by LJ Vickery
Charlie was astonished. Aunt Bee-Dee remembered her.
“Growing up and having a baby,” she answered, jiggling Maity on her hip. Now she smiled and looked forward to all the time she’d have catching up. “I’m glad you’re still here. I worried that I’d made the trip for nothing.”
“So you came to see me?” And why didn’t Aunt Bee-Dee seem surprised?
As she moved forward and stepped into the light, Charlie caught her breath. Other than a few blonde-gray strands in her vibrant red hair, Aunt Bee-Dee looked exactly the same.
As if forestalling the inevitable questions that her appearance might foment―plastic surgery?―Bee-Dee wrapped Charlie and her daughter in an all-encompassing hug. “I guess I’ll have to put you in the cabin next to mine so we can keep an eye on your little one while she sleeps and we get reacquainted.” She turned to the clerk. “Sally, put them in cabin 2A.”
Charlie quickly squelched that order. Her budget did not include a cabin. “Oh, I was thinking we’d just take a tent site.” If it was the same setup as when she was young, a tent would be good enough. A cabin was way out of her price range.
“Nonsense,” Bee-Dee barked in the imperious way Charlie remembered. “You’ll take the cabin. It’s not booked for another month, and off-season rates make it the same price as the tents would normally be.” She sent an eyeball to Sally, which Charlie didn’t miss.
She sighed. She’d find a way to make it up to Auntie Bee-Dee.
Maity suddenly squirmed in her arms, squealing at something across the room.
“Zarr,” her daughter’s voice rang out. “Mama. Zarr.”
Charlie laughed.
“Yes, Maity, it looks a lot like him, but it’s not.” She was having trouble keeping her daughter in her arms. “Is the cat friendly?” she asked her host. “Maity’s really good with animals. Unusually careful for a toddler.”
“By all means, let her down.” Bee-Dee was shaking her head with a slightly bemused expression on her face as the baby was let loose. “What did she call my cat?”
“Oh, Wizarr,” Charlie explained. “He belongs to some friends of mine back in the Boston area. Maitlynn took quite a liking to him. What’s your cat’s name?”
“Planchette,” she supplied, a stark look of what appeared to be panic running across her face. Though it might have been a trick of the light for it was gone quickly. “I know, I know,” Aunt Bee-Dee said with a shake of her head, as if to clear it. “Ouija board and all, but she came with the name, and I didn’t have the heart to change it. We call her Chett for short.” The woman tapped her finger to her lips and looked oddly disturbed. Charlie shrugged it off.
“Well, don’t be surprised if Chett and Maity become fast friends.” Her stomach growled again. “Oh dear. I don’t suppose your dining room is still open. Maitlynn and I haven’t eaten.” She placed her daughter on the floor where she squatted on chubby legs in front of the cat and stared into its bright golden feline eyes. It was almost like they were talking. Funny how toddlers believed they could communicate with animals.
“Yes and yes.” Bee-Dee eyed the baby curiously. “Huh. Your daughter does seem to have a way with cats. Uh, if you want to take your bags to the cabin,” Sally was waiving the key in Charlie’s direction, “I’ll have a couple of plates made up and brought in.”
A curtain of long, straight red hair swung over her face as Bee-Dee knelt beside Maity and the cat. She smiled and got a watery four-tooth grin in return. Then she stood with a real smile, brushing her thighs down with purpose. “All right. Life has been boring for way too long. Maybe it’s time for things to get interesting.”
That was cryptic, but since it was said all in good spirit, Charlie smiled back.
“And now that I’m thinking about it,” Bee-Dee allowed, “you’re probably tired from your long drive. Why don’t you just eat and get settled. We’ll talk tomorrow morning over coffee. How does that sound?”
“Perfect,” Charlie agreed. Her stomach growled again and she yawned simultaneously. “I feel like I’ll be good for nothing tonight. Can I leave Maity with you and the cat while I unload the car?”
“There’s nothing I’d like better,” Aunt Bee-Dee quickly assured her as she made for the door. Chett seemed to purr in agreement.
