BOMAW Vol. 10-12 (163 page)

"Em, figures - even so - you can skip yo'ass on back the way you came - I am not about to be yo'next. You jus' like the rest of them."

"No I'm not." He denied trying to keep step with her, she moved pretty fast to be walking with a limp and a cane.

"Yes you are!"

"How you know that? Damn, slow down, so we can talk, yo'lil cripple ass be moving."

That stopped her, she turned looking up at him, "Do not call me a cripple!"

"Damn! Don't get all sensitive and shit - I ain't mean nothin' by it - obviously you ain't - chill."

"Why are you following me?" She demanded.

"Where you going?"

"None of your business, I have places to go - I'm not about to let a messed up leg stop me."

"That's clear ... look, you ain't got to walk, I'ah take you - com'on." Max offered the ride, reaching out to touch her arm.

"Get your hand - off of me! Did I give you permission to touch me?"

He snatched his hand away, "No ma'am." He grinned, "Come on Shorty, why you actin' up on me?"

Leaning heavily on her cane she glared up at him, "You really wanna know?"

"I ask didn't I."

"Okay, here it is. I've been saving myself - for you. I have loved you, from the first moment I saw you. But you never noticed me. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that I don't shake my ass - dress like a damn hoochie, flashing my tits for advertisement. I dress like this, because I want to be seen, not my tits and ass. Moniqua more yo'kind of woman, might I suggest you head off and find another like her?"

Max smiled down at her, "You so cute, you really - truly, a virgin? I mean - not ever - ever ever ever?"

"No, not ever. I'm not stupid, I know that because of the way I am, who I hang with - and what I do, fixing cars, driving - or used to drive my shit - all the guys assumed what I was; hey, that worked for me, it kept them off of me, no biggie - 'cause long as I got to hang with you, I was happy - but you know what, life is short. And you, are only in it, for yourself - you do not give a damn about me."

Max barely heard all of that, "You think I'm special, huh?" He asked cheesing.

"See! Did you hear a thing I said to you?"

"Yeah, you said I was special."

"I ain't said shit!"

"You ain't say that back there, when we was with the rest'uv'em?"

"You obviously suffer from that same ol'thing most men do, that is - hearing only what you wanna hear - to hell with the rest."

"So, you still want me?"

"No, you see, I have raised the bar now. Laying in that hospital, waiting on you to come and see about me, woke my stupid ass up! You never showed up once to check on me, see how I was doing."

"Yes I did!" He defended himself.

"Quit lyin'! When?"

"When we was in the hospital, I came by your room."

"Oh whoop'de'damn'doo! You was already in there - bored, cause Moniqua wasn't showing up for you! That don't count, after you were dismissed, I was in that hospital for almost three damn weeks, went through two surgeries, where was yo'ass? Huh? Exactly! Get the hell out my face."

"I ain't know, how was I suppose to know?" He mumbled, using the innocent boy with the doleful eyes. She half expected him to go, 'well shucks.' while picking a crack in the sidewalk with the toe of his shoe. "You know I ain't know how you feel, I just thought - you know - you like hangin' around, that's all."

"You so full of shit Max - it ain't gone work, besides, it's gone, all gone."

He changed tactics at hearing that, "Now who lyin'? You know you still want me, if you didn't, you wouldn't be mad at me now. I know I ain't perfect-..."

"Ain't nothing more true than that!" She turned to walk off again.

"Come on now, cut this out, I'mo give you a ride." He pleaded.

"I do not need, you - to give me a ride, I will get myself - my own ride, again, so no thank you."

He reached out grabbing gently onto her arm, "Why you bein' like this? Long as you been around me Shorty, how long it's been now, four, five years now?"

"Too long, that's how long."

"Can we please go somewhere, just the two of us, to talk, that's all, just talk?"

"Why? What you gone say? What you tryin' t'say?"

"What you think I'm tryin' t'say?"

Shorty turned back once more, lifted a dark brow, leaning on her cane again, "Hmmm, let me think about this? When did you cut Moniqua?"

"Today!" He quickly answered.

"What do I think huh? I think you drove off from her, and thought to yourself, 'Now where I'm gone get me a spare right quick? Ah, Shorty, see what she up to.' That's what I'm thinking you tryin' to say."

