by Maggie Ryan
“Honey, I don’t have the china anymore. Remember I gave it to the girls?”
“Oh, yeah. Well, you could store other stuff in it.
“I’m sure it can be arranged,” Brent said. “You’ll have to apply to the architectural committee at the housing board, but as long as the work is done by a licensed contractor, I don’t think there’d be any problem.”
“Hell, I don’t need a licensed contractor who’ll charge me an arm and a leg for something I can do myself.”
Brent gave him what sounded like the standard response when residents wanted to make changes. “You can ask when you apply, but the board will want to inspect the work and if they don’t deem it a workman-like repair, they’ll insist you have it redone.”
“I understand,” Russ assured him. “But I can do as good a job as a licensed contractor, if not better.”
“Okay then, I’ll give you the paperwork for that application. It’s getting late and I’m gonna take off. How about we meet tomorrow morning at nine and I’ll give you that tour?”
“We’ll see you then.” Russ shook his hand and went to check out the garage.
Once the men left, Debi stood there for a few minutes looking around. This was it. They were really here in Corbin’s Bend starting a whole new life. Their old life was over.
She sat down at the small kitchen table, put her head down on her folded arms and let the tears come. Tears she had kept bottled up for so long simply because to do otherwise would have kept her from being able to get through the past year. She needed to be strong for Russ and for their children. But now it was real and she could no longer keep the tears at bay.
Sitting at the small table, resting her head on her arms, she sobbed her heart out. She cried for the loss of her old life, her old house, and all the things she had to leave behind. She cried for not knowing when she’d see her children and grandchildren again. She felt like she’d lost herself. She wasn’t even Colleen anymore. Russ wasn’t Jess anymore. Nothing was the same anymore.
Her nose and ears were so plugged up from crying, she didn’t hear the garage door open when Russ came back in the house.
Russ took their suitcases from the back of the vehicle and carried them up to the master bedroom before going into the kitchen and finding Debi still sniffling from her crying jag.
“Hey, babe. What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He was surprised to see her like this. She’d been so strong throughout their entire ordeal.
“No!” she cried out. “I’m not okay. I don’t want to be Debi and I don’t want you to be Russ. I want to see my children and my grandkids. I want my old house back, my old life back. I don’t think I can do this, Jess.”
He pulled her up and into his arms. “Shh…hush now. You’ve got to remember to call me Russ.”
Pulling back, she looked at his face and cried, “Didn’t you hear me? I don’t want you to be Russ!”
“Okay, baby. Okay, I hear you.”
He slowly walked her upstairs to their bedroom and lay down on the bed, holding her close. She promptly started sobbing again. Russ was on his back and Debi sprawled half-way across his chest. With his arms tightly around her, he rocked back and forth, making soothing noises and assuring her that everything would be all right. He felt his shirt getting damp from her tears, but he kept rocking.
She finally fell asleep and he continued rocking, afraid she’d wake up if he stopped. He knew just how she felt because he felt the same way. Their lives had been fucked up for damn near a year and it didn’t look like it was going to get better any time soon.
And now they were supposed to live in a community full of people who liked to give and/or get spankings. Shit, the main street of this place was named Spanking Loop. Of all the stupid things to name a main street. Any street for that matter. Just before falling asleep, he wondered how the hell they were gonna make friends in this kind of community.
Chapter 4
At dawn Debi woke up and tried to slowly extricate herself from under Russ’s arm. Her knee was stiff and she needed to move around to loosen it up.
“Where are you going?” His voice sounded groggy from being asleep.
“Nowhere, I just have to get the stiffness out of my knee,” Debi answered and then heard Russ’s stomach rumbling. She was hungry too.
She sat up and looked around beginning to make a mental list of the things they needed immediately. Sheets, pillows, towels, soap, shampoo…a mental list would never work. She needed to write out a list.
“Come on, sleepyhead. Let’s get it together and eat. You must be starving. I’ll heat up some of that breakfast casserole and then we can start planning our day before we meet with Brent again. There’s supposed to be a sandwich shop and ice cream parlor a couple miles down the mountain. Maybe we can eat lunch there when we’re done with Brent and then go to Boulder.”
Her eyes were still red and puffy from crying. Russ reached out and stroked her cheek with his thumb.
“Are you okay? Feeling better?”
“Yeah, I guess so. Everything just seemed to hit me all at once. The new house with no furniture, a borrowed bed with borrowed sheets, and borrowed towels in the bathroom. It suddenly occurred to me that I don’t even know when or if I’ll ever be able to see my kids again and I guess I just started crying.”
“I know what you mean, babe. I’m feeling the same shit. We’re just going to have to try and make the best of things. Go splash some cold water on your face and let’s go eat.”
She gave him a quick kiss and got up to go get ready. Finding her purse in the kitchen, she rummaged for her comb and brush. Opening the fridge with the hope of finding a bottle of water to drink, she saw a note she had missed the previous night. It was stuck to one of the casseroles.
