Dee Teaches BBC 101

This one-off story follows on after 'The Temptations of Dee'.

Afternoon Tea

Dee parked her new Odyssey in the lot outside of the little diner. It was her third time back here but her first in eight months. She had already decided that it would probably be her last. Time had moved on and people had moved on with it. She knew that as much as anyone could. If she didn't see her this time then she would have to accept that the young woman had changed jobs. There would still be a chance that she might phone.

Except that she hadn't phoned and it had been almost a year and a half. A very eventful year and a half. Dee smiled to herself as she locked her vehicle and walked across to the diner, feeling the breeze on her arms and her calves. Short sleeves and a skirt had most definitely been the way to go. She was looking forward to her iced tea. If the diner hadn't been so out of her way she might have come here for them anyway. Well - perhaps not. This area was so, er, white. It seemed strange to be around so many white folks nowadays. Well, not so much white folks as white men.

Her phone buzzed and she smiled as she read the message.

"My calendar says we due to meet next week. What 's yo thinkin. S."

Shaka was very reliable. He also wasn't wasting any time. He was claiming what she had promised him - it would be her fifth and last child and it would be his. Her fingers flew on the screen.

"How about the Thursday? I'll line up a house-sitter. Fingers crossed."

"No rush babe. I'll be enjoying the process. S."

Dee giggled. She knew that she would enjoy it too. Somewhat masochistic of her some might say. Having just enjoyed two months feeling very much like a beached whale followed by six months as the personal body servant of a very demanding, but also utterly adorable, little tyrant.

That was why it felt so good to be out and about again. She had resumed work this week and it had felt so amazing to be back teaching - even if perhaps not for long. It was fortunate that Tubman High had such excellent child-care facilities and such a generous maternity leave policy. Fortunate but perhaps not surprising when you understood what that Taylor Foundation logo on the school signage really meant.

Through the last six months there had been three things that kept nagging at her mind. First, the desire to teach again. Second, her little arrangement with Shaka. Third, a desire to get back to this diner.

Of course she could just ask. Something like, "Excuse me but that attractive young server who worked here. The one who showed an interest in going Black. Could you pass me her details and forwarding address?" On second thoughts that was probably not an option.

It WAS nagging at her though. It had been an important moment. Her body-clock meant that this next child, Shaka's child, would certainly be her last. Then her role in the life-style would be a different one. An 'influencer', a 'facilitator', an 'enabler' or, to use the old term for all three, a teacher. The first person she had really had a chance to influence and enable was that shy young server. She could still remember how the girl had blushed when they'd caught her staring at them. How she'd taken Dee's number and her invitation to call if she wanted to act on the desires that all three of them knew she had.

Then - nothing. No phone call and on two later visits to the diner Dee hadn't seen the girl. It was a frustration and a real shame. A lovely girl like that shouldn't be wasting her time with white boys.

Dee entered the diner trying not to smirk to herself at that last thought. This lifestyle did give you thoughts that you'd never previously have imagined yourself having. What the heck - it also provided plenty of house-sitters and 'aunties' who helped look after the children.

The diner was reasonably busy. Dee saw a server operating but immediately felt disappointment. There were a couple of small tables free towards the rear. She took a seat at one and watched.

The server had noticed her and went to a door. She spoke through it and almost shrugged her shoulders. Then the door swung shut only to open thirty seconds later and reveal another server, her face just adopting the professional smile as she tied her apron. The servers were dressed alike - a white blouse over a knee-length black skirt with a white apron tied in front. Hooters or Twin Peeks this was not.

Dee smiled. She would know the girl anywhere. Everything about that evening and night were burned into her memory. The server reached into a pocket of her apron and pulled out a pad. Only then did she look up to take in Dee and suddenly her professional smile was gone if only for a moment. In that moment her face showed shock and surprise. It seemed she had recognised Dee too.

The girl took up position and gave a little clear of her throat. "Er, good afternoon, What can I get you?"

Was the girl choosing not to recognise her or didn't she trust her recognition? Dee hadn't come this far not to find out.

"It's good to see you again. You never gave me that phone-call."

The girl blushed and glanced across to make sure she wasn't being watched before saying, "I meant to but then it seemed kind of crazy you know and then when I thought maybe I should I thought it was too late..."

The words had rushed out of her and Dee suddenly realised, with a real sense of responsibility, that the girl had been desperately hoping to see her again too.

"Well," Dee glanced at the girl's name-card, "Helen. You go get me one of this place's delicious iced teas and a slider I can write out my number for you again. If you'd like it?"

Helen glanced across to make sure she wasn't being watched again and then she nodded.

The slider really was very good and that iced tea hit the spot like little else could on a hot day like that one. When Helen returned with the check Dee gave her the money plus a tip plus her number. She had also been thinking. She didn't want any more slips-ups or to have to rely on the girl having the courage to phone.

It had been over a year since Dee had enjoyed a night out. Emily had offered to look after the youngsters but up to now she hadn't quite felt like it. She had been in full-on mommy mood and she almost certainly soon would be again. Seeing the excitement and nervousness in young Helen's eyes had made her mind up for her.

"Are you working tomorrow Helen?"

"Only the lunch-time shift."

"That's good because I'm working the morning too. You'd be free for four o'clock?"

