“Good morning,” Charlie said in a smoky, sexy voice. She ran her fingers up Decky’s abdomen to her chest, where she slowly began to massage Decky’s small firm breasts. Decky’s back arched slightly as her breath caught in her throat. “I’ve been lying here watching you sleep. I thought maybe before we head out into the world, we might have another go at that Jacuzzi.”
Decky could only nod in agreement. Speech was not possible at that moment.
The sex energized them and by 8:30, Decky and Charlie were fed, clothed and headed out the front door.
“Come this way. I want to take my car. It’s easier to get in and out of with these crutches. It’s out in the apartment garage, at the end of the lot,” Decky continued, as they walked down the front steps and across the yard, to a small one-story cottage.
“I built this little, two-bedroom to live in while the house was being constructed. That way I could be here and not rush the process. After we moved into the house, Zack and I changed it into a guest house slash game room. It has everything a teenager could want including a nine-foot pool table. That was my contribution. He uses it a lot for his friends to hang out. We occasionally have an extra teenager or a down and out friend hanging around. With Zack gone, it’s been quiet, although it is pretty early in the summer. The relatives and their families should start arriving any day.”
“Won’t you need the cottage we’re going to look at for all those people,” Charlie inquired.
“No, they can stay at Mom’s motel. It’s closer to the beach anyway.”
“Your mom has a motel?”
“Well part of one. I bought controlling interest in a motel at Corolla and a few rental cottages on the beach. She runs the motel and rentals for me and in exchange, she gets a large percentage of the profit from the motel. It gives her something to do other than concentrate on my life and it was a great investment. It keeps money in her bank account. That’s a good thing, because that woman was born to shop.”
Decky hit a button on the key ring she had pulled from her pocket. The garage door on the cottage opened to reveal a fully loaded silver Lexus SC 430 coupe with the top already down. The interior was saddle leather trim with brown walnut accents.
Charlie turned to Decky, “That must have been an awfully big shit pot.”
#
On the way to Brenda’s, they met Miss Lizzie barreling down the highway toward them. Upon recognizing Decky’s car, Miss Lizzie had started blinking her headlights on and off and was slowing to a stop. Dixie was hanging out the passenger side window in dog-full bliss, the wind blowing her golden hair. Decky saw what was happening and reacted quickly. She had no time to explain.
Decky hit the gas and turned to Charlie, who had been trying to figure out who the idiot was in the car coming at them. Now the person had an arm out the window, waving frantically, while swerving slightly back and forth. Decky grabbed Charlie’s arm to get her attention.
“Whatever you do, don’t make eye contact. Just look at me and act like we’re talking, which we are, so it’s in the realm of possibility that we do not see her.”
“Who is that?” Then Charlie saw the dog more clearly, recognized her from pictures in Decky’s house, and then processing the panic-stricken look on Decky’s face, she put the facts together and started laughing at some imagined conversation the two were having. Her mother had raised no fool. She could see the signs. This had to be Decky’s mother.
Just before they passed the now slowly rolling vehicle with the crazy woman in it, Decky broke her gaze from Charlie and looked at her mother. She waved and smiled, as though glad to see her and mouthed, “I’ll call you,” into her hand now held up to her ear like a phone. She pressed a button on the steering wheel saying, “Call mom.” Over the sound system, the phone began to ring.
The voice of a woman with a deep southern drawl said into the air, “Decky, where in the hell are you going so fast? You could have run over me. Didn’t you see me?”
“I’m sorry. I was talking.” Decky said, rolling her eyes at Charlie.
“I thought I would bring Dixie to you and save you the trip. Who is that in the car with you?”
“It’s a new teacher from the University. I am helping her find a house. I was just going to drop her off and swing by for Dixie.”
“Oh, which one. I know we hired so many this spring.”
“The math teacher. Look, why don’t you turn around and go back home and I’ll be there in just a few minutes.”
“Oh, that was a last minute hire. I couldn’t believe our luck in finding such a highly qualified candidate, at this late date. I hope there’s nothing wrong with her, you know she just picked up and left a job she had for ten years. Her recommendations were sterling so we decided to offer her the job. I just got the feeling we didn’t have the whole story.”
“Mother, you know the phone in my car is a speaker phone, she can hear you.”
“Oh, good lord. I have to go. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” Click, the connection was gone.
Charlie was staring at Decky with her mouth open. Decky grinned helplessly.
“Well, you survived your first tangle with Lizzie. How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve just been violated. She shouldn’t be talking about me to you like that. I mean that isn’t very professional.” Charlie was visually stunned.
“Welcome to Lizzie world. The only rules are the rules that apply to everyone else. They only apply to Lizzie when it works in her favor.”
“So much for her not knowing we know each other.”
Decky took Charlie’s hand in hers. “Honey, it was going to happen sooner or later. For a first go round with Lizzie, I think it was fairly painless.”