"You know what, you complicatin' thangs, don't complicate it - like you said, life is short, time is a precious thing - let's not waste it."

"You know what Max, you so right, let's not waste any more time, let me lay it right out on the line for you, okay? I want you - to treat me the way a woman wants to be treated. I want you to work to get me. I want you to bring me flowers. I want you to take me out and surprise me with the places you take me. I want you to put some thought and preparation into it, because I want something unexpected. Should you by any chance, take up this matter and actually do so, don't expect to be crawling into my bed, to test if what I'm saving, is really so - because either I am worth it to you to do it, or I'm not. I want to be treated like a lady, to be respected - because you know what, I've earned it - I want it."

"How I know you earned it?"

"Don't worry about it - there's plenty of fish in the sea, right? Or bitches, as you all call them."

"I ain't never called a woman a bitch that wasn't one."

"Good for you, I gotta go."

"Hang on hang on - I don't even know where you live?"

Shorty stopped looked over her shoulder at him, "Got a computer?"

"No!"

"Know how to use one?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Get one. When you do, I'll give you my email address - we'll start there."

A look of pain crossed Max's features, "Aaah come on now, you kiddn' me right?"

"Nope - I'm serious. I've saved myself a long time - and if you gone get me, you gone get me on my terms, or not at all. You gone do right by me, or - head on back and wait for the hoochies to come out, they be wakin' soon - out on the hunt." This time when she strode off, she kept going and he let her.

He stood in place watching the distance between them grow, exhaling and shaking his head, he turned and walked back to the others.

"Man, whassup wit' that look on yo'face? You gone get in that or what?"

"Good question, problem is, I'm not allowed to answer it, the lady has spoken."

*

Wisconsin, Camp Daniel's - Monday evening...

Vivian whimpered, her bottom lip quivering, her body shaking, her feet nervously stomping the floor of the truck, gripping the steering wheel as if it were a life saver, shaking her head trying to calm down from crying.

"Vivian! Come on darlin'! It'll be all right, I promise you, they'll be gone by the time I move you in, promise! They're just as scared of you, as you are of them, I thought we got'em all." Jake pleaded at the truck window, which was rolled all the way up, door locked, watching his fiancée shake her head having a fit, refusing to unlock the truck and get back out again.

"It was a ra-a-a-at! A ra-a-a-a-at! A ra-a-a-a-at touched me - touched my leg... oh Lord Jesus please - please save me - somebody sa-a-a-ave me! Sa-a-a-a-ve me please! Lord - Lord - oh Sheila-a-a-a-a - Sheila-a-a-a-a come and get me, please come get me, rat touch my leg."

"Baby it was running, you were blockin' it's exit that's all - he just wanted to get by you."

"I wanna go ho-o-o-o-o-ome! I wanna go ho-o-o-o-o-ome! Sheila-a-a-a-a - come and get me-e-e-e!"

"Vivian, baby come on - they're harmless, really they are..." Jake pleaded, looking up to see Ben driving into their yard. He smiled, waved, happy to see him as he stepped out of the car walking towards him.

"I'm here!" He announced and then looked into the windshield of the truck, to see Vivian sitting at the steering wheel, shaking her head, tears rolling down her face.

"What happened, what's wrong?" He asked right away.

Jake grinned sheepishly, "My darlin's going through a bit of adjustment - she had her first encounter with a little critter."

Ben smiled as it dawned on him what he meant, "What kind of a little critter?"

"Oh, pretty decent size rat - we were uh, heading up the stairs, she was in front of course, it was coming down - she panicked, it panicked, all hell broke loose - one minute she was there, next minute, she was gone, I can't for the life of me, remember how she got past me, I think she jumped over the banister, not sure, anyway, I found her out here in the truck, God almighty I swear she's got wings. Never in my life seen a woman who can move so fast." He turned back to the truck, "Come on Vivian, I wanna finish showing you the house." He pleaded.

She shook her head, "No! I ain't goin' back in there!"

"They're probably all gone now - you screamin' to high heaven, I can't imagine there's anything living left in there after that." He went on, leaning against the truck, both hands on top as he stared in at her, smiling. "You can't go no where, I got the keys, remember?" He reminded her gently. "Come on, it'll be fine this time, and Ben is here."

