End It With A Lie

by Peter M. Atkins

Wednesday 1.20 pm 

  Mika had almost finished her mornings work when Lee had called. His suggestion that she be in his office as soon as possible resounded in her ears, as might a plea. She sensed his frustration when she’d advised him that her arrival would not be for at least another hour.

  When at last she’d darkened his office door way, she’d found him sitting behind his cluttered desk. He was gazing almost vacantly at the red coloured web clock. It seemed to cling to television screens like it clung to the minds of the inhabitants of the world. She’d quickly noticed the blank look on his face and had taken it as a look of defeat. That thought had been quickly dislodged from her mind when he’d turned to acknowledge her with a smile that suggested he considered himself to be still in command.

  The look in his eye told her that he had a card up his sleeve.

  She had cards also. In the form of aces, and she had decided that now was a good time to play one. If only to find out how his was to be used. After locking the office door behind her, she’d begun to unbutton her blouse as she’d moved across the room towards him.

  He’d been receptive, and after a half an hour of what they both jokingly referred to as desk top management, they had gotten down to the reason for her summons. It had not been difficult to learn what his card was, and she’d been eager in her response to spend at least two weeks with him at sea.

  She knew Lee well enough to know that it would hardly be in a row boat, and she had often thought it would be nice to relax on one of the luxury type boats often seen moored on the richer side of town. A decision she’d made without even a glance at the televisions web clock. Although now with afterthought, the web clocks blaring red digits did suggest that it was a good time to be out of the city. After all, who really wanted to be here at this time?

  Where in the city was there a safe place?

  After acceptance of his proposal Lee had handed her a brown paper bag full of cash.

  “Take this and go shopping for the afternoon. I will not be going home, so buy everything you think we’ll need. Don’t worry about food or drink. Just concentrate on clothes for the both of us, both warm and cold weather, toiletries and such. You’d better get some books and DVD’s because we’ll have a bit of spare time. Raid the perfume place if you want, and get me a few boxes of cigars.” He’d looked thoughtful for a brief moment before he’d added, “Mika, tell no one what it is you’re doing. Take your car to do the shopping, and then be parked out the back by nine tonight. We’ll transfer it all to the boat directly from your car. Charlie and Shane will be at the wharf, and they’ll be looking after both of our cars while we’re away.” She’d checked her watch as she’d left his office. Its time suggested that a visit to a small snack shop located close to the club was in fact an order of necessity.

  The table she chose on her return to the club was one that gave her access to the bar. She sat down to quickly eat her lunch, glad that she had worn her flat soled shoes, as she would be doing a lot of walking as the afternoon progressed.

  The bar was relatively quiet for this time of day. Some regulars pushed their money into the slots of the poker machines, while others sat by the bar and nursed the amber ale of their choice. At times she acknowledged those who she knew to be employees of Lee’s as they carried out their errands. Most of them carried bags into Lee’s office, before reappearing again some minutes later, still carrying the by now much thinner and lighter bags. The number of visits by these ‘errand’ people had decreased somewhat, compared to that of the day prior. By which Mika surmised that Lee’s street product must be nearly all moved. She wondered for a moment, at the impact on Lee’s competitors when he’d flooded the market with cut price bargains. There were going to be some pissed off people out there, both Italian and Asian, she thought. She chuckled as she thought of Lee’s expected attitude to them, if the fact that he was pissing people off was brought to his attention.

  A crumb from her sandwich caused her to cough, and as she wiped her lips with her serviette she noticed Dan across the bar room. He had his back to her, and faced the wall by the bars public telephone. His body language suggested that he was involved in a very personal call.

  There had been a rumour circulating the day before, and out of curiosity she lifted her mobile phone from her bag and pressed the speed dial for Lee’s home phone. She was not entirely surprised to hear an engaged tone. Not proof though, she thought, as she placed her mobile onto the table top beside her glass of water.

  Dan waved his free hand through the air. Mika followed it with her gaze as he let it drop to his side before he turned side on and suddenly, but not heavily, put the telephone back into its cradle. As he did Mika again lifted her mobile and hit the speed dial again. This time a ring tone rang in her ear once, before she cut the connection.

  Mika watched Dan as he glanced towards the door of Lee’s office. Then again, as he surveyed the bar room like a guilty school boy might, before he nervously walked out of sight toward the other end of the bar.

  It was pitiful to watch. He was not in Sally’s league and out of his depth, but Mika, having led the life that she had, knew she was in no position to bat an eyelid.

  She had left home when she was seventeen, and now when she looked at the whole affair with hindsight, it was blatantly obvious the main reason for her departure was that she and her parents were basically incompatible. There was also the fact that her father was a messy slob. He spilt things, and farted with monotonous regularity, while her mother hated housework and smoked cigarettes incessantly.

  Maybe it was that their star signs were different, she didn’t know. She did know that the three of them could only remain in a room together in silence, and handy to a tin of air freshener. Then the silence itself became overwhelming, not to mention the air freshener.

