Mules:: A Novel

by Jarred Martin

  “Really, I’m surprised you could get out of bed today.” Said Seve.

  “Yeah, I’ve got the resiliency of a cat.” Said Neesha

  “I’ve never seen a cat with a hangover,” said Seve.

  “That’s the point then, ain't it?”

  “There’s coffee,” said Els. “In the kitchen.”

  “Draw me a map and maybe I can find it while it’s still hot.”

  “I’ll take you.”

  “I’ll go too. I’m hungry. Fix some eggs or something.” Said Seve.

  For the second morning in a row Els and Neesha found themselves sitting on barstools around a kitchen island while Seve made them eggs.

  Neesha looked down into the black circle of her coffee cup, hot mist of steam rising. There was a dull pounding in her head to the rhythm of her heartbeat. She was hungover, but it wasn’t as debilitating as the day before. She had felt like her whole body was shutting down, but this was familiar. This she recognized. A couple cups of coffee and a good breakfast and she’d be sterling. If there were any more definite testament to her resiliency, none would be more suitable than the fact that her knee, at this point, was completely healed.

  Seve set plates in front of them and used a spatula to shovel the eggs out of the pan.

  He waited for them to start before he ate. He watched to see if they were satisfied. They didn’t complain and he picked up a bottle of hot sauce, drizzled it over his eggs and dug in.

  Karlstad wandered into the room, smelling food and using the opportunity to beg, sat on his rear and looked up, pitifully, at Els. She picked slices of mushroom out of the eggs with her fingers and fed them to the dog.

  “So,” said Neesha. “I’m all atwitter. What’s on the agenda for today, huh? I can hardly imagine what crazy-ass Ducktales adventure you’ve got planned for us.”

  Seve wiped his face with his napkin and threw it down over his plate. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to let your imagination run wild with all the possibilities that could have been. Because today, there is nothing. Nada.”

  “So you’ve finally grown tired of us, is that it? You’re going to turn us away like two sexy orphans? You can at least explain why the honeymoon’s over so early.”

  “No, no. It’s nothing like that. I have some business to take care of today. I won’t be back until tonight, so you’ll have to make your own fun here while I’m away.”

  “No babysitter?”

  “You’re both big girls. I trust you.”

  “So, what kind of business?”

  “None of yours,” said Seve obnoxiously.

  “Har-fucking-har. But we’re doing something when you get back, right? You can’t expect us to be in this house all day and not take us out when you get back. We’ll be all wound up like dogs finally let loose from a kennel.”

  “Oh, we’re definitely doing something tonight. But I can’t tell you. It’s a surprise. I think you’re going to like it, though. Something you’ve never done before, I can guarantee.”

  “What is it? Tell me. Or let me guess. Is it bigger than a breadbox?”

  “Cute.” Seve said, getting up. “But you’ll just have to wait till I get back to find out.” He looked at his watch. “I’ve actually got to be leaving about now. There’s food, champagne and beer in the fridge, liquor cabinet’s unlocked and the bar is stocked if you want that. Relax, go for a swim, or watch T.V. there’s some weed in a drawer in the drawing room, help yourself, and I’ll be back in a few hours, okay? If you really want to surprise me, you could put these dishes in the washer for me, though.”

  Neesha pouted dramatically, ignoring the request to clean up. “But that’s so long, and I’ll bet all your DVDs are bootleg and dubbed in Spanish. Try and hurry back.”

  “I promise.” Seve checked his reflection in the glass cabinet and smoothed a stray hair and straightened his collar. “Alright then, I’m off. Come on, Karlstad,” he called to the dog. Karlstad got up and followed his master out of the room and out of the house.

  Neesha looked at Els. “He’s never coming back, do you think?”

  Els shrugged. “There’s worse places women have been abandoned in Mexico.”

