by JB Bonds
“So what can you do now?” I asked.
“Just leave it to me. I have a buddy who’s still doing some PI work. I’m calling him today to see if he has any ideas. I think my best bet is to run a search on Virgil’s license tag number. My buddy has access to information like that,” Joe’s PI connections were coming in handy.
“Oh my, this is getting exciting. I feel like I’ve been dropped into my very own CSI episode,” Sylvia said.
“You stick with me, darlin’, and life gets real interesting,” Joe said with a beautiful smile aimed right at Sylvia.
Sylvia looked a little flustered so I told Joe to keep in touch if he found out anything. All the way home, Sylvia seemed extremely joyful. She was definitely enjoying the flirtatiousness of our Mr. Joe Curtis. I couldn’t blame her.
Judy and Roz were on the back deck having a glass of lemonade when Sylvia and I returned home. We were having a light dinner because our book club and mahjongg meetings were tonight. I filled Roz in on my conversation with Joe. She was as disappointed as I.
We stopped by Ida and McGhee’s and they followed us in their brand new golf cart. I’ve never seen two people more excited over something. These two ladies could be seen all over Rainbow now in that cart. Roz, Judy, and Ida went to mahjongg and Sylvia, McGhee, and I went into book club. To my surprise, the room was packed again. Obviously, eroticism was alive and well at Rainbow’s End. Alberta and Bea were at the back of the room arranging the refreshments brought in by the man who had suggested this latest read. The room was a dull roar with conversation. Sylvia and McGhee found three seats at the front of the room. They saved one for me, and I went up front to start the meeting.
“Let’s get started with our book club meeting.” I said as loudly as possible.
To my surprise everyone scooted to their seats and got quiet.
“Would anyone like to start the discussion for tonight’s book, How Erotic My Dreams?” I asked.
To my surprise, Sylvia jumped up from her seat, and said, “I have a question I’d like to pose to the group, if I might. This has nothing to do with your book. My name is Sylvia and I’m visiting Joanie. I have a story to tell and some questions to ask, and it starts with duct tape.”
I gingerly slipped to my chair beside McGhee. I patted her hand gently and wondered how she was going to react to Sylvia’s story. Then I hung on for what I knew was going to be a rollicking book club meeting. Sylvia’s story was listened to by everyone, including McGhee, with a lot of laughter and additional comments from people who had some of their own experiences to share. McGhee leaned over and whispered in my ear, “I wish Sylvia was my best friend. Life with her could never be dull. She’s wonderful.”
After lots of uninhibited discussion about our book, I went back up to the podium before anyone could suggest our next erotic read, and got everyone’s attention. “These erotic book selections seem to be popular, but I would like to suggest that we branch out and try some other genres,” I announced.
“I’m not interested in other kinds of books, Joanie,” Alberta said.
“Can I suggest something? Would anyone here be interested in another book club that would meet on Sunday afternoons in the members’ homes for a couple of hours once a month, where we would read a variety of books?” I asked.
Five or six hands went up, so I knew we had enough interest to move forward with the new club.
“Those of you who are interested, come see me before you leave. I’ll have our first meeting the first Sunday in May at 2:00 p.m. For those of you who want to continue with Alberta, continue to do so here at the Center on the third Wednesday of each month. If you’re also interested in the new Sunday club, that would be great,” I said.
“That idea seemed to go over well,” Sylvia said as she came up to the podium after the meeting.
“I wonder if our girls are finished with mahjongg?” I asked.
“I’ll go peep in on them. If they’re not finished, Ida can bring Roz and Judy home, and I’ll grab a ride with you two,” McGhee said.
Sylvia and I dropped McGhee off at her house, then went home to relax. Roz and Judy came in about an hour later.
“So how did book club go?” Roz asked.
“I thought it went great. Joanie, I think you should consider continuing with the erotic book club as well as your new one. Thoughtful, honest discussion about sex is a good thing, and at our ages, what’s the harm?” Sylvia said.
“I think you’re right, Sylvia,” I said.
