Dr. Feelgood (14 page)

He put his royal blue Cadillac in park. “I hope you understand why I did that, boy.”

“Yes, sir.” My head was throbbing.

“I did it to keep you from being funny, you know, girlie. You worried me the other day. Always around your mom and sister. You’ll thank me one day.”

“Yes, sir.”

A minor smile arrived. “Where’d you learn that spell your name routine?”

“Sir?”

“You snuck and watched a porno movie from the garage, huh?”

“Yes, sir.”

Pleasure lived in his eyes, which was rare.

We went inside of the nighttime-filled house through the back door, and my first stop was the bathroom, where I immediately turned the lock. I peed with the force of a fire hydrant. I held my dick in my hand and it looked like it was blushing with a cockiness that beamed with the pride of its virgin experience. If only my upper head agreed.

I wanted to hop in the shower so darn fast that it would have been just fine if I could have left on all my clothes. I turned on the shower and heard my mother knocking on the door.

“Makkai, what are you doing?” She was loud and spoke quickly.

“I’m about to take a shower,” I yelled over the sound of the pounding water.

“Where have you been?”

“With Dad.”

“Roosevelt, where did you take that boy until this time of morning?” Her voice grew fainter. “Where have you been?”

“Nothing. We were just out.” He closed the bedroom door after my mom, and they went to bed.

Not long after that, Mom packed up a very pregnant Fonda and me, rented a U-Haul trailer, took some cash out of Dad’s wallet and hit the road, headed to the West Coast. Her only stop before we hit the main highway was an attorney’s office to file for a divorce. Dad moved Erskalene in two days later, before we even arrived in Los Angeles.

Fonda and the baby died a few months later of complications from giving birth. Mom never got over losing her only girl and her only grandchild, and I never got over losing my other half, my best friend, my playmate, my baby sister. Mom didn’t
want Dad at the funeral but he came anyway. He always did what she didn’t want him to do. Like be faithful.

“Hello,” I answered after snatching my phone from the coffee table in an instant, awakened from my daydreaming state, in my family room without a family.

“Dr. Worthy?”

“Yes.”

“The results are in for your patient, Mrs. Reynolds.”

“Oh, yes.”

“She has high levels of organic acids, creatinine and nitrogen, and the urinalysis indicates high levels of urea and sodium. And both the biopsy and CT scan indicate a high density of microvessels.”

My attention was focused. “So we’ll need to get the cancer specialist to see her right away. Ask Dr. Lois Taylor to see her and do an oncology referral, please. I’ll be in tomorrow morning. Call me again if you need me.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Thanks, Nurse.”

Just an example of the realities of my life and my career … trying to save people, when life goes on all around me. Even when they place their trust in me, I know, above all else, that faith in God is the only thing that gets us through. No matter what else is going on.

I
met this man outside of a south bay Target store last summer. He seemed a little bit shy, or at least I thought he was just from the fact that he’d smile and stare me down but wouldn’t open his mouth. But it was like he had x-ray vision. Like he could see the shade of my crimson thong underneath my perfectly broken-in pair of form-fitting jeans. I kept catching him checking me out from behind as I’d looked back at him. He was a butt man for sure.

When I was about to approach my Nissan, he got in this huge new platinum Mercedes and began backing out. He had to slam on his brakes to keep from actually hitting me with his rear bumper. His car jerked to a halt. I jumped back, looking like I’d lost all cool. My heart dropped straight to my knees. And then I blushed with embarrassment once he got out to check on me. I wondered if he did that back up thing on purpose. Probably so. Suddenly, my heart returned to my chest. He smiled, flexing a single muscle at the right side of his mouth. My heart again dropped to
my knees. The next night, we were in a La Quinta hotel down the street backing things up for real. Together.

That’s how I met Makkai. It was all about sex from the very beginning.

That summer we did get out and at least see a movie or two. We even went to eat a few meals in public if and when my husband was out of town. But, we tried to be cool because he knew my situation and I knew his. He wasn’t ready to commit to anyone, and I was already committed to someone.

But, here’s how my husband found out about the very talented, screw-your-wife doctor. This is what prompted the choking.

