Connections

by R. H. Vesely

  It was Saturday night and she had just gone into the kitchen for a soda where she found her mom pouring herself another Pimm's No. 1, likely her third of the evening.

  "Honey, I think its time we had a bit longer talk about things."

  Kelley from the tone knew this was likely to be about the male species or boys as her mom had used in their previous brief talk about this five years earlier. Then it had been about dancing close and kissing and how this was normal if kept innocent. Her mom had stressed "you just don't want to do it too much or boys will think you're cheap and be mean." She had also added that boys were less mature than girls so it was easy for girls to sort of control them if they were smart. At the time, Kelley thought to her self, fat chance any boy is going to want to dance close or kiss me and in fact she was right, this was not something she had had to worry about then. However, Kelley was an absorber and what she did get from this talk was that not just boys but males generally could be fairly easily controlled by women. She began to notice this at home with her mother and father and with other couples at the drunken parties her parents had. It was somewhat of a revelation to her since she had always thought men were in control but it was becoming evident if women were smart, they were the ones really in control.

  "Remember we had a talk a few years back about boys?" "Well Kelley you are not a girl at dances anymore, you are a woman and boys and men are going to be after you and not just for kisses. Basically hon, young men have one thing on their mind and that is sex and you need to have one thing on your mind , not letting them have it."

  "So what do you know about sex?", her mom asked directly.

  Attending a Catholic girls school meant Kelley's knowledge of sex came from hidden books and conversations with her classmates some of whom had older sisters. So she knew what intercourse and blow jobs were but not in any experiential sense. She and her friends still harbored a concept of being virgins and that premarital sex was in some increasingly vague sense a sin.

  "Not much, I know what intercourse is and that's about it." It would have been just too weird to mention blow jobs to her mom.

  "You've had intercourse!"

  "No, no mom I just know what it is and how it happens."

  Maybe it was her mom's fourth or fifth Pimm's No. 1 thought Kelley.

  "The other reality is that you're going to feel things too and think about doing it, don't. If you do you are likely to end up pregnant and that will pretty much be the end of your life as you know it." She took another drink. "A baby at sixteen or seventeen years old is not a good thing, trust me. Hell don't even think about such a thing until you are out of college, hear me."

  Kelley knew, though it was never said, that this was precisely the mistake her mother felt she had made. The math was fairly obvious and her mom was a bit of a wild woman, especially when she got a few drinks in her, which was often and at present she was pretty well on her way.

  "The other thing is you can manipulate men pretty easily as long as you pay attention. Men just don't know how to deal with emotions or their lust, so if you are smart and don't get too drunk or high you can control them and keep them guessing."

  With her new found appeal, Kelley had already tried this on a couple boys at parties and was beginning to see how easy this was.

  "So I guess that is it hon, you have any questions?"

  "Ah, not right now mom but thanks."

  "Oh yeah I think you need to start trying to drink a little so you know what it feels like. So here is a taste. It probably won't taste great but believe me you will get use to it or else some type of liquor."

  In fact, Kelley had already tasted some beer provided by a friends older sister and while not her favorite taste, she found she did like the feeling of release it gave her.

  "Ok well that's good, lets go watch a little TV with everyone else."

  Kelley had to give her mom some credit for trying. They were never close due to her Mom's crazy mood swings but it was kind of fun that from this day forward her mom gave her a drink every once in a while when they were alone in the kitchen and her mom was drunk. A little shared mother daughter moment where her mother would drunkenly basically repeat their earlier talk but sometimes a bit more graphically than Kelley appreciated.

  "Ok, its all a matter of progressive touching. They're not going to go straight for your pussy."

  "Geez Mom!"

  "What? They'll probably slide their hand inside the elastic of your panties in the back, you know by your ass."

  "Jesus mom, a little too much information maybe its time to slow the booze down."

  "What, you gotta know this stuff, they're fuckin animals hon." "Ok, ok mom, thanks, let's change the subject. I think I have a enough insight for the moment."

  And so it went.

  Ia - MY god, give me a break, she is desperately looking to get away from the crazy mother. She will get on board anything that she thinks will float. This guy may be her floating plank but it will have little to do with what I think you call love or connectedness. I mean seriously.

  In - Ok, fairly put but remember you admitted the initial connect was something different. At first I thought like you when I went back to see some roots but then I started going forward. So all I ask is you give it a fair viewing.

  Ia - Ok, I will withhold ultimate judgment but I have watched this type many times before and they did not go where you are, I think, hoping to head. If I thought you would listen, I would suggest you start looking elsewhere for your nirvana.

  In - Open mind------ open mind.

  Chapter 3

  It had not been a great spring break so far for Pat. Pat had this streak in him where he could not bear to see someone he liked not doing what he thought was truly enjoying their one life. To Pat truly enjoying equated with challenging restrictions and trying to taste every aspect of life that he could get his hands on. As a result he had spent the last week in an attempt to expose his friend Marshall to the more active sides of life. It was not going well.