“Your erotic book club has stirred up such great interest that half of the people playing mahjongg tonight wanted to know if we could change our meeting to an afternoon once a month so they could come to the book club meeting. So, that’s what we did. We’re meeting on the first Monday of each month after noon. That gives us more time to play, anyway. Alberta might want to consider moving the book club meeting to the big room at the Center. You guys looked like you were packed in like sardines tonight,” Roz said.
“I’ll suggest that to her. This all works out beautifully. Now you can attend both book clubs yourself, Roz,” I said.
“I thought about that. After reading that first erotic book, I’ve decided this is a good way to spice up my life a little bit,” Roz said with a smile.
Chapter 31
Tabby To The Rescue
After pool time on Thursday morning, the four of us went to work on getting the house picked up a little. We had spread out considerably over the past few days, and needed to at least get the designer gowns off the living room furniture. Sylvia and Judy gathered all of their belongings and started to do some preliminary packing in anticipation of their departure on Saturday. Our week had flown by. Next year they were coming for a two week visit. Roz and I spent some time in the kitchen doing what we could ahead of time for dinner that night with Ida and McGhee. Around 3:00 in the afternoon, we were all lounging on the back deck when Burton came by.
“Sweethearts! Where are you?” Burton called out from our front deck.
“Come around back, Burton. You’re just in time for a glass of wine,” I yelled.
Burton came up the back stairs, taking the steps two at a time. He certainly looked like he had gotten some of his energy back since we’d seen him last. From his constant motion to his sweaty face, it was clear Burton was back on the elixir. Roz and I just looked at each other, but didn’t say anything. We knew the least bit of provocation on our part would set Burton off, and we didn’t want that to happen with Sylvia and Judy there.
“What brings you by?” I asked.
“I wanted to thank you girls for listening to me the other night. I haven’t talked about Benjamin in years. The whole evening was cathartic for me. Thank you, thank you for being such dears and listening to an old man’s ramblings.” Burton started down the stairs.
“Are you leaving so soon?” Roz asked.
“I don’t want to interrupt your visit, and besides, I have to meet some of the talent show members for a brief run through. You do realize Under the Big Top is only a few weeks away! And speaking of that, how are things going with the set?” Burton asked as he turned to look at us.
“We’ve come up with some great ideas and should have everything pulled together by next week. Herb was able to come up with the funds to buy a few things. We found an Army/Navy store that had old parachutes. We’re using them to construct a circus tent in the ceiling of the room. Joanie found boxes of pennants and flags online that should arrive any day now. I think you’re going to be pleased,” Roz said.
And with that, Burton was gone.
“I hate to mention it, but don’t you think Burton was in touch with his hyper side just now?” Roz asked.
“I sure do and that’s not good news.” I shook my head sadly.
McGhee and Ida arrived around 6:00 with their Black Eyed Pea casserole in tow, and they were right when they sa
id we would love the dish. The six of us enjoyed our meal and lots of good conversation. We had just settled down in the living room when we heard sirens just outside the house. Of course, all six of us got up to see what was going on. A police car and the security guard were at Lois’s. It didn’t take us five minutes to get across the street to see if Lois was all right. When we walked up to the police cruiser, she was talking with an officer. It was apparent Lois was distressed so I immediately went to her and put my arm around her shoulders.
“He was looking in my back bedroom window and I could see he had a crowbar in his hand. If it hadn’t been for one of my cats, he would have gotten into my trailer!” Lois said with a shaky voice.
“Were you able to see his face?” the officer asked.
“Yes, I could see him just fine. There was still a little light out. He’s a young man, probably in his teens, dark, long hair pulled back in a ponytail, jeans and a dark t-shirt, and skinny as a rail,” Lois said. “I banged on the window and he ran. Then I called you.”
“We checked out your window and he did some damage to it with the crowbar. It’s lucky you were home to scare him off, because we’re sure this is the same person who’s been breaking into houses in Rainbow’s End and some of the surrounding neighborhoods. You said your cat heard him?”
