Cameron and Manny

"Mannnnnny!" she wailed. But I was already halfway up the stairs and not listening.

I don't know how long she stayed downstairs and cried, but at around 3:00AM I got up to pee. I went downstairs to the bathroom there and she was gone, and so was her luggage. I had never felt so low.

******

I was working the early shift. Rhonda was on too. I hadn't seen Cam for some time, maybe six or seven weeks. I was settling down. Rhonda and I were both behind the bar when she came in.

"Heads up, sailor, bogey at 3:00," said Rhonda. I had to remember to ask her where she'd picked up all of the military jargon she kept using.

"Hello, Manny," said Cameron, as she took a seat at the bar. She nodded to Rhonda.

"Whaddya want, Cameron?" I said. "And, where's your true love, Calvin?" I sneered. "Let me guess. He ran off again, and left you high and dry."

"Manny, I—can we talk privately? I have something to say to you," she said.

"Let me guess. You're sorry? You'll never do it again? It was only sex; it had nothing to do with you and me? My little dick doesn't do it for you, so please excuse you if you have to cheat every once in a while? Am I close on any or all of those?" I said.

"I know how you feel, Manny. I betrayed you, and I did it without any worthwhile excuse whatsoever. But you're right about one thing, I am sorry," she said.

"Okay, I forgive you; now hit the road. I'm busy," I said.

"Please, Manny, please talk to me. Just a few minutes. Okay?" she begged.

"I looked at my watch. You've got five minutes," I said. "Then I want you outta here forever."

We adjourned to a table toward the back. I noticed Rhonda eyeing me disapprovingly. Well, I didn't blame her; I shouldn't have even been talking to the woman. But, I figured what the hell; I really wanted to hear her try to justify what she did. She disappointed me: she didn't follow her usual script.

"We're quite a pair, aren't we?" she said.

"What's this we shit? We're not a pair of anything," I said, as harshly as I could. She just smiled benignly. She must have figured on my initial reaction. "So where is your ex-con?"

"He's at the apartment," she said.

"So you're still together. That surprises me. I thought you were here to try and get back with me," I said.

"I am—sorta," she said.

"Huh? I don't get you? What are you talking about?" I said.

She looked down; she looked up, she looked down again. She spoke. "Manny, I know you love me. I also know, that you know, that I can't be faithful, at least not for any length of time."

"Fuckin'-A!" I said. This was getting good.

"Soooooo, I've come up with a solution," she said. I must have looked confused.

"I want to remarry you," she said, "but I will occasionally, but only occasionally, and with your complete knowledge and consent—allow another man or other to have me. Like I say. it'll just be but once in a while." She smiled, and looked me right in the eye. She was certain that she had just come up with the perfect formula for a successful union of man and woman.

I was speechless. Not only speechless, but thoughtless, and numb and stunned and really really pissed off!

Rhonda on the other hand, who had been delivering refills to the next table, was not devoid of aural abilities. "Cameron," she said, "love you dear. But if you don't get the fuck outta here, I'm gonna rip off your arms and beat you to death with them." She said all this with the kind of quiet demeanor that intimated that she was not bluffing.

"I beg your fucking pardon!" shouted Cameron.

Not Billy the kid, not Wild Bill Hickok, not John Wesley Hardin, not anybody had ever had a hand that moved that fast. The palm of Rhonda right hand landed with such speed and force that Cameron's airborne form cleared three one-foot square floor tiles before her rectiflorifus skidded to a halt against the back of a chair.

Cameron picked herself up. She looked at me for support. I just smiled and raised my open palms as witness to my being helpless to help her. She huffed, threw her head back haughtily, and stormed out.

******

Rhonda came to me—I think my mouth was still hanging open. She paused looked at me with her hands on her hips. She turned in place 360 degrees facing me once again. "Well, if you're too dumb to see it, I guess I have to take the bull by the horns and get it done."

"Get what done," I said.

She got down on one knee and looked me in the eye. "Will you marry me Manny Kirkland?" she said.

I stared at her. "Is this planet Earth?" I asked, not unreasonably.

She smiled. I stood, and told her to sit. I went down on my knee. "Will you marry me?" I asked.

"Yes, yes I will," she said. "And, I thought you'd never ask." I pulled her down on the floor with me and we kissed for a long minute. "I love you," I said.

"I know, you just never did," she said.

"Well, I know it now," I said.

We were married a month later by a justice of the Piece in Amarillo, Texas. That was a year ago. Rhonda is pregnant, and between the two of us we are covered with bruises from pinching ourselves because we are so happy.

Cameron? She married Calvin. I see her every once in a while. They actually come by the bar. I'm not sure why. She says hi, and that's about it. I would love to know if Calvin is a cuckold like she wanted me to be. But, I'll never ask. Sooner or later someone is bound to tell me if such is the case. I'm a bartender for chrissakes! I'm privy to everything.

******