Returning to Your Roots

I almost dropped the phone as I sat down hard on the edge of my bed, a long drawn out emotional, "No!" filled the small dorm room.

My startled roommate dropped his comic book and looked at me hard. "Dude, what the fuck is your problem?"

"My dad died yesterday and my mom wants me home as soon as possible."

"Man, that sucks, what with the frat initiations in a couple of days. You've got the best shot of anyone I know in this dorm."

I stared at Mark as if he had two heads. "Fuck the initiations, my dad died you moron."

"Hey, that's never a good thing either," Mark replied as he tried to find his place again in the comic book.

I just sat there shaking my head slowly. Mark was a good guy, even if he was a moron of the lowest order. This was his third year as a sophomore and next year already looked like his fourth. He missed more classes than he made and passed almost none of the tests. Between smoking dope and reading comic books, he never had time for studying. At least he was quiet and peaceful most of the time.

With a deep sigh, I stood up. "I guess I need to pack my shit. I have a feeling I won't be back anytime soon."

"Hey, I'm sorry to hear that. You've been a cool roomy, bro, even if you don't smoke weed with me."

I had to chuckle about that. Mark had moved four times before he ended up rooming with me. That he smoke weed did not bother me in the least as long as he wasn't caught and got me in trouble. Anyway, I kind of like the contact high I got ever so often when he was at it hot and heavy.

"I'm going to miss you also," I said as I turned toward the closet and my bags.

As I tossed a suitcase, a backpack, and a couple of boxes on the bed, I said, "If I'm not back in a month, you can have what I leave behind."

Not looking up from his comic, Mark said, "That's cool of you. I can always sell it for some smoking money."

I grinned as I turned to my dresser to start packing my clothes. "That's the Mark I know and love. Well, know anyway," I whispered under my breath.

*****

Baxter, Texas is a small town in the very northeastern part of Texas. Oklahoma is only twenty miles north but you have to drive eighty miles west to cross the Red River to get there without swimming. Louisiana is about forty five miles east but there is not much more there than there is around Baxter.

Texarkana, Arkansas is about sixty miles northeast but you have to go somewhere else before you can get there. Again, the Red River is in the way. So to say Baxter is isolated is a good statement to say the least.

My dad was born and raised in Baxter. In fact, our last name is Baxter. My mom was a Brooks from the littler town of Moody about fifteen miles to the west. So, at the ripe old age of twenty one, I find myself exiled to the armpit of the world, living with my mother and my grandmother. I guess it could be worse, I could have a couple of younger sisters.

My Grandmother lived in an old two story farmhouse on the edge of town. Four bedrooms and one bathroom upstairs, a kitchen, living room, dinning room, and bathroom, downstairs. A wide porch ran completely around the lower floor. There was no air conditioning, only ceiling fans during the day and a big window fan to draw in cool air at night. With the sixteen foot ceilings, the house stayed surprisingly cool.

The large trees all around the house helped with the heat, as did the large pond on the west side of the house. An old barn with a hayloft sat off in the woods behind the main house.

My grandmother was the same as she had been since the first time I ever met her. I am twenty one, my mom Kay is forty and my dad was forty two. So, my grandmother had to be in her late sixties. Mom was the youngest of nine girls in her family and dad was the youngest and only boy out of six kids in his family. Families in this area have always run large. Even now, that farming has mostly died out.

To say that I have a very large number of aunts, uncles, and cousins in this area is an understatement. I think every third person at the very least is related to me. This fact helped me and mom both get jobs rather quickly. Mom works at a law office as a secretary and I landed a job as a bartender at the one and only watering hole for fifty miles.

This brings me to the downside of having so many relatives in one area and the point of this story. For any that might be interested, my name is Tom, Tom Baxter.

*****

My first week at BB's Place was as a trainee on days. Terry was the regular day bartender and to her fell the daunting task of teaching me the tricks of the trade. She was a tall strawberry blonde with long legs and an athletic build. She could have been a dancer or a gymnast anywhere in the big city. Don't get me wrong, she made good money at BB's but she could have done a whole lot better somewhere else.

"How are you coming with learning the basic drinks?" Terry asked as we got the place ready to open.

I was putting the chairs and barstools down as she counted the money into the register. "I have over half of them down pat and at least some idea of the rest. Anyway, most people around here seem to prefer beer."