Out at the car, Charlie hoisted the heavy portable crib out of the trunk and walked in the direction of cabin 2A, directions provided by some lighted signs. She elbowed open the door of the wooden structure and breathed in the scent of wood and beeswax, while hitting a glowing light switch on the wall with her elbow. Charlie looked around. She stood in a neat, tidy living room/kitchen combo right out of the fifties, except in place of the stainless-steel and Formica table one would expect, there was a small wooden trestle surrounded by four sturdy wooden chairs.
Formica covered one wall of countertop that was broken up by a stainless sink and an electric range. The counter was turquoise, with what Charlie always imagined as a boomerang print, scattered helter-skelter in black and gray over its surface. The appliances were white, the curtains matched, and the cabinets were rustic maple. Charlie loved it on sight.
She walked through one of three doors off to the right, and found a small bedroom with a double-size bed adorned with a plain white chenille bedspread; the kind with the little pom-poms hanging off the bottom edge. Other than in a magazine, Charlie hadn’t seen one of those her whole life. One dresser, a maple side table, and a yellow shaded lamp were the only other things in the room. It was perfect. She dropped her bag.
Next door was a small but serviceable bathroom. There was a toilet, a sink, and a shower stall in the nearly alcove-size chamber. No tub. Maity was going to get her first lesson in showers, unless she fit in the stainless-steel sink in the kitchen.
Charlie entered the other room that would be Maity’s and sighed with pleasure. This one had twin bunk beds carefully made up with colorful quilts in blues and pinks in deference to both boy and girl guests. The available floor space left plenty of room for Charlie to set up the crib. The walls were stenciled with outdoor sports scenes that looked like they’d been plucked from the pages of a 1950s novel. Demurely dressed girls played tennis, while boys with long nets chased butterflies. One-piece bathing suits and swim caps were de rigueur for the females, and boys pushed each other in go-carts made entirely of wood. Maitlynn would find the pictures fascinating.
The crib was set up in no time and their meager clothing stored away when Charlie opened the front door to retrieve Maity only to be confronted by their arriving food. She took the tray from the young man, thanked him, and brought it in to the table. She couldn’t help but peek under the stainless lids. Yum. Two large sandwiches―which would do for her―and a large bowl of chicken soup that would be perfect for Maity. She relaxed for the first time all day. It looked like things were going to be okay.
Aunt Bee-Dee knocked two minutes later, and handed a drooping Maity over after a quick kiss on the head. “I’ll see you in the morning,” she smiled, turning and disappearing into the darkness before Charlie had a chance to reply.
Later, post meal, she lay in bed after getting Maity down, listening to the night sounds in the woods. She let thoughts of Absu filter in. She’d relegated him to the back of her mind all day, but he refused to stay there any longer. She felt sorry to cause worry for him, Ken, and all kinds of other people. But she needed to sort some things out on her own. Well, on her own along with some sage advice from a dear old friend. Once she had her head on straight, she’d be back in touch. She simply had to figure out where her life was headed from here. And it was obligatory she do it herself.
When her parents had died, Ken at twenty-one―six years older than Charlie―had immediately taken charge, and by some miracle, perfectly orchestrated their lives. They’d stayed together and he’d made sure she finished school. He’d even made certain she got her culinary arts education, although only a two-year program.
As she’d reached her twenties, she’d saved s
ome money on her own. But she’d always changed her living arrangements to accommodate first one boyfriend, then another, and finally Hal whom she’d married. When she left Hal, she ran right back to Ken.
This time, before she made another move, she needed to know that it was for her and Maity’s own good. If she chose a life with Absu―which he’d made perfectly clear he was angling for―she had to figure out if she could be with a man who couldn’t fulfill her sexual needs. If she wasn’t willing to compromise in the bedroom, she needed to make a new plan for her future.
Absu’s face, as he’d looked last night, came slowly into focus. He’d seemed different, rougher, larger. Of course, it had been dark, but something about him…Charlie was having trouble putting a finger on it. He’d showed a mastery over her body that he hadn’t previously exhibited, and it had been magnificent. Was the lover Charlie craved buried deep within him, covered up by the polite and detached male with whom she’d been having sex?
