“That was Katie’s plan. The rest of us were just saps who let ourselves get talked into going along. And I was the biggest sap of all. For bankrolling the largest portion of the co-op, and coming away with a share no bigger than anyone else’s.”
“That hardly seems fair.”
Jennifer crossed her arms over her chest. She was wearing both concealer and eye shadow, but still she looked tired and dispirited. She said, “I have never been compensated appropriately for what I’ve put into that farm. And I don’t believe I ever will be. Meanwhile, a slut who carried your father’s name for all of five minutes gets to live off the fat of the land without paying a single dime. All because your father left her with nothing while we were running a three-year surplus in Madera. That’s the philosophy of the co-op in a nutshell. From each according to her abilities, to each according to her sob story.”
“Interesting. And yet I suppose you must have approved of what Katie and the others had planned. At least in the beginning.”
“Believe me, young man. You have no idea how intimidating it can be to face down four women at the same time when all of your futures are on the line. Men think they invented hostility the day Cain murdered his brother, but you can be certain the world today would be an even bleaker and more dangerous place if Eve had given birth to daughters.”
“I believe you. That is, I respect you and take you at your word, as a good stepson ought to, I suppose. As I said, I knew you were a class above the rest of them the moment we first met. I don’t even have to ask if you’re well-educated.”
“Before disbandment, everyone in my family was well-educated. At one time we had three generations of USC alumni alive at once: my father, my grandfather, and me.”
“That’s wonderful. My own mother was a Stanford undergrad in the pre-Republic days.”
She gave me a very small, practiced smile. “I have great respect for that particular school. Though growing up we never thought much of the Bay Area in our house.”
I smiled. “You sure I can’t offer you something to drink?”
“No, thank you. I’d rather return to the issue of the farm.”
I sat down on the edge of the bed so she wouldn’t have to keep looking up at me. I said, “It’s no issue as far as I’m concerned. I want you and the rest of them to sign a contract turning over everything to the Russert Growers Company. If I place a call to Mr. Russert this afternoon, he should be able to have something written up and faxed to me within the next few days so that, come Sunday, I’ll have it ready for you sign when I head back out there. But Russert will only go through the trouble of making a contract if I can assure him that a deal has been reached, and I won’t tell him that unless I’m sure myself that all five of you will agree to sign. If that’s something you can arrange for me, all five signatures on a piece of paper, then I believe you might deserve something over and above what the others would receive. Something commensurate with your contributions to the farm. How does that sound?”
Jennifer traded glances with Dale. Even with a few shots of homebrew in him, there was a shrewd and stoic quality to the old farmhand. Jennifer said, “It sounds to me like you don’t really think I’m entitled to a larger share based on what I’ve already put into the place. You’re only open to the idea because I’m in a position to give you something more, to serve as your spy within the farm, so to speak. I’m not sure how I feel about that, to be quite honest.”
“I’m glad you said something. Now let me make myself perfectly clear: I’m not going to offer you a larger share simply because you’ve earned it. I’m blackmailing you here. It’s not a fair system. It’s out of respect for you and my father that I agreed to see you today, and I’m making you this special offer because you’re in a position to help me get the contract signed in the least messy way possible. That’s my only reason. And if you deliver on what I’m asking for, you’ll get the special treatment you want. It’s an indelicate way of doing business, I know, but considering the constraints and risks I’m dealing with, it’s all I can do to help us both. If I’m right about you, and the kind of woman you are, then I believe you’ll understand.”
Without a word, Jennifer rose and walked the dozen or so steps from the chair to the bathroom, Dale following behind her instinctively, without needing to be called, like any good lapdog. I took another swig of homebrew waiting for them to finish their private deliberations. By the time they came out again, I was feeling alert and lucid enough to tackle any roadblock or counteroffer they tried to throw at me.
I said, “Perhaps now we can continue. Or do you need more time with the toilet?”
Jennifer reclaimed her position on the edge of the chair cushion. She said, “I’m not a greedy woman, Mr. Temple. I don’t believe in the supremacy of the almighty dollar. It’s one of the lifelong burdens of coming from Orange County, people developing these assumptions about you based on where you were raised.”
I nodded sympathetically and even showed her a slight frown; to secure a mole inside the co-op, I would have gladly gone along with her act for as long as necessary, coaxing her bloated ego, letting her think she was honoring the valley itself by deigning it with her presence. But I had read the background profiles Ramirez put together. I knew that, despite her upbringing, she was no Southern California elite, and hadn’t been for some time. Her parents had been practically insolvent when Dad met her, one of the many families caught off-guard when Wall Street disintegrated and the American treasury dissolved. For so many years he must have held his tongue while she condescended to him, even as he was helping to rebuild her shattered world in the form of a sixty-acre spread with a legion of pickers and foreman for her to look down on. And now here she was, condescending to me even as she pleaded for a larger share of the wealth. I took it all in stride, speaking softly and acting the gentleman, just as Dad had taught me to do when facing an avaricious whore.