“Well, I have a lot of cats, and that bedroom is where most of them sleep. I guess the noise at the window scared them. My old tabby cat came racing out of the bedroom and jumped up in my lap. I was in the living room watching television. I knew something was wrong because this particular cat doesn’t ever move that fast. She’s old, like me, and she moves around only to get to her cat food and use the litter box. I went back to the bedroom to see why she’d run to me, and that’s when I heard the noise outside the window. I don’t know why the guy was trying to get into my trailer. I don’t have anything worth stealing.”
“You’d be surprised what these guys steal. Anything they can sell and get cash for drugs is fair game. They’re terrorizing the neighborhoods with elderly residents because they know they can get the upper hand on them, and so far, it’s working.”
The six of us ladies had been quiet throughout this exchange between Lois and the police officer. I could feel Lois shaking and gave her shoulders a squeeze. During a lull in the conversation, I asked, “Excuse me, Officer, are you any closer to finding out who’s doing all these robberies?
“We’ve had some good leads. Ms. Nuttinger, will you be around tomorrow so we can have you look over some mug shots to see if you recognize your intruder?” the officer said.
“I’ll make a point of being here. Can an officer come to my trailer?”
“Absolutely. It will probably be in the morning.”
The police officer and security guard left. Lois was still shaking, so we walked her into her trailer. By the time she’d sat for a few minutes and gone over the story with us again, she seemed to be settling down. We asked if she wanted one of us to stay with her, but she said no. Since the six of us were packed into the little trailer, we didn’t stay long. Lois wanted to go to bed. McGhee and Ida decided to go home to make sure everything was OK at their house. Sylvia, Judy, Roz, and I went back across the street and locked up with special care that night.
Chapter 32
The Greek God
Friday was our big day in Key West. Roz had made reservations for the four of us to have massages, manicures, and pedicures at a resort hotel down by the water. When we told McGhee and Ida we were going in to Key West for a day of pampering, they asked if they could keep Max. This was a relief to us because we didn’t want to leave Max in his kennel for more than five or six hours at a time.
After dropping Max off, we drove into Key West. Our first appointments were for manicures and pedicures. By 10:00 we had nails and toes beautifully painted and went into the spa area of the hotel. I had no idea what to expect since I’d never had a massage, so I was a little nervous about the whole thing. We approached the reception desk in a lovely, quiet room where melodic sitar music was playing in the background. I’m sure the atmosphere they were creating was supposed to be the beginning of a calm and relaxing experience. The young woman at the desk made a call and within five minutes, another young woman came to get us. We were ushered into a beautifully decorated locker room that had cherry lockers for our belongings, shower stalls, and steam bath facilities. We were all duly impressed. The sitar music was still playing. The young lady told us to take off all our clothes, take a quick shower, slip into the terry-cloth robes, and put on the plastic flip-flops we would find in the wooden lockers. All I could think was here we go.
Getting our showers and into our robes didn’t take long. In fact, the four of us snooped around the sauna area for a few minutes before the same young lady came to take us to our individual massage rooms. Walking around naked with a terry-cloth robe felt a little strange, especially when she ushered us out of the spa area into an exterior glass elevator situated at the front of the hotel looking out onto the parking lot and the Gulf. A group of tourists was standing on the sidewalk outside the glass elevator when we got on. All four of us automatically gathered up our robes to be sure nothing was hanging out, and hoped no one could see under them at the elevator went up. Sylvia turned around and said, “I feel like the vestal virgins being led to sacrifice!” Our little guide turned around slowly, looked straight at us and said, “There’s no way there are virgins in this elevator.” With a hoot and a holler, the elevator door opened and we all stepped out. Our guide took us into a nice room with couches and chairs and told us to have a seat. Our masseurs would be with us shortly. We helped ourselves to a glass of the iced lemon water and made ourselves comfortable.
