by Ed Bullins
“One ah them Texas ones … shore will, Marie. I don’t want ya ta git any blacker,” he teased. “I’ll git one with a string on it so ya can drop it back over ya neck and let ya hair fly.”
“Ya never asked me fo ah ten-gallon straw hat, Marie Ann,” Junior said.
And the music played.
I found mah thrill on Blueberry Hill … on Blueberry Hill … where I found you …
“How’s Ethel gittin’ along?” Jack asked Junior.
“Oeewee, she’s fit to be tied. Daisy and Helen came down ta da mill, ya know, and got on. Now dere campmeetin’ outfits’ gonna be as purty as hers.”
“Sho nuff?” Jack said.
“Hee heee …” Marie Ann simpered.
“Ah most like ta died too when I heard, Marie,” Junior said.
“Ahm jest glad I don’ have ta work … got mah ole big bro here,” she said and caressed her brother’s arm.
Dandy’s fingers in the dark had crawled under the band of her shorts and squeezed between the firm thighs and around between the soft lips of the swelling labium. She squirmed and hunched nearer her boyfriend and rested her head upon her brother’s shoulder.
“What y’all keep gigglin’ fo, Marie Ann?” Junior Kane asked.
“This is really some good beer,” she said as she willed herself to restrain the shudder which reached from her center, and she opened her legs wide in the near-total blackness and rested the rear end of her tight bottom on the cushion and leaned fully forward with her knees bent and her arms supporting herself.
“Give me a cigarette, Junior, pleez,” she asked.
“I didn’t know you did all this, gal,” Junior kidded and giggled with her as he fished for his pack.
Marie Ann stretched farther over so that the light of the match would not reach over the rim of the car seat, and Dandy’s moist moving finger flickered over her pursy clitoris.
“Ummm …” she said and hunched even farther forward.
“Wha you say, Marie?” Junior Kane asked.
“Just thinkin’ …” she said.
Dandy took another long swallow of his beer, nearly finishing the bottle. Jack tilted his up and Junior got bold enough to twist about and kiss Marie Ann full in the mouth.
“Ummm …” she said between her lips and Dandy’s finger worked like a lever. “Ohhh … that’s so good,” she said as Junior pressed harder. Dandy wondered how the two in front could not detect the heavy sweet funk odor.
“Whatcha doin’ ta mah baby sister?” Jack Bowen kidded in the dark. “Dandy, boy, you sittin’ back dere and lettin’ Junior git away with the goods.”
“Yeah, Junior’s really makin’ out,” Dandy said.
“Shusss … ooeee … ummm …” Marie said and wriggled too much and lifted her girlish rear fully off the backseat.
“Owww … Marie Ann,” Junior Kane cried. “You know how ta French kiss. Where did ya larn ta use yo tongue like dat?”
“Okay, children,” Jack spoke up and put his hand on Junior’s shoulder. “That’s enough for tonight.”
Marie Ann sat back and gave a convulsive tremble as she lowered herself fully upon Dandy’s hand.
“Wha’cha shiverin’ fo, Marie?” Junior asked as she grabbed his hands and arm. “Bowen,” he called out, “dis y’ere lil beer’s got dis gal high as a Georgia pine.”
And the radio never stopped.
Mah pappa’s a jockey an he teach me how ta ride … Oh, yeah, mah pappa’s a jockey an he teach me how ta ride … He said git in’da middle son an’ ya move from side to side …
“I have ta go,” Marie said. She jerked across the seat and stepped out. “Good night, Dandy.”
“Good night, Marie Ann,” Junior called.
“Night, Junior.”
The screen door slapped shut and the boys in the car were quiet. A pig squealed from the pens and the darkness chirped with crickets.
I’s wan’ ah bowlegg’d w’man dat’s all … I’s wan ah bowlegg’d woman dat’s tall …
“Sho was a good starter fo tonight,” Junior said and lifted the last of his beer. “Here’s the rest of Marie’s, Dandy, why don’t ya finish it.”
“Thanks, partner.”
“Whall, let’s be gittin’ whare we ain’t,” Jack urged.
“Okay thar,” Junior yelled and turned on the ignition.
“Whall, that leaves me out, fellows,” Dandy said and stepped into the yard. The dogs trotted up to him and wagged their tails in the moonlight, their eyes glistening yellow in the dark.
“Wha’cha say, Dandy?” Junior asked. “I thought ya was comin’ wit’ us.”
“Can’t. Startin’ at the mill tomorrow and the first day is always hell. It’s almost eight now and I’ll have ta get up at five-thirty.”
“Shit,” Jack said. “So do we.”
“Yeah, but you’re ust’ta it.”
