know. I’ve got some work to do,” Angel said, feeling the encroaching pressure of being social thrust upon her.

  “Come on, Angel. We’ll catch up,” Del said.

  “Are you going?” Angel asked Kim, surprising everyone.

  “If you are,” Kim replied, trying not to blush.

  “All right then. My Jeep is right over there we could ride together. The bar’s just down the street,” Angel said.

  “Sure, that sounds great,” Del replied.

  “So we’ll see you there, right Angel?” Alicia said, trying to be enthused to cover her frustration.

  “Yeah, we’ll be there. Come on,” Angel said, leading Del and Kim off.

  Angel threw her bag in the back of the jeep and pulled a clean T-shirt out of it. Kim tried not to look when she changed. Del stared without shame.

  “Still the nicest torso west of the Mississippi,” Del teased.

  “Stop it. If you remember it was the torso that got me into all that trouble in the first place.”

  “Her torso and other sundry parts of her body are famous, you know,” Del told Kim.

  “Don’t,” Angel said, getting into the Jeep.

  “Can’t I tell?” Del asked.

  “They’re not around much anymore, thank God,” Angel replied.

  “She was the model for all those J. Haley erotic photographs,” Del explained.

  Kim laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” Angel asked as she backed the Jeep out of the parking space. She waited until Sally’s car pulled out into traffic.

  “I have one of those in my bedroom no less,” Kim replied, blushing profusely as was Angel.

  “You don’t,” Angel said, pulling out into traffic.

  “I do,” Kim said.

  “I thought we were going to the bar,” Del screamed from the back seat.

  “We are,” Angel said.

  “But everyone else is going that way,” Del replied.

  “Look, you wanted to go have a drink, right?” Angel said.

  “Yes,” Del replied.

  “So do I. But I don’t want to go to the same place as Alicia and Sally because Sally is trying to fix me up with Alicia who is yet another nice, young, typical blond soccer player who doesn’t really turn my crank,” Angel explained.

  “Who does turn your crank these days?” Del teased.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know,” Angel replied, taking a quick look at Kim.

  “So is Mallory turning your crank these days?” Angel asked.

  “Oh, yes. I met her parents the other day,” Del replied.

  “Really?” Angel replied.

  “They are madly in love. It’s really rather disgusting,” Kim replied.

  “Why disgusting?” Angel asked, pulling into the parking lot of Nasty Habits.

  “Because I’m jealous,” Kim said.

  “Because you wanted Del?” Angel teased.

  “Is that why? I never knew,” Del said, hopping out the back of the bright red Jeep.

  “You were long smitten before I ever got a chance,” Kim retorted. “No, it’s disgusting because you two are going to be happy and you’re going to make it and that’s something I want. But I always pick the wrong woman.”

  “You’re not alone there. I’m always with the wrong woman, huh, Del,” Angel said.

  “It was just a bad patch, Angel. You got out in one piece and that’s a blessing,” Del said.

  “Maybe you can inspire Kim and me by telling us the wonders of true love over a pitcher of beer.”

  “I’ll try,” Del said.

  Angel bought them several pitchers of beer and drank half a beer the whole night while they got rather sloshed.

  “Are you going to be in trouble with your friends?” Kim asked as Angel beat her at yet another game of pool.

  “A better question would be do I care,” Angel replied.

  “Do you?”

  “If Alicia was here I’d have to feel bad for not reciprocating her feelings. I can’t make myself feel something I don’t. Besides I wouldn’t get to play pool with you,” Angel said.

  “Why not?” Kim asked.

  “They don’t have pool tables at the other bar,” Angel replied.

  “You’re a smartass,” Kim said.

  “Is that bad?” Angel teased.

  “No, I kind of like it,” Kim replied.

  Del came in from outside with a huge smile on her face.

  “How is the activist doing?” Kim asked.

  “She’s fine,” Del said, putting her cell phone away. Mallory had called her every day since she’d been gone. Technology was a beautiful thing, Del thought.

  Later as Kim lay in bed she looked at her J. Haley print with a whole new perspective. Tomorrow she’d go to the bookstore and get Dykeland and a compilation of J. Haley prints. There had to be one. Suddenly she wanted to know everything about Angel and tomorrow afternoon couldn’t come soon enough. She had the day off and she knew she’d spend it painting and thinking about Angel, knowing she was beginning to exist for those three minutes at the end of the day when the mail came.