“Look at me, I’m shaking. We flew past her at 60 miles per hour and she still got to me.” Charlie was looking down at her free hand. “How do you handle her?”
“Several years ago I was watching The Dog Whisperer on National Geographic. It dawned on me that what I was missing in my relationship with Lizzie were rules, boundaries and expectations. I set about establishing those and found that if I took the emotion out of the equation, I was able to control the situation much better. I get to be my own pack leader. Of course, it’s been a constant series of corrections for her. Like this for instance, her correction is, she has to go back home. She broke a rule, not calling first, so now she has consequences. Respect for other people’s boundaries is a learned behavior with Lizzie, it certainly isn’t instinctual.”
“Maybe we should watch the show together. I may need some help.”
“I have the first two seasons on DVD. You must pay very close attention, especially to the red zone cases.” Decky was trying to sound serious.
“What are red zone cases?” Charlie was serious.
“The guy, Caesar, specializes in aggressive dogs, Pits and Rots. The most viscous dogs are called red zone. They usually go to his dog psychology center, where he teaches them how to be good pack members. My mom has had a few stays in the people psychology center, so I figure it’s almost the same thing.”
“And you refer to your mother as a red zone case. This isn’t going to be easy is it?”
“Nothing good comes easy,” Decky replied.
“This is good, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is very, very good.”
Charlie was smiling now. She pulled the hand that held hers to her mouth and bit Decky on the knuckle playfully.
“Hey, hey, I’m driving. You can’t do that when I’m driving.”
“What about this?” Charlie put Decky’s ring finger in her mouth and then slowly pulled it out again.
Decky jerked her hand away. “You … you stay on your side of the car. No touching.” Decky placed both hands on the wheel and stared straight ahead.
Charlie hung her head back and let out a throaty laugh, her hair blowing in the wind. The first notes of “Only the Good Die Young” came over the speakers. Decky turned it up and they sang all the way to Brenda’s h
ouse.
#
Decky and Charlie made plans in Brenda’s driveway for the rest of the day. Decky would be back to take her to lunch and show her the cottage this afternoon. Charlie tried to get Decky to go inside with her, but Decky said no.
“I’d rather go get Lizzie out of the way. Brenda will have enough to say this evening.”
“Okay, so I’ll see you about noon.” Charlie was standing by Decky’s window. She casually placed her hand on the car close enough to run a finger inconspicuously on Decky’s arm.
For the first time Decky felt it. She wanted desperately to kiss this woman, but she couldn’t. They were out in public. If Decky were a man, Charlie would lean down and kiss her right on the mouth, for all to see. As it was, all they could do was steal wanting glances or brush an unseen finger across an arm.
“I know I have to leave now, but I don’t want to. Isn’t this silly. I feel like a teenager again.” Decky’s eyes met Charlie’s, as she recognized the same feelings flash across them.
“I know what you mean. I can’t seem to let go of this car. Did you drug me?” Charlie questioned her teasingly.
“The voodoo woman did say not to use too much. Maybe I absorbed it from you through skin contact.”
“I knew it! There’s no way I would have slept with you within hours of meeting you without some kind of undue influence. What kind of girl would that make me?” Charlie was using her Oklahoma homecoming queen accent to feign innocence.
“I do like my women a little on the trashy side.”
“I see, I suppose the neighbors will talk if they see you dropping your latest conquest out in the street. They’ll call me a loose woman.” Charlie batted her eyelashes.
“My kind of girl. Now, on the count of three, you let go and I’ll put the car in reverse. Otherwise, we will stay like this all day.”
Decky backed out and turned the car toward her mom’s house. She looked back in the mirror to see Charlie standing there, wearing Decky’s too large tee shirt and shorts, her hair windblown and wild.
“God, she’s beautiful.”
#
When Decky entered her parent’s house, her father was at the kitchen table having sausage biscuits and coffee, reading the paper. Dixie met her at the door. She was wagging her tail so hard that her whole body was involved in the action. At Dixie’s feet, yapping like a banshee was Lizzie’s Yorkshire terrier, whom Decky and her father referred to as “the asshole.”
Waiting patiently to be noticed, Bucky, the beagle, sat up beside her father. This was her father’s dog and they were known far and wide as great buddies. Her father often let Bucky sit in his lap in the truck. Paws on the wheel, Bucky would appear to be driving as they drove down the road. Her mother said they looked ridiculous. Her Daddy said he was glad the dog could drive. That way if he got off somewhere and couldn’t get back, the dog could drive them home. Her mother cringed every time he told that story.
Lizzie suffered under the delusion that Decky’s father ever wanted to be anymore than he was. He had been a coach and school principal until he retired several years ago. He was a simple man with a simple past. He liked to wear overalls and ride around in an old pickup truck. Lizzie wanted him to show everyone that he was educated, but he talked like an old wise farmer. He knew how to speak proper English, in the right settings he did, but he chose to talk like the people he came from and the ones he dealt with everyday. His speech had a Fred Thompson quality to it. Decky liked it. You could count on him.