  TWENTY FOUR

  They had driven the blue Volvo into Blancasinato earlier that day. It was getting late and Gusano had the stink of desperation on him. All day he and Primo had tailed girls, the white ones they could find that had big tits, but nothing was paying off. The two of them had walked the maze of open-air restaurants, bazaars and street markets and came out holding their dicks. Figuratively in Gusano’s case, literally in Primo’s. Gusano watched bemused as his associate scratched and pulled indiscreetly at the crotch of his pants as they walked through the market.

  “Do you have to do that right here in public? Didn’t the animals who raised you teach you any shame?”

  “It’s alright, nobody’s looking.”

  “There’s a difference between nobody’s looking and everyone around you trying not to stare.”

  “I got an itch, I scratch it.”

  “You see that kid over there? Five years old and his balls are itching like he’s got crab lice made out of poison ivy, and he’s keeping his hands in his pockets. You wanna know why? Because he’s exercising a bare minimum of self control and public decency. He’s watching you out of the corner of his eye, walking around grabbing your dick and balls like a fucking ape, he’s embarrassed for you. I can tell.”

  “It’s these pants. They’re made out of wool or something. Plus we been walking around all day. And who made you the. . . the guy who tells people whats manners and what’s not, huh? I think you’re just pissed because you let the blond girl get away.”

  Gusano didn’t have a response to that. He was right, he was pissed because they spent two full hours following a couple of young women, one with magnificent cleavage, waiting for an opportunity. When one finally did come about, they went to the bathrooms and Gusano and Primo waited outside for a half hour and they never came out. Gusano stormed in the place furious and kicked in every stall, but they were gone. Both girls. Just fucking gone. The bathroom had an exit that led out the back. That one was a trophy fish and Gusano had let her get away like an amateur who didn’t know what he had on the line and snapped it trying to reel her in.

  They wandered aimlessly for a bit, Gusano not really looking anymore.

  “What about her?” said Primo.

  “What about who?”

  “Her.” Primo pointed out an elderly woman, probably early seventies, feeling up pears at a fruit stand.

  “Are you fucking serious? She looks almost dead already. You think she’s gonna survive forced surgery and a trip across the border?”

  Primo shrugged. “I don’t know. Old people have operations all the time. My gramma, she’s like eighty and she had her gallbladder out. She’s doing okay.”

  “Remind me, did your gramma have surgery on a kitchen table by a guy who has to get shit-faced so his hands won’t shake, or was it in a hospital?”

  “Oh it was definitely in a hospital. I don’t know if the doctor was drunk. You don’t think he might have been, do you?”

  “I think your mother was drunk the entirety of her pregnancy.”

  Primo scratched himself again. “Yeah, she was. So what do you think, it’s getting late and I don’t think it’s happening. You think it’s about time to give up? I was kinda wanting to go see the dogs tonight.”

  “Yeah, let’s get out of here. I’m wanting to go see the dogs myself.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah, don’t sound so fucking surprised. I like the dogs as much as the next guy.”

  “Alright. I just thought you’d prefer to play checkers or something.”

  “You know, I can’t say I break out the checkerboard very often. Is that your game? Checkers?”

  “Yeah, I can play it. I’m pretty good.”

  “If you can play checkers half as good as you were playing with your dick just now I think
you’d be a grand champion.”

  “King me,” Primo said, offering an uncharacteristically canny joke.

  “C’mon,” said Gusano, “lets blow.”

  TWENTY FIVE

  Neesha floated face-up in the pool, looking at the sunset sky, the streaks of pink across the blue and the purple undersides of clouds. The moon was just coming out clear even thought the sun hadn’t fully set. It was all so beautiful. She drifted, weightless, feeling untethered in the cooling water, like she could float into the sky and hang suspended with the celestial bodies. Maybe she had smoked too much today.

  She drifted to the side and raised her head to peek over the edge at Els. She had been poolside all day, reclining in a modern lounge seat that sort of resembled a massive white tongue unfurling. She had a bathing suit on, Neesha presumed. She didn’t know for sure because she hadn’t taken off her robe. Neesha sensed a self-consciousness that she tried to remedy by pleading with Els to get into the pool with her.