“Awww, c’mon, Dandy. I promised Helen I would bring ya back. She’s fixin’ up all fo ya,” Junior said.
“Nawh … can’t do it. I’ll see her tomorrow at work and explain.”
… wit’ her big bowlegs so wide apart …
The tail lights of the ’34 Chevy dipped up the road as the old car banged over potholes. Dandy entered the house and looked back through the screen at the two red lights jerking away.
“Good night, Uncle Clyde,” Dandy said as he passed the old man sitting before the television screen, the set almost booming.
“I thought you were goin’ with Jack and Junior,” the old man said. “Your Aunt Bessie went ta sleep because she thought everybody was out.”
“Nawh, have ta start work in the morning, so I better get some sleep.”
“Whal, son … I didn’t know ya had dat much sense.”
The old woman slept, Dandy thought, because she didn’t know anyone would be home but her and the old man. If she had known that Marie and he would be alone …
Dandy passed the girls’ room; doorless, the entrance framed Marie lying face down upon the bed with her head toward the window.
Dandy went to his room and untied his shoes and let them drop loudly upon the floor. Then he undressed and changed into his pajamas. Later, with lights out, he tiptoed down the hallway and into the girls’ room.
“Dandy, no! ” Marie whispered when he turned her over on her back.
He put his finger to his lips and then tipped back to the door and clicked off the light. Moonlight spilled over the girl, her white blouse catching the light and showing dark valleys below her breasts.
“No, Dandy,” she whispered, “Aunt Bess will hear.”
“She’s asleep! ”
“Uncle Clyde! ”
“You know he can’t hear so good.”
“No, Dandy, I can’t,” she murmured as he unbuttoned her shorts and pulled them with her panties down over her knees, down her brown moon-revealed thighs, down her long night-exposed legs to her tennis shoes.
She clamped her feet tight. Dandy tried to pry them apart, but she held them with all her strength and he couldn’t get them apart unless he forced her with all his power.
The moonlight moved down over her brown body. Dandy moved up and kissed her lips as she rolled her head from side to side, and he kissed her shut eyes as she rolled her head, the muscles taut in her neck, and finally, after the pure white blouse was gone and the brassiere, he suckled her breasts in his starved mouth as her head shook no no no no no.
“No, Dandy, you gonna com’ in me! ”
“No, darling, I’ll use protection,” he said. “Don’t you understand I love you? I’ll take care of you. Trust me! ”
“I’m sorry, Dandy. I can’t. I just can’t. I’m so sorry! ”
Half an hour later, twin tear streaks running from Marie’s eyes caught the moonlight and dripped into her matted hair and dampened the pillows and spread, and Dandy felt like adding to the deluge, for he had gotten no further in his conquest than inserting the same practiced finger and making the girl’s dark nipples stand out li
ke buttons. His finger worked and his lips worked kissing away the tears and warming the tight eyelids and peppering the little nipple with pecks. His lips also pleaded in low prayer to the beautiful brown animal, and his eyes helped by the full moon fixed for moments on the curling pubic hair above his hand.
“Ahm sorry, Dandy; don’t be mad at me … Will ya still git me the Texas hat? ”
And the video still blared below.
Tonight we bring you the passionate saga of love and …
When Richard and Roy and Ida climbed the stairs to their bedrooms, Dandy had rolled Marie under the covers but had done little else.
“Good night,” Aunt Bessie called up. “Is everybody home now?”
“Yes ma’am,” Ida replied. “All cept’n Bo and Dandy.”
“I’m goin’ ta be da greatest lead tenor on da Eastern Shore,” Roy promised.
“Awww, man, you ain’t gonna be nothin’,” Richard said as they passed the girls’ doorway. “A chicken can crow better den you.”
“Shut up, you little boys,” Ida warned and stepped into her room. “Don’t be makin’ a lot of fuss.”
“Don’t turn that light on, Ida,” Marie Ann said.
The moon had been lost somewhere above the Mt. Holy church steeple when Jack Bowen crept up the stairs, slipped past his sister’s and Ida’s room and sat on his bed.
“Damn …” he said. “Where’s Dandy?”
“Heee … heee …”
“Wha ya say, Roy?” he asked.
“Yeah, Bo … heee heee …”
“Oooo, man, shut up,” Richard warned.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Jack said softly and slipped under the covers.
Down the hall, the bed in the girls’ room squeaked barely when a violent movement was made.
“Ohhh … ohhh … Dandy,” Ida James whimpered. “I love you.”
“Shusss …” he shushed her.
Marie Ann whimpered in her sleep, a captive in a bad dream, and beside her Dandy clutched the big yaller hot-as-a-ten-cent-pistol-gal to himself and worried about how he would tell Jack Bowen in the morning that he had never touched his baby sister.