Just thinking about how Absu had been last night, pinching her nipples, biting her neck, and thrusting hard up inside her, made Charlie tingly and wet. It was like she’d made her fantasy Absu real. She sighed and fell asleep, hearing his powerful growls ringing in her ears.
Maity awoke just after dawn, but Charlie had already been stirring. She’d slept like the dead and felt invigorated. Padding from her bedroom across the chilly wood floor and wearing just a long T-shirt, she entered her daughter’s room. “Good morning, sunshine.” She smacked a kiss on Maity’s blonde curls when her dear little head popped into view.
“Up. Up.” Maity held onto the side of the crib and jumped up and down, standing on fat little tip-toes. Charlie obliged by swinging the little girl into the air.
“We’re going to have some fun today,” she told her daughter, flying her across the room and onto the bureau she’d covered with a towel, where she proceeded to change her diaper. It took a while. There were several wet “rasp-bellies”―as Charlie called them―that had to be applied to Maity’s abdomen amidst giggles, before they could do the rest of the morning ablutions and move on to find breakfast.
Eventually, with the sun rising fast, Charlie grabbed some sunblock and a ball she’d found in one of the closets and moved to leave the cabin.
First stop food, second stop playground. “Oops,” Charlie said to Maity. “Almost forgot.” She tugged her daughter’s ruffled shirt up and over her head, before grabbing for the hem of her own T-shirt to do the same. Naked and smiling, Charlie took her daughter’s hand and left the cabin. There was nothing like a nudist camp on a bright sunny day.
There weren’t many people around, certainly not like she remembered as a child. But it wasn’t high season, and she’d never been here this time of year. The few dozen people who were out looked relaxed and happy. She entered the main building and followed the smell of food.
There was a short line for the buffet breakfast, and Charlie relished the fact that she wasn’t the one cooking this morning. Eggs and bacon looked much better from this side of the warming trays. Filling two plates, she maneuvered Maity into a high chair, strapped her down, and put scrambled eggs in front of her. Taking the top off her daughter’s sippy cup, Charlie filled it with juice. As she was replacing the top, she heard her name.
“Charlie.” Aunt Bee-Dee approached, carrying a tray of her own. “Do you mind if I join you?”
Charlie shook her head and did a quick, surreptitious perusal of the older woman’s body. It wasn’t something you normally did at a nudist camp, and she’d kept herself from the temptation the night before. But today she just couldn’t help herself. Damn. The woman had to be pushing fifty if her memory served right. So how was it everything could still be so completely…perky? That was the only word for the lovely pink-tipped breasts that still stood firm and high over the woman’s breakfast tray. Wow. To age so gracefully.
“How’d you sleep?” her friend asked.
“How do you think?” Charlie replied. “Take me out of the city and give me some good fresh air, I’m down for the count.”
“Good. It seems like you needed it. You were looking a little frazzled last night.”
“Yeah,” Charlie agreed. “And I definitely have things to be frazzled about.” She wondered if she’d get the opening she wanted to spill her problems. During the last two summers Charlie had come to the nudist camp with her family, she’d been thirteen and fourteen, and had not seen eye to eye with her mother. That was normal, but she’d harbored terrible regrets over the rift, considering her parents were dead later that last summer. But before her loss, Aunt Bee-Dee had been her adult female sounding board and had helped her through many puberty issues. All she’d had to do was sit near auntie with a glum expression, and voila. They’d have soda, peanut butter crackers, and world-crisis-solving heart-to-hearts that had made an enormous impact on her as a teenager.
“I see that look in your eye, Charlie.” Bee-Dee picked up on it now, as if time had never passed. “You want to talk.” And just like that, Aunt Bee-Dee opened the door again.
Charlie looked sheepish. “I’m feeling pretty selfish right now, Aunt Bee-Dee,” she admitted. “I’m an adult, and I should be taking care of my own problems. But as soon as I needed to make up my mind on something very important, I came running to you for advice.” Charlie ducked her head in embarrassment.
“Don’t think of it as advice,” Bee-Dee qualified. “Think of it as visiting a friend and sharing your woes.” She looked at Charlie speculatively. “You’re not a teenager anymore, so I gather the problems are a little more complex.”