“That was the best we’ve ever had together,” Makkai said as he rolled off me.

I lay back wearing only my bra, breasts spilling out over the black lace cups, as I was coming out of a rapid panting pattern. “Yes, it was.”

“It’s like you cum just for me.”

“I do. Lord knows I don’t get this type of treatment at home.”

“Okay, now, I don’t wanna know.”

I rolled to my right side to face him. “Why are you so closed down to hearing about my life?”

He stared up at the ceiling, left hand behind his head. “Not about your life, but about your wifely duties.”

“How do you deal with it? I don’t think I could if I knew you belonged to someone else.”

“I try not to think about it. That’s why I don’t want to hear about it.” He barely blinked.

“So you’re just fine knowing someone else’s dick is inside of me other than yours.”

“See, that’s what I don’t want to envision. But, if you think about it, whether you’re dealing with a married person or not, any woman a man sleeps with could have had someone up inside of her that morning. Maybe knowing is better than not knowing. But, either way, I just protect myself.”

I pointed down to that now loose-fitting rubber glove he still wore. “That condom only keeps you from getting someone pregnant or getting AIDS, not from bonding to someone you know.”

“Bonding, the
B
word. That takes a concentrated effort. Hormonally it can happen, but you’ve got to know what you want, what you can do, and what you can’t do.”

I rolled on my back, sharing the view of the ceiling with him. “So how many other women do you sleep with?”

In an instant, he stood up and made a beeline to the bathroom. “Now see, those are the kind of questions that worry me. You’re either wanting more or you’re getting jealous, now which one is it?”

I spoke to his back, and the view of his tight, muscular behind. “I’m … I’m just trying to get inside the head of a player to see how he does his thing, that’s all.”

“Seems to me you’re a player, too, Salina. I do it the same way you do. I enjoy being with you.” He closed the bathroom door.

“And I enjoy being with you.”

He yelled for volume. “You just keep things tight at home and make sure …”

I reached for my chiming cell. “Hello. Yes, baby, I know. What? You’re where? What are you doing
outside? I’m not with anyone.” Makkai stepped out of the bathroom with shock in his eyes. He tiptoed over to me. My voice grew louder. My hands were dizzy like my big-ass head. “No, I’m not going to tell you my room number. Tom, you need to go home. I just needed a little time to myself. Fine then.” I pushed the off button. “Fuck, my husband is outside somewhere.” I stood up, fumbling around for my things.

Makkai opened the bathroom door and just stood there naked. “How in the hell did he find out where you were?”

I frantically grabbed an array of balled up clothes as I spoke. “I don’t know. You’ve gotta go.”

“No, you do. You leave first.”

I wiggled my way into my cropped pants. “And then he’ll see me and burst in here.”

“No, you sneak out and he won’t know what room you were in. Believe me, he’s watching every man who comes out of here at this point. He’s not some psycho, is he?”

I hurriedly pulled my curly hair up into a banana clip. “He’s no passive man, I know that much.”

Makkai stood behind the closed door with his lengthy penis deflated. He waved his hand for me to proceed as he held tight to the doorknob. “Shit. Go, Salina. No, wait.” He pointed toward the window. “Peek out of the window first. Do you see him?”

I quickly tiptoed back toward the window as if my footsteps would be heard and peeled the heavy, diamond-patterned drape back slightly. But, all I
saw was a faraway parking lot full of cars. We were on the third floor of a fairly big hotel. “No.”

He motioned for me to head toward the door again. “Get out of here.” He turned the knob slowly and tucked himself between the door and the wall.

“I’m gone. Fuck,” was all I could say as I slipped on my dark sunglasses and tossed my cloth bag over my shoulder as he shut the door on my heels, locking and bolting it with force.

Problem was, Makkai and I sat up talking after our marathon fuckfest session until five in the dang morning. Didn’t realize how much time had slipped by. For the first time, I’d actually spent the night.

By the time I hopped in my car, my husband appeared from out of nowhere and stood at the hood of my car, wearing all white, looking like he was on a mission.

“Who were you with?”