  Marshall was a simple, reasonably good looking friend who Pat had hooked up with at school because of their mutual interest in classic sports cars. While Pat dreamed from afar over these cars, Marshall and his father were actually restoring a red MGTD. As a result, Pat had spent many an hour with Marshall and his dad working on putting the car back together. In the process, Pat had the opportunity to observe how mind bogglingly straight and dull Marshall's parents and his upbringing were. On some level it completely baffled Pat, since Marshall's dad was classically handsome and his mom was strikingly beautiful but both were as nice and dull as the day is long.

  In what was perhaps a misplaced desire to awaken Marshall to life, Pat had suggested Marshall accompany him to Florida. To say Marshall was reluctant would be the classic understatement. However, Pat's persistence won out and surprisingly Marshall's parents agreed, largely because their only exposure to Pat had been his being at their home and working on the car where all they saw was a polite, friendly helpful young man. If they had known the drunken, anti-authoritarian Pat, it is certain Marshall would not have been Florida bound. It somewhat unfortunately turned out that Marshall's grand parents lived just north of Miami and so could "keep an eye" on Marshall. If Pat had known this, it is likely he also would have reconsidered the invitation but it was impossible to back out now. He was stuck. The first week in Florida had consisted of a brief visit to Pat's relatives who lived in Miami and then finding a cheap motel room up by Marshall's grandparents. It was immediately apparent that Marshall's grandparents were simply an older version of his parents. They had given Pat and Marshall a ride from the bus stop to their condo in a pristine, vintage, powder blue Ford Thunderbird. During this half hour drive, it should have taken ten minutes, they had not gone above twenty miles an hour. Pat sat in the back feeling sick for the V8 engine that powered the car. These were definitely not the type of old timers who came to life with retirement, Pat thought to himself, they were clearly not going to be able to borrow this
car for a night out.

  That night however Marshall's cousin came over to the motel with some beer and Pat thought perhaps things were looking up. He was dark haired, handsome and actually alive. His work was to design bars and nightclubs in Palm Beach to cater to the wealthy set. He was apparently so skilled at this that he was able to demand that after he had worked for long enough to collect unemployment, he would be laid off and work off the books if not finished. Then for the 18 weeks of unemployment he would live off his exorbitant fee and his unemployment check. Pat was beside himself with envy and pumped Dave for information as to how he came to this seeming nirvana. But Pat had also not given up on his task of livening up Marshall and so as he and Dave smoked outside the Motel room, at Marshall's insistence, he said,

  "Look, I don't know how well you know Marshall,--"

  "Actually, hardly at all."

  "Well perhaps you noticed that he is still sipping his first beer and we are on our third. So, he is not what you would call a party animal. In fact, I am not sure if he has really ever gone out much if at all."

  "Wow, you're kidding."

  "Anyway, here is my idea. I have to go up to a beach a little bit North of here in a couple days, to meet someone and I was thinking maybe you could take Marshall in to Palm Beach and try to hook him up with some one. I doubt if getting laid is in the picture but maybe a girl who would at least force him to loosen up a bit."

  "Yeah, well I am kind of in the middle of a big work project right now but I could probably set up a date for him. He would have to pick her up and take her somewhere but she would know where to go."

  "Man that would be great. I think it best if you work it into the conversation since I have been on him maybe a bit too much to try to live a little and he is brutally shy about the female thing."

  "Ok, I'll give it a try, but no promises."

  "Fair enough."

  Dave was incredibly smooth and within a short time had Marshall agreeing to be set up on a date so he could "see what Palm Beach was like at night".

  "Ok Marshall, it is now late Saturday night and tomorrow is Easter Sunday-----"

  "IT's what," interrupted Pat stammering.

  "So I will set something up for early next week. You can use my car and I'll get a ride back here to pick it up."

  "Today is Saturday and tomorrow is Easter Sunday," mumbled Pat to himself, "Shit!"

  "What's your problem," asked Dave.

  "I thought it was like Thursday, I've got to go meet this girl on the beach tomorrow," said Pat. "Not sure I am ready for it."

  "Why not," offered Marshall, "you sure talked about it enough on the plane down here. You getting cold feet, you going to wimp out," laughed Marshall now sipping his second beer and feeling looser.

  "Well to be honest, it was not a real well thought out thing, I was a bit high at the time, shit," said Pat.

  "Hey, nut up Pat, like you are always telling me, you woose," said Marshall definitely feeling his oats and now actually drinking his beer.

  "Ok, Ok, yeah, for sure," said Pat trying to convince himself.

  The next morning Pat headed to Route 1 and stuck out his thumb. He was tired and a little hung over but excited to see where this might go. He was not having much luck and thinking his long hair was making it tough. He had already been screamed at and given the finger by two cars of young rednecks. Christ, I guess Florida is still the South thought Pat. Then a huge bright yellow, vintage Cadillac convertible pulled up.

  "Where you headed," asked the driver.

  "West Palm," said Pat, noting the pornographic magazines and tapes on the white leather seat and the gold chains and black polyester shirt of the driver and thinking maybe not.

  "Great, hop in, I'm headed that way myself."