Charlie rolled her eyes. “You have no idea.” Charlie didn’t quite know where to start, but if anyone could analyze her life in a nonjudgmental way, it would be Bee-Dee. She’d downed her food without even tasting it, and Bee-Dee’s plate was empty too.
“We’re headed to the playground. I’d love to have you come along.” She threw a glance at Maity, who was obviously ready to move on. Her remaining eggs were being picked up and thrown to the cat, who wound her way through table legs to approach. The cat sniffed the eggs, but didn’t bite.
Bee-Dee grinned. “A meat eater all the way, Maity. Sorry, darling.”
Charlie handed the baby her cabin key to play with while the two women cleaned up the mess. Once finished, she scooped the child from her chair, and they all walked out into the sunshine.
She got Maity happily ensconced in the sandbox, before getting off her knees to join Bee-Dee on the sidelines.
“I recommend the chairs,” her host said wryly. “Getting sand in your…well, you know, isn’t the most comfortable situation. I find it damned hard to get all the grains out of nooks and crannies.”
Charlie squirmed uncomfortably, imagining the problem. “Chair it is,” she agreed.
“I heard about your parents and the boating accident.” Bee-Dee sat back in the chair and briefly closed her eyes. “A terrible tragedy. I tried to locate you and your brother as soon as I found out, but you were long gone.”
“Ken had just turned twenty-one, and with the little money my parents had left in savings and the amount he got from the sale of our house, he set us up in a small apartment. He enrolled in night school and somehow kept me in line.”
It seemed like a gargantuan undertaking, looking back, but Ken had taken it all in stride. The only thing that still had the power to make Charlie feel guilty was that their living arrangement had put a crimp on the relationship Ken had with a new girlfriend he’d just met before the accident. Eventually, the young woman had told him he was too serious about life, and had walked out. Bitch. And he hadn’t had a relationship since.
“He loves you very much. He always has,” Bee-Dee stated, unequivocally. “So tell me where the two of you went from there?”
Charlie launched into their ensuing years, leaving nothing out. She described Ken’s ascension to DEA agent, her first two boyfriends, her growing immersion in the BDSM clubs, and how she’d met Hal. She only paused after telling
how and why she’d walked out on her husband and moved in with Ken.
“So Ken was once again your safe haven.” The older woman didn’t say it to judge, she just stated the fact.
“That’s right, only this time I feel really badly about it. He should be finding a nice woman and starting his own family, and yet here he is burdened with me and mine again.”
“Is that the problem you came to me about?” Bee-Dee questioned.
“Partially,” Charlie admitted. “But mostly it’s about this new man who’s come into my life.”
“Ahh,” Bee-Dee intoned. “Now, we come to it. Tell me about your young man.”
Charlie laughed. “I don’t think of him as young,” she said. “I haven’t asked, but he and his friends all look like they’re in their thirties. Absu, in particular, seems older because he speaks in such a proper form of English, as if he just stepped out of colonial days.”
“Absu?” Bee-Dee stilled and her lips looked stiff. “That’s unusual.”
“I know. Absu lives with his friends, and they all have weird names. I speculate that most of them are code names, like spy stuff. The whole situation is a little odd. They live in a big-ass house outside of Boston. It’s highly protected with amazing amounts of security. Nobody will tell me what they do, but I figure they must be part of a covert government group.”
Bee-Dee looked like she processed the whole thing slowly before she spoke again. “Can you tell me who his friends are?”
Charlie couldn’t figure why it was important, but she obliged. “They call the head guy, Marduk.” She ticked off on her fingers. “There’s also Anshar, Enlil, Dagon…”
“Stop.” Bee-Dee leaped from her chair. “No more…please.” She grabbed her head, as if suddenly in pain. “I need to…I’ll see you later.” She rushed from the playground, nearly running in what appeared to be her panic to get away.
Charlie sat dumbfounded. It looked like Bee-Dee was familiar with the names she’d relayed. Charlie wondered at the coincidence. It also, very oddly, looked like some strange instinct had brought her to the right place for answers.