She threw her head back and screamed, "I AIN'T GETTIN' OUT OF THIS TRUCK!!!" quite adamantly.

"Ah dad, I don't think, she's getting out of that truck." Ben pointed out.

Jake stood away from the door, his eyes going to Ben and then back to Vivian, shaking his head, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out the keys, "Here, go back to Shanna's."

She opened the door, snatched the keys out of his hand, started the truck, "At least give me a kiss goodbye!" Jake blurted, but all he got was dust kicked up from that truck pulling out at top speed. Ben couldn't help it, he started cracking up. "You have got your work cut out for you, don't be surprised if we get back there and she's got her bags packed to head back to Chicago."

"The hell she is, she's here to stay! I'll let her off the hook for now, but this is home."

"Good luck on getting her to come back - I'll help where I can, wanna get busy on it then - or else she'll be moving in with Aunt Shanna for good."

The two turned heading in as they laughed with Jake telling him in animated fashion what took place. Followed by showing him what materials he had there, at the same time he gave him a tour of the house and what he wanted done first. "I must get the new plumbing in and all piped up - then call out the surveyor and building inspector to pass it before I can do the electric. A lot of it is already done in the basement because of a leek, but I have to get it through the rest of the house. And the same for the electric - until then, I can't get started on the rooms." Jake explained and went on to show him the plans he had for installing two more additional bathrooms when there had originally been two. One upstairs, another downstairs. Now, there would be another in the master bedroom, and the second additional one in the basement which would give them four baths through out the house. Therefore, additional plumbing would be required for them, as well the laundry room in the basement and kitchenette. Because Sylvia's house had two kitchens basically, he felt he had to provide the same for Vivian considering their home was bigger than Sylvia and Shawn's present home. He had big plans for their basement, in fact for the entire place, he was determined not to waste even a corner. The entire house was to be serviceable from attic to basement and every nook and cranny in between. Together, they began marking the floors and walls that would have to be cut to allow the pipes to be fed through. The blessing was, that most all of the rooms were large, spacious, plenty enough space to add the bathrooms, walk in closets and whatever else he had planned. They worked until close to nine getting quite a bit done, laughing and talking as they went. Jake knew he had to be at work early the next morning and decided to call it a night, inviting Ben to come back with him to Shanna's.

"No I better not, I have some work to do on some photos I took while in L.A. - gonna head back to grandma's before it gets too late, I'll pick myself something up on the way."

When Jake walked into Shanna's he was saw-dusty and dirty, looking for Vivian. She had been at the sink, and looked up at him right away after entering, "Jake, I don't know about that house." She whined.

"Oh don't start, give me time, I'll have it cleared."

"Rats Jake! Oh my god, I can't deal with rats." She carried on following him into the bathroom.

"Get me some underwear, and my loungers." He asked, stripping down to jump in the shower.

"What about the rats Jake?" She asked, doing as he'd asked, entering their room to get what he liked to wear when they were alone and in bed.

"When I'm done, there won't be any rats, promise."

She wasn't so sure, and it showed on her face as she walked back into the bathroom to see him naked, leaning in the shower and testing the temperature. She loved the look of his long lean body, nice rear and strong wide back. But then he stood and stepped in and of course, she couldn't help but wince at his front package. Looking at it, made her wonder how in the world did his jeans hide all of that? It just didn't seem possible that he could look so normal when she knew he was anything but, normal. His chuckle brought her eyes up to see him looking at her with amusement, "What's up with that expression on your face? Don't know what you're more afraid of, that rat or my dick."

"JAKE! Must you say, that word, can't you call it something else?"

He only laughed at her, pulled the glass door closed to keep the water from the shower in, while he poured shampoo into his palm and lathered it into his hair. Vivian found herself standing in the bathroom, lost and dazed staring at him through the foggy glass, as he washed his body, amazed once more where she found herself. Earlier, she'd come home and got right on the phone to Sheila, crying like a big baby. Sheila only laughed at her, telling her there were bigger rats in Chicago, some on two legs, deal with it. It only took Sheila a few minutes before Vivian was laughing at herself, because of course, a house that old would have rats. But still.