  Pat got in but immediately started calculating in his brain what he would do if the guy started to get weird or deviate from Route 1. The guy looked in his late thirties, had slicked back hair, dark silver sunglasses, a pair of pointy black Beatles boots, an unbelievably dark tan, a partially unbuttoned shirt revealing his gold chains and a big smile on his face.

  "Hi, names Norm, so what takes you up to West Palm, looking for some kind of action," said Norm.

  "Hi, I'm Pat, I'm supposed to meet a girl up there on the beach," said Pat trying to make clear right away that he was not into any weird sexual stuff.

  "Ah, a broad, well be careful my friend, they have been the curse of my existence. You see this car, nice huh. Well it and what I got in the trunk is about all that was left to me after the last one. That and the porno she threw at me as I ran out the door," laughed Norm picking up one of the tapes on the seat.

  "Funny thing is, she was the one who bought the damn stuff. You know not that I minded. I mean what the hell, watching a little porn while you're fucking, can be a great thing, right. Anyway, she finds a number in my pocket with a girls name, goes ballistic and tells me to get the hell out. Funny thing is, I didn't even do the broad whose number it was, actually I never cheated on her. I really liked her, but god, women. They're a different animal my friend," laughed Norm.

  "Yeah, not always easy to tell what they are thinking or what they are going to do," said Pat trying to keep up his end of the conversation.

  "So, whose the one you're going to meet. Some local babe you met at a bar," said Norm.

  Pat proceeded to give Norm an abbreviated version of how he met Kelley.

  "Wow, pretty cool and you didn't fuck. Sounds to me like she was ready. Did you bring anything with you," said Norm.

  "Nah, don't think it is going to be like that," said Pat.

  "You nuts, she wants you man and if you don't give it to her somebody else will. Look I'll give you a tip, if you want to hang on to her, you gotta learn to go downtown, you know what I mean. I love it personally, that's one of the reason women love me man. They don't get it from other guys," said Norm seriously.

  "Yeah, I know what it is," said Pat thinking to himself this guy is a riot. It's like having a ride plus live entertainment.

  "Don't sound too excited about it. Here, take this tape, it'll show you what you need to know to do it right," said Norm looking down and fishing through the pile of porn sitting next to him.

  "Look out!" yelled Pat and Norm quickly looked up and swerved onto the shoulder barely avoiding rear ending a car turning left.

  "Whoa, that was close," laughed Norm as he handed Pat a video with a man in a bowler hat, seated at an upright piano, his face buried in the crotch of a woman seated on the top of the upright, her legs around his face. It was titled Rug Time.

  "Ah, thanks but don't really have access to a VCR," said Pat holding back a laugh.

  "Too bad, great sound track," said Norm, as he went screaming off the road with dust flying, stopping in front of a small roadside store.

  "Be right back," said Norm as he hopped over the door and went inside.

  He came out with a bag in his hand and hopped back over the door and took off spewing dust and stones behind.

  "Ok, Pat, like your story, very cool, thanks for sharing. I got you a little selection of protection in the bag there. You gotta always be prepared and a young guy like you does not want anything calling him daddy for a while, if you get my drift," laughed Norm.

  "Gee, thanks", said Pat trying to think of where the hell he was going to put the bag full of condoms. In his early morning fog, he had stupidly forgotten to bring his back pack and there were way too many to cram in his pockets.

  "You're welcome my friend and here you are, Holiday Inn, and don't forget what I told you about taking care of business," said Norm as Pat got out and Norm sped away.

  Pat found himself standing at the edge of the Beach next to the Holiday Inn. Suddenly it dawned on him, " Jesus, I'm not sure what she looks like.I know her eyes, I know her smile, I know her face but how the hell am I going to find her amongst this mass of people."

  The only thing keeping Pat from panic at this point was the fact he was a bit hungover. He quickly scan
ned the area for females but no sense of recognition jumped in to his addled brain.

  Then, like a phoenix rising, he spotted a small dark haired Bikini clad figure swinging her arms back and forth over her head and there was no longer any question in his mind. It was her. Elation would not accurately describe what Pat felt. It was as if time had stopped and the only thing that moved or even existed was this moving figure. If he had not experienced it, he would not have believed such a feeling possible. He couldn't move.

  Kelley came running over to him and jumped on him with a big hug. She was hot and soft and smelled wonderfully of coconut oil. She released him and they held hands and stared at each other smiling.

  "You made it. I can't believe it," she said with a laugh.

  "It is amazing isn't it. I mean there was just that one night and here we are," said Pat.

  "Yeah, here we are," said Kelley as she gave him another hug.

  "Let me get my stuff and we can go to the hotel so you can meet my grandmother. She is dying to meet you. Hey, what's in the bag? Did you get me a present," said Kelley with a smile.

  "Ah, no sorry, just some medicine that I had to pick up for my friend Marshal. He is feeling a bit sick," said Pat.

  "Oh, gee, sorry. Ok well I'll be right back don't go anywhere," laughed Kelley.

  Kelley gathered up her towel and book and they headed over to the Holiday Inn holding hands, turning occasionally to smile stupidly at each other. Pat thought to himself, this is magic and unbelievably it was not just in my head, I am smitten beyond belief.