Welcome to Corbin’s Bend. Here are two casseroles for you to enjoy. One is an enchilada casserole and I included some toppings on the side. There’s sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and refried beans. It came from Endelé, one of the two Mexican restaurants in Corbin’s Bend. The other casserole is for breakfast. Hash browns, eggs, sausage, and cheese. I hope you like it. I’m right across the street if you need anything. There are some paper plates and plastic utensils in the cupboard above the dishwasher.
Come on over and say hi when you get a chance.
Your neighbor, Venia
She opened up a cabinet and found the paper plates and a package of plastic forks and knifes. Dishing out the food onto the paper plates, she shoved them one at a time in the microwave to heat them up.
“There’s bottled water in the door of the fridge,” she said when Russ came into the kitchen. “We can eat this Mexican food for dinner tonight.” Debi was relieved she wouldn’t have to worry about cooking. It was going to be a busy enough day.
When they were done eating, they sat down to start making lists. They needed everything. Dishes, pots and pans, silverware, bedding, towels, cleaning supplies, and more.
“You name it, we need it,” Russ said. “Are you sure you want to go to Boulder today? We can wait till tomorrow.”
“Let’s go today and get what we can. It’ll take several trips anyway. I’d rather not spend the whole day and another night with just a table and chairs for furniture if I don’t have to.”
After writing down everything she could think of, Debi said, “I could use a walk to help loosen up this tight knee. Let’s walk to that dome building for our meeting with Brent. If it looks like someone’s home across the street, we can knock on the door and tell Venia thanks for the casseroles.”
When they stepped outside, Debi saw a car parked in the driveway at Venia’s house and they walked over and rang the bell.
A woman about Debi’s age, maybe a little older, opened the door and smiled. “Why, you must be the Hunters! I’m Venia Varner. Welcome to Corbin’s Bend. Come on in.”
“We don’t want to bother you,” Debi said. “We only wanted to thank you for the casseroles. We were so glad when Brent told us you’d left us some food.
”
“You’re very welcome; I know how tough it is to move. Brent said you’d be driving here and wouldn’t have any furniture for a few days so he and a couple of the other men borrowed a few things from one of the models. At least you have a bed to sleep on.”
“Well, we certainly appreciate it,” Russ said. “We’re just going to meet Brent for a tour of the community and thought we’d stop by and thank you. We’ll be driving down to Boulder to get some essentials and furniture.”
“Spencer’s furniture will deliver the same day on items they have in stock. If you were to get there early enough and aren’t too picky, you could have furniture sometime late today or early this evening.”
“That’d be great, even if we don’t get everything right away, we could have some furniture. Is there an electronics store in Boulder where we could get a television?”
“Spencer’s will have that too. And there’s a Bed, Bath, and Beyond for any kitchen and bath stuff you want.”
“Wonderful! Thanks again, Venia. I’m sure we’ll see more of each other.”
“Yes, we will,” Venia replied.
Debi felt better after meeting Venia, she felt like she met her first friend in Corbin’s Bend. Venia seemed like a perfectly normal woman and Debi wondered if she was into that spanking stuff. Slipping her hand into Russ’s hand, she picked up the pace to get her knee moving.
They walked out of their cul-de-sac and turned onto Spanking Loop. This was the main road that circled around the entire community and other cul-de-sacs were right off the loop. In the center of the loop were two long blocks of houses. There was access to hiking trails off Spanking Loop as well. They stayed on the loop until they reached the turnoff to the dome.
“I wonder what the children of this community think about a street named Spanking Loop.”
Debi shrugged and said, “If everything is as open and accepted as they say, then it’s a perfectly normal way of life to them and the kids wouldn’t find the street name odd at all.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
A few people waved from their cars as they drove by and Russ and Debi smiled and waved back. Russ said, “This must be the traffic from everyone going to work. Not exactly the same as rush hour back home.”
“It seems like everyone’s pretty friendly. What are we going to do if they can’t deliver furniture tonight? No TV, no sofa to sit on, no nothing.”
Russ gave her hand a squeeze and said, “Oh, I think we’ll find something to do.”
“And just exactly what is it you think we’ll find to do?” Debi peeked sideways at him and saw his smirk.
“For one thing, we can break in the bed.”
“It’s not even ours!”
“It is for now, so I think we should break it in. You’re not going to say no, are you?”
She smacked him on the arm and said, “When have I ever said no to you?”
He grinned down at her. “Never, babe. I hear other guys complain about wives with headaches and just not feeling like it. When I tell them you’ve never turned me down, they think I’m lying.”
“Same thing here, I know lots of women who say their husbands aren’t interested anymore.”
He squeezed her hand again and said, “They don’t know what they’re missing.”
They arrived at the dome and met Jonathon, the housing board secretary. He welcomed them to Corbin’s Bend and said they could go right up; Brent was waiting for them.
Brent was on the phone but he waved them in while he finished his conversation. When he was finished, he walked around his desk and shook hands with Russ first, then with Debi.