I said, “You won’t find any negative assumptions here with me. Not after all the hardships you’ve had to endure since father’s death.”
She closed her eyes and appeared to hold back a sudden outpouring of grief. Ever the committed actress, the old bitch. She said, “Because I’m not greedy, I won’t try to take advantage of the situation by asking for more than I deserve. Even after all the hard work I’ve put in these past months, I’m willing to walk away with a stake in the property no better or worse than what I had before. Except it has to reflect my initial investment, which of course was never equal to those of the other women. From day one, they were trying to extort something extra out of me, and they finally succeeded when I agreed to pay the slut’s share of the deposit. Two fifths of that cooperative belong to me by right, Mr. Temple, and that’s what I’m asking in exchange for helping to secure a peaceful transition. Two-fifths of the total offer, promised to me in writing as part of the contract you want signed. That’s my condition. Take it or leave it.”
I let her sweat, watching her eyes closely as the resolute expression she was going for began to waiver in the face of my stonewalling silence. As I left her dangling well past the appropriate amount of time needed to consider her proposal, I noticed Dale also started to appear nervous, fidgeting with his hands like he didn’t know what to do with them except leave them stuffed inside his pockets. It was like watching a two-headed beast out of mythology.
Finally I said, “It would seem you’re asking for more than just that, really. You’re also asking us to exclude Dawn from the offer altogether. That extra share has to come from somewhere, after all, and I imagine you wouldn’t be heartbroken seeing her left out.”
She contorted her face into a look of such pure disgust that I half-expected her to spit on the floor at the mere mention of Dawn’s name. “She’s an opportunist of the worst kind, a parasite that latches onto a healthy organism and stays until it dies off. First she latched onto your father, and we both know how that ended, and now she’s dug her hooks so far into that farm there’s no other way I can think of to
get her out. She’s even started referring to other women’s children as her own. ‘Our children.’ That’s what she said. That’s when I knew I had to find a way to get rid of her. Then you showed up, and everything became clear to me for the first time in months. Suddenly I understood exactly how to get me and my kids away from that place, and that demented bitch away from us. So, no, to answer your question, I wouldn’t care one way or another what happens to her after all this is done.”
“I can respect that. Of course, what I can respect and what’s in my best interest are two very different things. I’m wondering how you’re going to convince the other wives to forsake her. How will you get them to sign the contract if she’s left out?”
“Don’t worry about the others. Being forced to live next to them all this time, I’ve learned what I need to know to get them on my side. Sandra and Claudia are ruled by fear, and Katie’s been looking for a way out ever since her daughter got into trouble with a boy from school. They’re all desperate to make you go away, and to do so they’d be willing to believe anything I tell them. Even if they do read the contract before signing it, and supposing they notice the biggest share’s going to me, all I’d have to do is promise to give Dawn half of it once the deal goes through. And then disappear once the money is in my hands.”
I laughed and reached under a pillow for another jar. I said, “You make it sound so easy. I’m starting to wonder if I even need someone on the inside.”
She shot me a conceded smile. “Don’t kid yourself. The only way this plan of yours can go smoothly is if someone helps it along. It’s not just the other women you have to worry about. They have lots of children, and some of your brothers and sisters are downright savage.”
My own smile disappeared. I poured a huge dose of vodka down my throat and wiped the spill-off onto the back of my hand. I said, “With all due respect, please don’t call them my brothers and sisters. Having the same father doesn’t make us family. It doesn’t make us anything as far as I’m concerned. As far as I’m concerned, I’m an only child. Always have been, and always will be.”
Jennifer looked at me. She nodded slowly and said, “If that’s how you feel about it.”
“Yes. That’s how I feel. Thank you.” I stood up from the bed and walked to the closet, to the half-emptied suitcase in which my personal effects were stowed. I uncovered the phone, still in its original packaging, and brought it over for her to examine. “That’s a satellite phone from Korea. Brand new. Bought it from a retailer in San Mateo on the drive down. I have one too. Once you’re certain that the others will sign the contract, shoot me a text message saying so. Then I’ll contact Mr. Russert and have him fax over the forms. If I don’t hear from you before Friday, don’t bother looking for me come Sunday. By then I’ll have already notified the Ag Bureau in Tulare about the fraud you’ve got going on over in Orosi. Three days. That’s how long you’ve got. That’s my condition, you can take it or leave it the same as I can for yours.”
She looked at Dale, and together they shared a moment of wordless consideration. I was worried they would return once more to the bathroom, but instead Jennifer rose from the chair and reached out to shake my hand.
She said, “You take after him. I don’t know if you know that, but I thought you should.”
I didn’t appreciate her saying so, and was positive that deep down it wasn’t true. But still I thanked her, shook her hand, and saw both of them to the door.
Losing my virginity wasn’t what I expected. It wasn’t anything like what the guys at school made it out to be. I felt nauseous the entire time it was going on, in part because of all I’d had to drink, but also because Livia’s thighs kept squeezing my balls as she ground her pelvis into me. When it was over I felt greasy from my navel down to my hips. I think she applied some form of artificial lubricant when I wasn’t looking. Probably did the same with all her clients. Now she wrapped herself in a sheer lace robe and began brushing her hair at the vanity.