  Is that how you cure a heartache, trade your brokenhearted vision for yet another illusion, pulling love like a rabbit from your empty hat, praying this time the illusion will solidify into something warm, fuzzy and real? It didn’t matter. For the first night in weeks she fell asleep not thinking about Ollie but dreaming of lovely torsos.

  ***

  The phone jangled Kim awake. She rolled over to answer it before she could stop herself. As a habit she let the answering machine pick it up because Ollie kept calling.

  “Hello?” Kim said, sleepily.

  “Is your hair messy and your lovely breasts soft and warm?” the caller asked.

  “Excuse me,” Kim said, getting vertical immediately.

  “I can’t believe I finally got a hold of you. I was beginning to feel like I was having an affair with your answering machine. I was starting to call it sweetie,” Ollie said.

  “Ollie . . . I don’t want to talk to you,” Kim said, getting out of bed and going to the coffee machine. Now that she was awake she felt the damage of last night slowly creeping across her brain like the waves slipping across the sand and hitting the rock barrier. The barrier was her headache.

  “But maybe I need to talk to you. I don’t know what you heard about me but I want another chance. No playing around, just you and me. I’ve realized some things about myself since you’ve been gone. I know I can do better. We’ll get a house together, you know, be like a real couple.”

  “Ollie, go away,” Kim said, hanging up the phone. She should have never got it reconnected but her father had insisted that a young woman living alone must have a phone in case an intruder or sociopath had designs on her. She told him he watched too much television. He told her that when she got old she’d watch a lot of television as well. It baby-sits the mind and deadens the soul, he told her. I’m glad I have something to look forward to.

  The phone rang again and Kim figured it was Ollie but she scrambled for it as Del started to leave a message.

  “Ollie still calling?” Del asked.

  “As a matter of fact,” Kim replied, getting coffee, “I just talked to her. She wants us to buy a house together and be like a real couple.”

  “Wow, that’s certainly a turnabout,” Del replied, suddenly hoping Kim wasn’t going to consider it, because she’d only seen Angel look at one other woman like she looked at Kim. Now they would be good for each other.

  “
You know, if I’d been smart I should have just stuck it out,” Kim replied.

  “Why?” Del asked, instantly mortified that her old college buddy had once again set her sights on the wrong woman.

  “Because if I let her break up with me then she wouldn’t be obsessed with getting back together. Women like Ollie cannot comprehend rejection,” Kim replied, pouring orange juice and popping three aspirin.

  “But what were you supposed to do, wait until she fell madly in love with one of her fuckmates and then get a divorce?”

  “We were never married. No, I think I should have let her fuck around with Gigi. Those two deserve each other. They could have fallen madly in love and then spent the rest of their relationship trying to outdo each other in the on-the-side girlfriend department. Now that’s poetic justice,” Kim replied, feeling better.

  “That would have been beautiful,” Del replied. She had known women like that before and things usually ended up totally miserable because once you’re a dog you’re always a dog.

  “But unfortunately, I obviously have too much self-esteem and couldn’t wait out the degradation, so alas I’m stuck with Ollie’s pathological tantrums until she finds a new girlfriend. Maybe I should run an ad for her. Speed things up a bit,” Kim said, studying the contents of the fridge looking for edible matter.

  “I can only imagine what it would read like,” Del said.

  “It’s all in the word choice. You can make the worst slime sound practically lovable,” Kim replied.

  “True. Did you have fun last night?” Del said, trying to gently steer the conversation toward her intended goal.

  “A little too much fun. My head is throbbing,” Kim replied.

  “I’m not much better myself,” Del said, glad she was working the night shift because she wasn’t in any shape to play doctor this morning.

  “I really liked Angel. She’s fun. Can you believe she’s my mailman? It’s like the best coincidence. Or perhaps the Astral Goddess is finally doing me a favor.”

  “You should have seen her in Chicago. She had the gay mecca section of town. Women waited with anticipation for the post every day. It was funny to see.”

  “She’s got the body to die for,” Kim said, her thoughts floating back to the soccer game.