“I’ll show you what’s in and around the community center and then we’ll take my truck for a quick tour of the whole community. All the offices are here in the community center along with the library and an events room.” Brent lowered his voice and in a half whisper said to Russ, “There’s a man cave down in the basement that I’ll show you later.”
They walked outside and Brent took them to the other side of the dome where the community pool was. “The building behind the pool is the rec center; we’ll issue you a couple of key cards and you can access it any time, day or night. There’s the theater and we have a day care inside the theater if you ever have grandchildren coming to visit.”
As they circled the entire dome and made their way to Brent’s truck, he kept talking about the features of Corbin’s Bend. He told them about the several parks throughout the community, when garbage and recyclables were picked up—every Tuesday for garbage and Thursday for recyclables—and more information than Debi would ever remember. She hoped they would get some kind of pamphlet or something that had all this stuff in it for future reference.
She perked up when they passed the elementary school and asked how she could apply for a job there. Brent promised to get her that information. Then she tuned them out as they began talking about the plans Russ had for his mobile auto repair business.
The tour was over in less than an hour and Brent dropped them off at their house since they had walked to the dome. Just before leaving he said, “I usually assign a mentor to our new residents to help get them settled into the community, but I haven’t done that since we hadn’t met and I like to be sure to have a good match-up for you. We’ll talk about it in a day or two.”
Glad the tour hadn’t taken very long, Russ unlocked the SUV and helped Debi get in before he got in the driver’s side to start the drive down the mountain to Boulder. Traffic wasn’t light, but it moved right along.
“I have a feeling we’ll be gone the rest of the day and hit the evening rush hour coming back,” Debi said.
“You can’t call this rush hour traffic, Debi. This is nothing compared to what we’ve dealt with back home.”
“I know,” she replied. “But it seems to have a bigger effect out here in the mountains.”
Russ shrugged, his mind on tools and what kind of van he should buy for his business. Debi brought his thoughts to a quick halt with her next statement.
“Brent said Venia was a widow when I told him we just met her. I wonder why a widow would move to a community like Corbin’s Bend. Do you think she’s looking for a new husband who will spank her?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she just feels more comfortable in a place where she can talk about that kind of stuff.”
They drove in silence for a little while.
“Russ?”
“Hmm?”
“Can I tell you something?”
He looked over at her quickly before turning his eyes back to the mountain road. “Sure, what’s up?”
“Remember when I told you I did research on all that stuff in the brochures?”
“Yeah, what about it?” He wondered if there was more strange shit she’d learned about this place.
“I’ve done more research on the laptop since then.”
“Okay.” He wasn’t sure where she was going with this.
“I clicked on several links to different blogs about it.”
“And? What did you find?”
“Mostly just stuff about people that do the domestic discipline thing and they write about it on their blogs.”
“And?” He had to prod to get her to keep talking.
“There’s different things—or different ways—people do the spanking thing.”
“And why do we care about this? What’s going on in your head?”
“It’s a little embarrassing, and I’m almost afraid to tell you.”
“Just spill it, babe. What’s to be embarrassed about? Come on, tell me.”
Very quickly, speaking faster than she usually did, Debi said, “While I was reading descriptions of things they did, I sort of got a little…um…a little…horny. There, I said it.”
Russ threw his head back and laughed out loud. Debi smacked his leg and said, “Don’t you laugh at me, Je…Russ!”
“Aw, babe—I’m not laughing at you—more at how you said it so quick to just get
it out there.”
“It’s not funny! It was weird and it made me feel like…like I don’t know what. Just weird.”
Russ chuckled, “So my wife of forty years got turned on by reading about a little slap and tickle.”
“It was not a little slap and tickle. Some of those spankings had to be downright painful! I saved the blogs in my favorites so you could see them.”
He looked surprised for a second and asked, “Why would I want to see them?”
“So we can understand the people we’re living in the midst of.”
“Okay, okay.” He heard the frustration in her voice. Maybe it was more of that embarrassment coming out as irritation. “I’ll take a look at them.”
They arrived at the furniture store and spent the next two hours picking out a living room set, two bedroom sets—one for the master and one for the guest room—a kitchen table and chairs, and a modular office set-up Russ thought would be perfect for his new business. Their salesman was excited to have such a large sale and promised everything would be delivered between five and six that afternoon.
They zipped through a Taco Bell for lunch and then went to the mall where both Bed, Bath, and Beyond and the electronics store were located. Thinking they’d save time—not to mention the fact that the last thing he wanted to do was spend a few hours watching Debi pick out housewares—Russ went to the electronics store after dropping her off.
“I’ll probably finish before you,” he told her. “But we have to head back up the mountain no later than three-thirty. I’ll come back here and find you when I’m done. Call me on my cell if you need anything.”
With a quick kiss, Debi stepped out of the vehicle and headed inside for a big shopping spree.
The furniture delivery truck drove up minutes after they arrived home.
“I’ll unload the SUV,” he told Debi. “You tell them where you want the furniture.”
By the time everything was in its place, they were exhausted and Russ was starving again.
“Why don’t you heat up that Mexican stuff we have in fridge? I’m hungry as hell.”