"The older crowd we have during the day, yeah, but the weekend night crowd is another story, and that is where BB want's you to work," Terry said from somewhere behind the bar. She was not in sight as I finished placing the last chair.

I came around the end of the bar to find her squatting next to the longest beer box. She had her head and shoulders in the narrow space between the end of the box and the liquor storage cabinet.

"What the heck are you doing," I asked, my eyes on the front of her blouse where her full breasts were pressed tightly against the edge of the beer box.

It was even more obvious than normal that she was not wearing a bra. The thin material of the cotton blouse was pulled very tight across her breasts; tight enough that I figured a button or two would pop at any moment. Her hard nipples were clearly outlined.

Terry wiggled around and ended up sitting on her hip as she tried to reach even farther behind the case. "The damned drain line is out of the pipe again. The cleanup crew must have pulled the box out last night and didn't stuff the line back in far enough."

She lifted her right leg and angled it toward me as she pushed against the back counter with her left foot. The leg opening of her loose shorts gapped open to give me a great view of her smoothly shaven pussy. No bra and no panties, my kind of girl, I thought with a big grin.

"Not stuffing things far enough is never a good idea," I said and then licked my lips as I thought of how nice it would be to stuff her things.

With a grunt, she pushed harder with her left foot. About the time she said, "I've got it," two buttons on her blouse popped open giving me an excellent view of her left breast.

Again, I found myself licking my lips. She had nice upturned nipples on top of dark puffy circles. Very, very nice, I thought as I licked my lips again.

"Hey, can ya give a girl a hand. I think I'm stuck."

With a grin, I replied under my breath, "If only."

Terry waved her free arm in my direction and said, "What did you say, I didn't catch that."

I stepped across her hip and gently pulled on her extended arm. She rolled her hips to my left as she came out of the hole exposing more of her left breast. I moved my left leg over more to give her room. Her head was turned away from me as she came free and sat up suddenly.

As she turned her head forward, her nose ended up inches from my crouch. Needless to say, the view of her sweet looking pussy and ripe breast had my manhood rather ridged in my left pants leg. She blinked several times and then I guess her eyes focused on the trees instead of the forest.

"Oh my," she said and then grinned. "You should be a fireman if rescuing trapped women turns you on that much."

"Uh, it's more like the trapped woman who was flashing her goodies at me."

When Terry gave me a confused look, I added, "Loose legged shorts, no panties, and a couple of buttons on your blouse that popped loose under the strain."

She looked down quickly and then hurriedly re-buttoned the top of the blouse. "Uh, yeah, but I hadn't planned on going spelunking under the beer box when I dressed for work this morning."

"I'm not complaining, believe me," I said with a big grin.

Her eyes returned to the bulge in the leg of my jeans. "Uh.... I think I'll take that as a compliment and leave it at that."

"Good choice," I said as I offered her my hands to get up off the floor.

She grinned and took my hands. I stepped back and helped her up. We ended up inches apart in the narrow confines behind the bar. Her eyes were on mine for a long moment and then they dropped to my lips. I knew she was thinking about kissing me but I did not take advantage of the situation. Why, I don't know but I didn't.

The moment went by and she said softly, "Thanks for the hand up."

"Thanks for the floorshow."

With a laugh, Terry turned away from me and walked down to the end of the bar. When she turned back toward me she added, "Thanks for not kissing me, even though I wanted you too. It wouldn't have been right."

"Uh, why is that?" I asked with confusion in my voice.

"I'm your first cousin, silly."

"Uh, right."

*****

The next Friday night, I was thrown to the wolves, so to speak. I showed up at six expecting to have one hell of a night but got a reprieve as Mary Ann, one of the regular weekend bartenders was there to help me out.

It was hectic as all get out but I made it though without making a complete idiot of myself. A few wrong drinks here and there and a couple I had to look up but everyone left happy and I still had a job as we cleaned up after closing at 2AM.

BB had left earlier so it was just Mary Ann, the three waitresses, and me. The ashtrays had been emptied and washed. The beer box was restocked. The tables were wiped down and all the chairs and stools were up off the floor except four stools at the very end of the bar. That is where the four women sat as I leaned on the bar directly across from them.

"Are we finished?" I asked Mary Ann.