“Tom, go home.”

His blue eyes were glassy and he gave me an empty look like nobody was home in the big bald head of his. He yelled through the windshield. “You go home. I’m not leaving until I see every damn car parked here drive away.”

I made sure to press the door lock button and then rolled down the passenger window, yelling toward the front of my ride. The thought of distracting him by changing the subject snapped into my consciousness. “Tom, you pissed me the fuck off yesterday when you commented about me having gotten my tubes tied years ago, like you regretted
not being able to be a father. I needed time to myself. I’m telling you, I was alone all night.”

He walked around toward the driver’s side window. “I was pissed at your comment that I was shooting blanks, but damn, you just disappear and shit? I’m not having that.”

“Tom, let’s go. We can work on this. Maybe try to find a way to reverse my procedure. I just never knew it bothered you. Why don’t you just talk about things instead of spilling them out when you’re angry?”

“Salina. Get home.” He walked away with Hulklike steps, still looking around for any suspicious, unknown person who could be the answer to his surefire detective work.

I yelled toward his back after starting my car. “How did you find me?”

“I’ll see you at home,” he said firmly and loudly, without looking at me as I backed out.

An hour later, I felt some semblance of security in the fact that once he got home and climbed in the shower, and I stepped in behind him, he seemed eerily calm and quiet. He got out first. We got dressed for the day, and he headed out to work, while I headed out to run errands.

To me, he seemed cool with everything. It was like he’d convinced himself that maybe he was imagining things. But, then he sent me a text message just as I pulled up to the bank parking lot.

Meet me at your lover’s place of business at the hospital in twenty minutes or else.

Oh fuck. And that’s when I jetted over to Makkai’s office from Torrance in record-breaking speed, only to find my husband’s Lexus truck
parked behind Makkai’s Benz. And the rest is history.

That husband of mine scrolled through my cell while I was finishing up my shower. He redialed the last few outgoing numbers until he hit the jackpot.

“M
ommy, where’s Makkai?” Treasure asked a month or so later.

Yes, my daughters still ask about Makkai every now and then. Especially Treasure. They don’t see him around anymore, ever since he got pissed at me for showing up at his door. And you’d think he’d at least check on me, since he thinks I’m expecting his child. I call him every now and then. Never at work, though. Usually on his cell but he doesn’t answer. Even his mother won’t pick up the phone when I call her.

I told my oldest, “I don’t know. He’s probably working. He’ll be back around soon.”

Or at least that’s what I’d hoped. I’d hoped he’d come to his senses and at least offer to take me to the doctor or something. He’s so tripped out by swearing that he always wore a glove that he can’t get past the fact that he’s the only man I’ve been with in a while.

Treasure said, “Mom, someone’s at the door.”

“Thanks, Boo. Isn’t it time for you to go to bed?

Go get your little sister and brush your teeth. I’ll be in there in a minute,” I said, headed to the front door.

“Yes, Mommy.”

I looked through the peephole and opened the door. “Hey, how’s it going?” I asked, greeting Stardust with an embrace. She stood, hugging a grocery bag. She looked sexy and yummy, in her jeans and peasant top, with a hot purse hanging from her shoulder. She always smelled like sugar cookie lotion.

Now, I didn’t say I hadn’t been with a woman recently.

“Good. You look pretty. Did you get your hair done?” she asked. Women seem to notice shit like that.

“I did. I got it done this morning. You look nice yourself. I love that teal bag. Where’d you get it?”

She stepped inside as I closed the door. “A lady at the club comes in once a week and sells them from the trunk of her car. You like it?” Obviously she meant the strip club where she works, or should I say, performs.

“Oh, yeah. That’s sweet.”

“I’ll have to get you one then.” She put the grocery bag on the dining room table and her leather purse on the chair. It had a big round, silver buckle and it looked extra roomy.

“That’s nice of you. How much are they?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“No, really. How much. I’ll give you the money.”

She put her soft hand on my forearm. “Georgia, really. I’ve got you.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Just allow yourself to be given to, that’s all.” Her smile was warm.

“Well, thanks. That’s really nice of you.”