  Without higher education and having a complete disdain for jobs like factory work or shop assistant, she entered into the occupation of private escort. She had been very pretty and of good figure, so she lured top dollar as a tiny, well-endowed young girl, whose entertainment wardrobe consisted of school uniforms. It had worked well for nearly six years. Until one day it became obvious even to her, that she was becoming less able to be choosey with her clients. So she purchased a second townhouse and cut her clientele down to regulars.

  It was about this time she had met Tom Lee, and although he often jokingly mentioned his disappointment at being five years late, he was happy to partake in the experience she had to offer.

  It was almost as if he’d become addicted to her, and over the next four months he became more than a regular. His visits became so frequent, and unannounced that she had to tell him he was getting in the way of her business.

  He’d listened to her grievance, and then had taken her completely by surprise by suggesting that he put her on a retainer.

  It was an offer that at first she was sure she would refuse, but after a week of indecisiveness, she’d reckoned that her successful business life had grown on the back of her executive decisions, and she had obviously been right so far.

  The fact that she’d not succumbed to the expensive and soul destroying habit of drugs during her career had been a wise decision also, and proof in the pudding.

  Up until Lee’s proposition, her plans had been to work for maybe another year, before retiring from it all anyway. She was almost at a point of financial independence. The rental income from two town houses would allow her to live quite well. Accepting Lee’s offer for at least a year, if it lasted that long, would not really interfere with her plans.

  Lee’s offer was a little like a scenic detour.

  She would still arrive at the same destination.

  Lee didn’t know about her townhouses, so if he was prepared to place her in suitable housing, then the rental income from both of them would double the bank loan repayments on the second one. It would restrict her cash income money laundering activities, but it was still icing on her cake.

  So she’
d accepted, on the condition they both undergo blood tests for H.I.V and Hepatitis B. She knew from her regular tests that she was clean, but she’d come too far in her business life to lose out now for want of double checking. Lee was taken aback a little by the suggestion, but when she pointed out to him that she was prepared to take the test partly for his benefit, then he should do the same for her, shouldn’t he?

  What could he say when she put it that way?

  He’d smiled in acceptance, and a little in awe of her talent in the art of delivering a subtle check. She never risked confrontation with a checkmate, but sought compliance by gentle suggestion.

  After her acceptance of his business proposal, she was more than a little surprised how things changed. She’d known from the very start that she would miss sleeping in every morning, but that lost pleasure was offset by the fact that she could now go to bed earlier. Almost every night if she wished, and as those initial days passed she discovered a new life.

  A new life littered with free evenings. She’d used them to further her interests by taking night classes in cooking, computers and a camera course.

  She’d even completed a course in real estate. Knowing in the back of her mind that her escort experience could just be the extra arrow in her quiver with which to complete a sale.

  One of her new life’s surprises struck her sense of humour at an odd angle.

  She’d begun to put on weight to the extent she’d been forced to enlist the services of a local gym. Her diet had changed little, but the amount of effort needed to bring her body back into shape, had caused her to wonder if she may have underrated the actual calories needed to be a success in the sex industry. Her sex life with Lee had started out at a rate based on his passion, but had decreased steadily to a point where he’d go without for sometimes a week. Their time spent together began to feel more like what she expected a married couple of some years to experience.

  Now, the one year she’d expected to work had turned into almost three. The retainer based relationship had become more of a liaison, with less emphasis on sexual encounters, and more on basic companionship. Not that she disliked it. It almost touched on a normal life for her, but in some weird way she sensed a danger of sorts. Like she was lounging in a sense of false security where there existed a possibility for her a lack of fulfillment.

  Mika knew and understood that she was the other woman. She had been just that for her whole adult life, and had been taken aback by the restlessness she’d been experiencing over the last few months. The reason behind these new feelings had only recently become obvious to her. Its exposure was due to the company of the women and one man, who attended as adult students, her latest night class.

  Up until that night she had believed that her restlessness had been associated with her maternal instincts. Prior that night, she had wrestled with them the same way she’d wrestled with them for almost the entire decade past. When, with success she’d argued her case, based on the principle that she would not ask her conscience to allow her to bring forth into the world a child through the canal that she sold for silver. This time, even after she’d delivered her case and repeated her promise, the feeling of restlessness still plagued her. Until last week’s night class when one of the women asked the joke that Mika had heard many times before, of one of the men.

  “How do you make an Irish woman pregnant?” Every person in the class had waited for, and expected the same old answer, but the man’s response wiped away knowing smiles. It also blocked any chance his class mates had of light hearted ridicule.

  Mika still smiled at her mental picture of him as he bided his time, and let his audience wait for some moments before he quietly announced.

  “There are four ways to make an Irish woman pregnant, as far as I know.”

  “Rubbish,” one woman cried, while the others waited. Unsure what comment was safe to make, without causing themselves to become the centre of the joke.

  “Well.” He said as he looked the woman who’d called out rubbish in the eye. A light smile touched his facial features as he added, “Firstly there’s I.V.F…”

  The woman begrudgingly nodded her head, and then remained quiet as he concluded his sentence.

  ”..or you can fuck her, have sex with her or make love to her.” It was at that point that Mika realized it was not only maternal instinct that caused her restlessness.