"Not quite, we usually relax and have a drink on the house until BB gets back."

"Ok, ladies, what will it be?" I asked with a grin. "Tom Baxter, bartender, at your service."

"A beer for me," Mary Ann said.

The thin blonde next to her ordered a run and coke.

The older blonde ordered a whiskey and coke.

The tall willowy black girl at the end chewed on her bottom lip a moment and then said, "I'll have a Black Russian."

"That will be easy to remember," I said as I turned toward the mixing well.

"But I'm not Russian," she replied to my back.

The other three women laughed and then Mary Ann said, "Ruth, you can be so silly sometimes. Funny but silly."

"I was just seeing if the new white boy was paying attention," Ruth said with a grin.

The older blonde said, "Oh, yeah, he's been paying attention all night." She paused to wiggle her shoulders, which caused the full breasts under her blouse to roll back and forth. "He's been checking out the girls every time I leaned over the bar with an order."

"Hell Rosie, everyone checks out those things when you lean over. That is why you wear that low cut blouse without a bra, right. That and tips," Mary Ann said with a laugh.

"You're one to talk, Miss three buttons from the top undone," Rosie said with a grin.

"It was four at one point tonight but I don't think it was on purpose," I said from down the bar.

The thin blonde giggled and asked, "What color are my panties?"

"You aren't wearing any," I shot back quickly.

I turned with the drinks in my hands to see the little blonde with her mouth open and her eyes wide. "How the hell do you know that? I'm wearing a long skirt and I know you ain't seem more than my ankles tonight."

Grinning I replied, "A lucky guess from the way you asked the question."

I sat the drinks down in front of the women. "Taste test time."

"The beer is perfect," Mary Ann said with a grin after a sip.

Rosie downed about a quarter of her drink and made a face as she gently banged the bar with her free hand. "Perfect is right," she said a moment later.

The skinny blonde sipped her drink and nodded. "It's rum and coke."

Ruby took a sip of her drink and nodded. "Not bad for a first timer."

"Thank you ladies for the vote of confidence. I feel like I might be able to do this job after all."

I took a sip of my beer and sighed. "Now if I can just find me a girlfriend all my problems will be solved for the present time."

"Don't look at me, I'm your cousin," Mary Ann said.

"So are we, I think," the older blonde said indicating herself and the thin girl next to her.

Ruth chuckled deeply and shook her head, "Well, I ain't your cousin. Not a close one anyway, according to mama."

Mary Ann laughed. "Keep your grubby little hands off the white boy before you break him."

"Hey now, I might bend or fold him, but I sure as hell ain't planning on breaking him," Ruth protested.

"Don't you remember that kid...? Uh, what was that guys name? The one in high school," the thin blonde asked.

Ruth tapped her fingertips on the bar top for a second. "You had to bring that up again didn't you? I didn't know that kid had thin bones. Thin bones, what kind of a deal is that. Anyway, it was a while ago and I've learned to be more careful."

The three white women laughed and then Rosie said, "Sure you have, I mean learned that is. Exactly who have you been practicing on?"

Ruth grinned and replied, "I'll never tell. Not you three Ho's anyway."

"Ho? Who are you calling a Ho? I'd pull up my panties and go home, if I was wearing any, that is," the skinny girl said with a big grin.

Everyone laughed.

When the laughter died down, Ruth looked at me and grinned. "Want to live dangerously?"

"Uh, I've never been with a black woman before but...."

"With black women there is always a butt," Mary Ann said with a grin.

"Hey now," Ruth protested. "I'll put my ass up against yours any day."

"If you two are going to get kinky, I'm going home," Rosie said downing the last of her drink. Looking at the thin woman next her she asked, "Are you ready?"

With a nod, she down her drink and stood up. "I'm waiting on you mom."

I did a double take, I thought the two might be sisters but I never even thought about them being mother and daughter. "I'll get the door for you," I said quickly to cover my confusion.

When I returned from letting them out, watching as they walked across the parking lot to their car, and relocking the door, Ruth had moved down next to Mary Ann.

"Uh, did I miss the ass measuring contest?" I asked.

Mary Ann and Ruth both laughed. "We've been arguing over who has the best ass since the sixth grade when we first got breasts," Mary Ann said.