  She declined. “It’s getting dark anyway,” she said. “Don’t you think you should be getting out soon?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll spend the rest of my life in this pool and you can dangle raw fish over the edge to feed me. I would only communicate with you in squeaks and honks, and you could teach me to dive through hoops for treats.”

  Els got out of the pool chair and got a towel for Neesha. She stood by the pool and held it open, inviting Neesha to let her wrap her in it. Els watched her get out, that lean, hard body with beads of water dripping off, small perky breasts and abs that seemed carved straight onto her abdomen. It was the body Els would never have no matter what she did.

  Neesha took the towel from her. “Getting a good look, pervo?”

  “What?” Els didn’t realize she was staring. “No. Whatever. You’re high.”

  “Yeah, right. I know I’m fine as hell. I’d be staring too if I ever saw a body that looked this good.”

  “So modest, too,” Els joked.

  “I’m modest? You’re the one that won’t take off her bathrobe. Seriously, what have you got under there? Is your body just one big mole or something?”

  “No,” Els said, suddenly very serious. “I just didn’t want to get wet, okay?”

  “Okay.” Neesha realized that she had maybe taken it too far. What if she had been in a car accident or something? she wondered. She’s covered in scars. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be. . . whatever, alright?”

  “You were just joking, it’s okay,” said Els. Neesha didn’t really believe it was okay. She made a mental note not to joke like that with Els anymore.

  Later, as full dark settled in over Blancasinato, Neesha stepped out of the shower, glad to have the stink of chlorine off her. She came into her room and was surprised to see Els sitting on the edge of her bed.

  “Oh, hey,” said Neesha.

  Els didn’t acknowledge her. She sat still on the bed and fumbled absently with the tie on the front of the robe, running her hands along the length of it.

  “Okaaay,” Neesha said, puzzled. She turned and opened her armoire. “What are you going to wear tonight? I’m thinking something cas’, but maybe I’ll have something nicer on standby if we’re-” She turned around, ready to ask Els if she was listening.

  Els was off the bed now, standing with her robe pooled around her feet. She was completely nude, arms languid and tanned to the shoulders. Her eyes, glassy and vulnerable, gleamed in the light. Her white belly curved out slightly above her too-wide hips, and in the center, a thick black tangle of unkempt pubic hair. Her legs were smooth and stubby and her immense breasts drooped down, cumbersome, soft and weighty. A deep cut on one breast held together with stitches.

  Neesha wanted to look away. She was uncomfortable, like she wasn’t just seeing skin exposed, but every fear and shame, every abhorrence and loathing this girl felt about her body was on full display. It was screaming at her to be observed and assessed. And to be accepted. She dared not look away, because to do so would cripple Els when she was so vulnerable. So she looked.

  “I see you,” she said. “I really do. I don’t know what stares back at you when you look in a mirror, but it’s not what’s in front of me. You maybe can’t see yourself because your image gets distorted by whatever fucked-up shit- ideas about how things are supposed to look or the impossible forms we’re told bodies are supposed to take. You’re beautiful. If you could see what I do, what everyone else who looks at you sees. You don’t have objectivity, you see an imperfection and you fixate on it, but no one else can see it but you, I promise. You are beautiful, and someday you’re going to realize it, and I hope it’s soon.”

  Neesha looked into her bitter, shimmering eyes- she could only just begin to understand the courage it took for Els to bare herself; like a snail abandoning its shell on a busy sidewalk, finally unafraid of the massive feet thundering down around it. She went to Els and wrapped her arms around her in wordless embrace while Els’ arms dangled at her sides.

  She held her mouth over Els’ ear and spoke softly. “Let’s get dressed, okay? We’ll get dressed and go out. But don’t forget what’s underneath your clothes, alright? It’s power. You have to understand the power in a woman’s body, every man wants it, and if we could plug a light bulb into it, it would shine brighter than the sun. Do you believe me?”

  She felt Els nod her head slightly.

  “Then let me hear you say it.”

  “There’s power,” Els repeated meekly. “There’s power in my body.”

  “That’s right, baby. And you could turn the Earth with it.”