Sure enough, in about five minutes, three women and one man came into the room with clipboards in hand. I was hoping and praying my name was on one of the boards held by a female masseuse. To say the man masseuse was handsome didn’t do him justice. He was gorgeous. He was young, and he had a beautiful smile, and not an ounce of flab anywhere. Roz leaned over and whispered in my ear, “My wish for you is that you get him.” My eyes crossed, and at just that moment, the Greek God called my name. “Joanie, would you come with me?” My eyes rolled up into my head, and it took everything in me to get my feet moving to follow him. I grabbed my robe tighter to my body, hung my head down, and followed Mr. Beautiful down the hall. The closer we got to my massage room, the more inhibited I became. This experience wasn’t supposed to fill me with dread, but I had broken out in a red rash all over my neck and chest. Attractive!
I had no idea what to expect. Would this handsome young man just ask me to drop the robe and hop up on the table? I couldn’t imagine exposing my old body to this gorgeous young man. If that happened, I hoped his day would get better. But I really didn’t have anything to worry about. I should have known better. Christophe (as he introduced himself) simply said, “I’ll leave you to take your robe off, then get up on the table and cover yourself with this sheet.” From there he was as professional and discrete as I could have hoped. I still had a couple of hurdles to cross, like how to turn over from my stomach to my back without totally exposing myself to Christophe, but again, no problem. He knew exactly how to hold the sheet so I stayed completely covered at all times. I was so nervous through the whole massage I talked his ear off. So much for the sitar music, low lights, and Casablanca fan gently blowing in the room.
After the massage, I was led back to the dressing room so I could get dressed. My three companions were already there when I came in, and they wanted to know every detail of my time with Christophe. Amazingly, I raved about my first massage and in fact made an appointment for another visit. Now that I was an old pro, I was ready to truly relax and enjoy my next experience at the spa.
We left our car parked in the hotel lot and rented a little electric car with room for four passengers. These little cars are open all the way around; sort of a glorified golf car
t, but so much easier to maneuver around town. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was almost 1:00, so we found a restaurant down by the docks that specialized in hogfish. Sylvia and Judy had never heard of this particular kind of fish and wanted to try it. Once we were settled into our chairs in the restaurant and had ordered hogfish sandwiches on Cuban bread, we started making our plans for the rest of the day. Sylvia and Judy definitely wanted to do a little shopping before they left in the morning, and Roz and I wanted to go to the pet shop where we had bought Max to get him some kind of chew toys. He had already chewed up a pair of Roz’s sandals and, unfortunately, Sylvia’s sun visor. We soon realized we didn’t want to cook that night, so I made a reservation at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Restaurant. There was usually a live band playing there most nights, so we thought that would be a great send off for the girls.
After going our separate ways after lunch, we met at the restaurant around 6:00, and sure enough, there was a wonderfully raucous band playing. When the waiter asked what we wanted to drink, Judy immediately told him to bring us a bottle of champagne. That should have been my first red flag for the night. The food was great and the music and atmosphere a real party. We had moved on from champagne to pear bellinis around 9:00. I don’t know what we were thinking. Thank heavens Roz and I had taken the electric car back and gotten Lara from the hotel parking lot, but that didn’t help the fact not one of the four of us was capable of driving back to Pelican Key. That didn’t cross our minds at 10:00 when we left the restaurant and got lured into a tattoo parlor next door.
Over the weeklong visit we had casually mentioned it might be fun for the four of us to get a small, indiscreet tattoo commemorating our thirty years of friendship. With enough champagne and pear bellinis on board, this was going to become a reality. Somewhere around 11:00 I called Burton to come pick us up. He was there in no time. Burton had called Joe to come with him so he could drive our car back to Rainbow. We were very quiet during the ride home, and dozed off. Burton and Joe gingerly got the four of us into the house. I thought I heard Burton tell Joe he was going to the Center to do some more work on the talent show. We four got into our beds immediately and as I drifted off to sleep, I remember thinking Burton should be sleeping. The next thing I knew, I heard Sylvia screaming at the top of her lungs. I looked at the bedside clock and it was 5:30 a.m. When all of us girls got to the kitchen to see what was wrong with Sylvia, we found her sitting in a kitchen chair, looking down at her ankle and yelling, “What in the hell is that?”