"Uh, shouldn't you have been arguing over who has the best breasts?" I asked as my eyes went from Ruth's chest to Mary Ann's and back. They were both impressive to say the least.

"Nope. We decided that first thing. Mine are bigger and hers are perkier so we declared it a tie," Ruth said as she sat up straighter and pulled her shoulders back.

Mary Ann laughed and did the same thing.

"Well, I'm impressed with both of them, uh, you."

"I wonder what he would do if we set the girls free right here in front of him?" Ruth asked Mary Ann.

"He'd break his neck trying to take all four of them in at one time," Mary Ann replied with a big grin as she shook her shoulders.

Ruth shook her shoulders. She was wearing a bra and Mary Ann was not. "If BB wasn't due back any minute, I'd do it just for the fun of it. That and to get this damned bra off, it's killing my shoulders."

Before anyone could say anything, there was the sound of a key in the front door lock. All three of us hurriedly finished our drinks. I carried the glasses down the bar and washed them in the sink as BB came in and emptied the register.

As he turned to leave, he stopped in front of Mary Ann. "Well, how did he do on his first night?"

"He's not ready to go on his own but he's getting there. He seems to have the touch with the drinks and the customers," she said and then looked down toward me. "I'll work with him anytime."

BB looked at Ruth. She shrugged and said, "The white boy has potential." She paused to grin at me. "He might even make a bartender."

With a frown and a shake of his head, BB said, "Let's go home so we can do this all over again tomorrow night." He paused and looked at each of us before he added, "We had a good night, a very good night from the looks of what was in the register."

Looking at Ruth, BB grinned and said, "Don't break the white boy, I have an investment in him."

Ruth laughed and shook her head, "Does everyone know about ninth grade?" she asked and then added, "Yes sir, boss man, I promise not to break the white boy."

*****

Outside, I said goodnight to Ruth and Mary Ann, or so I thought. The bar is only a couple of miles from Grandma's farm. I had found an old, old bicycle in the barn and figured it beat walking.

As I pulled it out from behind the hedge, Ruth paused in unlocking her car and asked, "What the hell is that?"

"Uh.... It's a bicycle. Ya know, something to pedal your ass around town on."

Mary Ann laughed from beside her truck. "No one pedals any ass around this town. There's far to much free stuff for an honest to God hooker to make a living."

"Ain't that the truth," Ruth said with a grin. Looking at me, she added, "And she would know, she's been giving it away since the ninth grade."

"At least mine doesn't have cobwebs on it," Mary Ann shot back as she opened the truck door and got in.

"Sassy ass white girl," Ruth called out but Mary Ann had the truck started and did not hear her over the rumble of the exhaust.

With a wave, Mary Ann backed out and let the truck idle across the parking lot. At the edge of the highway, she let the hammer down, burning rubber for ten feet. I heard her chirp the tires again as she caught another gear.

As the sound of the truck faded, Ruth shook her head. "She is one crazy ass white girl but she is my best friend. That is if she don't kill herself in that damned truck."

I threw my leg over the bicycle and grinned. "I don't think I'll get as much rubber on this thing."

Ruth looked at me hard for a moment and then smiled. "Stuff that thing back in the bushes and I'll give you a ride home."

"Riding in a car always beats pedaling a bike any day," I said as I got off the bike and rolled it back behind the hedge.

As we got into Ruth's car, she said, "My uncle Charlie has a used car lot across town. Come by tomorrow and I will introduce you. You have a J.O.B. so he'll probably finance you."

"Hey, thanks. Something is finally going my way," I said as she backed out and pulled up to the edge of the highway.

She sat there for a long moment and then made a left, I looked over at her and said, "Uh, my grandmother's house is the other way."

She grinned at me and replied, "I know where your grandmother lives. I've been there many times for parties back in high school. I used to date one of your cousins."

"Cousins! That's all I ever hear about around here," I said with a grin of my own. Then I wondered if I had said the wrong thing as Ruth pulled over to the side of the road.

I watched as she pulled her blouse out of her shorts, reached up under the back of it, and then sighed deeply. She pulled a strap out from under her sleeve and got her arm out of it. She did the same on the other side.

"I wasn't kidding about this damned bra killing my shoulders," she said as she pulled a bright pink bra out from under her blouse and tossed it into the backseat.