  She bent down and picked up Els’ bathrobe and helped her back into it.

  “Now go put on something nice. And remember,” she caught Els as she was stepping through the doorway, “You’re not trying to hide yourself, to cover yourself up. You’re only accentuating what you have and creating a little mystery about what’s underneath.”

  Els gave a thin smile and was gone.

  TWENTY SIX

  All the lights were on as Seve pulled into the drive. Maybe the girls are a little nervous to be there alone, he thought. He parked his Lexus in the courtyard, got out and went into the house where he found Neesha sitting in the drawing room as he had left her, but now she had changed into a light summer dress with short sleeves, acorn yellow, with comfortable strappy sandals. She was digging into the bowl of a glass pipe with a ball-point pen. She set the pen aside and tapped the pipe against an ashtray.

  “Oh hey,” she looked up at Seve with deeply red eyes, “I was just about to pack a bowl.”

  “One of many, I assume.”

  “You know me.”

  Seve took his jacket off and hung it on the back of a chair. “I think I’m beginning to. Should I ask what you did all day, or just use my imagination?”

  Neesha shrugged. “Depends on what you imagine.”

  Seve stuck out two fingers and touched his temple, humming flamboyantly like a theremin. “Yes, it’s clear. I can see it now.” He paused for effect. “You smoked yourself back to the stone age and ate all my junkfood, then you fucked around by the pool.”

  “My God. Only one man on Earth could have such adept powers of observation. You’re Batman, aren’t you? You can tell me. It makes sense. You live alone in a mansion. You’re a wealthy man about town by day, but when the shadow of night falls over the city, you put on a cape and fight crime, don’t you?”

  “If I were Batman I wouldn’t have such a cheerful disposition. Also Batman had a butler, I think, no?” He took the pipe and put a flame to the bowl. He set it down on the table and blew out a heavy gray cloud. He sighed wearily. His shoulders dropped a bit as he relaxed.

  “Hard day at work?”

  “Not even close,” he smirked.

  Neesha took the pipe from the table and lit it, inhaled deeply and passed it back to Seve.

  “So where’s your friend?” he asked. “Had enough second hand smoke for one day, eh?”

  Neesha
’s eyes moved down to the floor. “I don’t know. She was having a thing earlier. She’s acting a little weird, and I think something very odd has come over her. Shit, I don’t know what I’m talking about. But do me a favor, okay?”

  “What?”

  “Just, when she comes downstairs, tell her she looks good, okay? And mean it.”

  “I don’t think that will be a problem. I think your friend is a very beautiful girl. Very lovely. There’s a depth to her I don’t think we’ve even begun to discover.”

  “Well, I think she could probably do with hearing that from you. She’s going through a thing. It’s hard to say. But just be nice to her.”

  “Of course.”

  They passed the pipe back and forth until it was cashed. Neesha offered to pack some more, but Seve waved her off.

  Somewhere in the house they could hear Els moving. Neesha tensed, preparing herself for the worst: Els shuffling about the house with that ambiguous look on her face, slack and impassive, revealing a mental retreat while her body was left behind to bear the brunt of reality. There was no way to prepare herself for what she saw when Els finally did come into the room. The shock hit Neesha so hard she did a double take and had to physically check to see if her mouth was hanging open.

  Els crossed the threshold into the room, a shy but confident smile barely perceptible. Stunning wasn’t a word that was in heavy rotation in Neesha’s vocabulary, but it was the word that lit up in her mind like a neon sign.

  She was wearing a simple but graceful black dress, cut a couple of inches above the knee, V-cut neckline displaying modest cleavage. Her hair was up, exposing her slender neck and small diamond stud earrings.

  She stood by the entrance fingering the thin strap of her matching clutch. “Well, say something.”

  Neesha, who was still in the grip of awe from seeing the transformation of Els from a girl whom she had only seen wearing a variety of T-shirts to this elegant and self-possessed woman in front of her, couldn’t think of anything to say but, “Wow!”

  “You look absolutely gorgeous,” said Seve.