She said, “Thank you for the nice time, baby. Hope to see you again real soon.”
Her polite nudging didn’t fool me; the service had been rendered, and now she was kicking me out the door. I found my underwear at the foot of the bed. I stood to hitch them up, but my head started spinning and I fell back on the mattress. In places the sheets were transparent from sweat and other fluids. I turned to the vanity mirror and got my first good look at Livia. Uncomfortable as the sex had been, it elicited a remarkable change in that I was able to see her for more than a second without succumbing to shyness. Now that I had had her, there was nothing about her that inspired any trepidation in me, at least until her eyes appeared clearly in the mirror and I found myself leaning in for a closer look. She noticed and stopped brushing.
“Something wrong, baby?”
“Turn around.”
“You feeling all right?”
“Turn around. Look at me.”
She set the brush down and did as she was told. I touched her cheek and brought my face within a few short inches of hers; I didn’t want to frighten her, but I couldn’t help myself. Her eyes were the deepest shade of blue I had ever seen, and I would have recognized them anywhere.
“Where do you come from?”
She pulled away gently. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Where were you born? Who are your parents? Tell me. Please.”
“Time’s almost up, baby. You should get dressed.”
My pants were lying on the floor with one leg folded in half like something an amputee would wear. I scooped them up, took out my wallet, and removed all the money I had. I said, “This is almost a hundred dollars Californian. And it’s all yours if you just answer me truthfully. That’s all I ask.”
Livia looked at the money. She was afraid, and her fear was obvious, but still, the look of desperation with which she eyed the money was so much more natural than the faces she made while faking orgasm. What did a hundred dollars mean in her world? What would she normally have to do to earn that kind of tip? She glanced up at me and said, “Your father’s waiting for you. He’ll start to wonder what’s up if you don’t head down soon.”
“Two minutes. That’s all I’m asking for. Then I’ll get dressed and leave. And you’ll be a hundred dollars richer.”
Livia hesitated, but then snatched the money out of my hand. She folded the bills into a small, tight roll and held the roll to her chest with both hands like a woodland animal trying to guard its foraged nourishment. “Okay. What do you want to know?”
I sat back down on the edge of the bed. In my head I worked backward through the chain of evidence needed to confirm what I already suspected. “How old are you? Really.”
She looked down at her bare feet and looked up again. “Fourteen.”
“Where were you born?”
“Here.”
“In this house?”
“No. I mean here as in the valley.”
“In a place like this?”
“More or less.”
“So your mother was a whore as well?”
Her eyes flashed briefly with a spark of outrage. She lowered her head and clutched the money more closely to her body. She said, “Mama used to work in a party house up near Parlier. We moved down here when I was little.”
“Where is she now?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“She ran off a couple years ago. Didn’t say where to. She was in pretty bad shape. Lots of drinking, and meth. Think she knew it was only a matter of time before the boss kicked her out.”
I closed my eyes. It was too appalling to be true. Fat and brainless, second-generation whore daughter of a wayward addict. By all rights, the government should have had them both sterilized.
“Who was your father? That’s my last question. Answer it and I’ll leave. But be honest.”
“I’ve been honest so far.”
“Then tell me. Who was he?”
“
I don’t know that either.”
“Your mother never told you.”
“I don’t think she knew herself.”
“How could she not know?”
“It’s easy to lose track. Week in, week out, men come from all over the country.”
“From the coast?”
“Of course. They’re the biggest spenders.”
“Right. That makes sense.” A speck of doubt glittered in the back of my mind. Of all the hundreds and maybe thousands of men her mother had been with, the odds of my suspicion bring true were about as good as my chances of winning the national lottery, or Livia’s chances of finding a man to take her away from all this. It comforted me greatly, the improbability of it all. But then I looked into her eyes again and saw the truth plain as day, the similarities that stood in mocking contrast to all the rules of logic and likelihood. Dad was wrong. Instead of finding a peaceful, loving God in that place, I was staring straight into the eyes of the girl whose very existence seemed to confirm that no such peace would ever be available to me again. I steadied my breathing and said, “Thank you for your time, Livia. After I leave, you won’t see me again. So good luck with all of this. I hope it turns out as well as it possibly can.”
She watched me get dressed, still holding on to the money like someone was going to try to steal it away from her. She said, “You can’t just leave me wondering like this. Why do you want to know about me? What’s it to you?”
I was already fumbling with getting my shirt buttoned, and having her ask such questions, when all I wanted was to never hear her voice again, got me aggravated to the point of maliciousness. If such words existed, and if I could have found them, I would have spoken the incantation to wipe her forever from my memory, as well as from the living world itself. I said, “That’s not how it works. We had an agreement. You got your money. If you wanted more, you should have negotiated better when you had the chance.”
Lord of California Page 15