If Robert Charles Bradshaw had a flaw, it would be his love for Lizzie. The man had the patience of Job with her. For fifty years, he had put up with more than most men could have taken, but he loved his Lizzie. Decky’s mother was not always bad. Lizzie loved her children and her husband. She was loyal to a fault. R.C., that’s what everyone called her father, and Lizzie had been a striking couple in high school. He was the handsome football star, she the blonde cheerleader. Life was always exciting with Lizzie. She had tons of friends and loved to throw parties. The high life was just that, one fun family.
It wasn’t until later, when the depression set in and the alcohol took over, that R.C. began to have trouble with Lizzie. They saw doctors and she took anti-depressants, but the bouts got longer and deeper. She was finally diagnosed as bi-polar and Decky and her dad began to learn how to deal with it. Her brother was useless. He was as sick as his mother was, but refused to believe it. So life was just a bowl of cherries after that, with the two of them always on the rollercoaster of highs and lows, with Decky and R.C. just trying to stay out of the way and not draw attention to them.
“Hey dad, how’s it going?”
R.C. folded the paper and patted the table for Decky to come sit down. “Much better than you, it looks like. Sit down take a load off.”
Decky crutched over to the table and plopped down. Dixie followed her and put her head down on Decky’s lap. “Anything interesting in the paper this morning?”
“Naw, same old thing. Looks like the fish are biting over to the beach though. Think I might head on down and wet a line for a few days. Thought I’d go down with your mother when she delivers the paychecks tomorrow. I think she wants to have her cousin come down this weekend so it just makes sense to stay awhile.”
“That sounds great. Which cousin?”
“Edna and her crowd.” R.C. pretended not to want to be around Edna’s crowd, but he loved company and Lizzie was always happy around Edna.
Lizzie came out of the back of the house where she kept a little office. Despite her mental problems, Lizzie was a shrewd businesswoman and took care of Decky’s interest with great care. She was carrying a large blue checkbook and some papers as she approached the table.
“Did you have to take that woman all the way to town? I thought you were coming in a few minutes,” Lizzie started in.
“No, I dropped her off at Brenda and Chip’s. You know how Brenda is when she gets to talking.” Decky was lying, but sometimes it was easier.
“Well, that’s nice of them to take in a new faculty member and make her feel welcome.”
Lizzie laid the checkbook out in front of Decky and she started to sign the already filled out checks and forms necessary for payroll.
Unconsciously Decky answered her mother, “They all went to Duke together. They are old friends.” Shit, too much information. Don’t tell her anything she doesn’t need to know, she reminded herself.
Lizzie brightened. “I’ll have to talk to Brenda about her. We should have Brenda and Chip bring her over. We could all have dinner together. What do you think R.C.?”
R.C. had gone back to his paper, “Think about what?”
“We should have Brenda and Chip and the new math professor from the university over for dinner. She’s an old friend of theirs. They went to Duke together. What did you say her name was, Decky?”
“Charlie, I mean Dr. Charlene Warren. She goes by Charlie to her friends.” Damn, don’t sound so familiar. She’ll start digging for information.
R.C., who adored Brenda and Chip, spoke up, “I think that would be a good idea. We haven’t had a good dinner party in a long time. You’d come too, Decky?”
“Sure, I wouldn’t want to miss it.” Charlie was going to kill her.
“I’ll call Brenda and set it up. Do you know if she’s at home?” Lizzie was headed for the phone.
Almost too quickly, Decky said, “No, she isn’t home. She left when I did. I think she went over to the University for the day. I’ll see her tonight and tell her to call you.”
Lizzie stopped and returned to the table. “What’s going on tonight? It’s Tuesday, you don’t play ball on Tuesday.”
Decky had no choice; she had to answer. “Just a few of us, getting together for dinner.”
Lizzie was placing checks in envelopes as Decky finished them. To the untrained eye, she appeared to be nonchalantly making chitchat, but Decky knew better. The wheels were turning in that little white head; Lizzie was on a mission
to find out everything. She could not be stopped.
“That’s nice. Who’s going to be there?”
Decky tried a deflective move, “Just some friends of theirs, I’m not really sure who all will be there.”
“Well, I do hope you will wear something nice, instead of an old tee-shirt and shorts. Dress up sometimes. You are such a pretty girl, but you dress like a tomboy. You need to dress like a lady more often, it wouldn’t hurt.”
The deflection had worked. Lizzie was off on Decky’s way of dressing, her hair, and the fact that she didn’t wear a bra or makeup. This was good for at least thirty minutes of discussion and by then the checks would be signed and she could flee. R. C. decided to take the dogs for a walk. He had heard it all before.
Out on the Sound Page 9