The girl's eyes were fixed on Dee. She wasn't checking to see if she was being watched anymore. All good signs.

"Where can we meet - I mean NOT here. Somewhere we can have a real talk. Without being spied on or overheard."

Now it was Helen's turn to write a note. She'd just completed it when she saw her boss waving an imperious hand at her. She gave a last smile before moving off back to the kitchens.

Cards on the Table

It wasn't the swankiest of joints but then Helen was probably not exactly rolling in spare cash. Its clientele was less family-orientated than the diner where she worked, rather more relaxed.

Dee had left the Odyssey at home and borrowed Emily's old clunker for the evening. She wasn't sure where the night might take her and this Nissan had several advantages for certain areas. It was a very reliable vehicle but definitely not the top of anyone's list to steal. The Taylor Foundation logo in the window made that pretty unlikely but why tempt fate with a new Odyssey!

In the back of her mind she'd been wondering whether Helen would show up but she was soon put straight on that score. Dee got there five minutes early but Helen was already waiting for her outside and waved when Dee walked up.

Helen wasn't alone. A young man was with her and apparently trying to talk her ear off. Dee understood that wave now - not so much a signal of location as a cry for help.

He was a good six feet tall and might have been quite handsome without the ginger neck-beard. Also without the breathtakingly arrogant tone of voice that reached Dee long before she reached them. He might as well have had 'asshole' tattooed on his fore-head.

It took him a while but suddenly he realised Helen's attention wasn't on him any more and he turned. His lip curled up when he saw Dee. "Oh shit it looks like this old bitch is looking for you. Well - don't worry. I'll be staying around. Once you've got rid of her you can come out with me and we'll have some fun."

Well what a charmer!

"Actually Chad - this is my Mom."

Oh it just got better and better! She couldn't have passed for an older sister? But there you were - she actually was just about old enough to be the girl's mother. Anyway she could forgive Helen if it worked in getting rid of the douche-bag.

You've just called a girl's mom an 'old bitch' by mistake. That should cause some embarrassment yes? Probably you should go and find a stone to hide under? Not this guy. A flicker of annoyance had crossed his face but nothing more. Now he'd moved away and was glaring at them. Frustrated white boy privilege in every aspect of him.

The expression on Helen's face was priceless as she greeted Dee. It was wicked but Dee couldn't resist - and besides Helen deserved it after that 'Mom' comment.

"That your boyfriend?"

Helen suddenly had a look like she was chewing a wasp. "He's been trying to be for six months now. Chad thinks he's God's gift you know. He uses his trust fund to slum around here and pretend he's a player. You'd think any man who wants to get to know me would have worked out that me and my Mom do NOT meet up any more."

"Sorry - I didn't mean to raise bad memories."

Helen rolled her eyes. "My folks are part of the Brethren - you've heard of them. Well - anyway you'll know a hundred congregations like them. They didn't approve of anyone asking questions and they DEFINITELY didn't like young women doing it. I'm not even talking about wanting to go to College..."

"But you still went."

"Yeah, I still went and I haven't really talked to them since. Only got shouted at if I ever tried. Not much of a loss for them - they still have seven children. They can afford to let one go to the Devil."

Dee had to reappraise her view of the girl. That had taken some courage and some guts. She couldn't have imagined doing the same thing herself at that age.

"Where were you from?"

"Stebson County over in the coal-fields. Which is why I knew real early that I wanted to get out of there."

Dee recognised the name though she had never been there - why would she have? One of those communities left behind by the decline of coal. A steadily rising average age of population and a steadily falling average income. Federal and State governments seemed to have given up on them long ago. Long slow decline until the opiate epidemic had proved that things really could get much worse really fast. Places like that held together, if they held together at all, by strong self-identification and in those areas that almost always meant religion.

It was always a shock to realise that places like that were geographically quite close but a world away. If you grew up there then you knew your future and accepted it or you left.

"That must have been tough..."

"I don't regret it for a moment but it IS tough. Even with my scholarship and my loan I'm working five evening shifts a week and sometimes some lunch-times too." Then I have to find the time to study! First year was hard, second year was tough, this year is a bitch. It doesn't help that others have it a lot easier and can't resist telling me about it ALL the time." She cast a venomous glance at Chad.

Dee examined the girl as she was speaking. She was twenty or twenty-one but she had courage. She was making her own way and taking her own decisions. If she made mistakes then they were HER mistakes. Yes, she had courage but some steps apparently were still too daunting. It was time to get down to why they were both there.

"I figured you'd found yourself a nice white-bread boyfriend..."

The girl's mouth tightened a little and Dee knew that she had guessed right.

"...so you'll know whether I was right about them all being a waste of time."

It hadn't taken Sherlock Holmes to work that out. The girl was really very attractive. Those deep brown eyes and that long chestnut hair set against her fair skin. A body that was trim but curved in all the right places. The vitality and freshness of youth. Dee could guess that Helen had received a LOT of attention from the likes of Chad.

Helen gave a little grunt of annoyance. "I tried - when I had a little more time. They just don't... you know... I even, um," she leaned forward and whispered, "I even, er, tried it with a girlfriend. It just... you know." She raised her palms and then let her hands fall back to the table.

Dee reached forward and put one of her hands onto one of the girl's. "That's because you weren't following what your body was telling you. You kept looking in the wrong places. You know that don't you?"

"I've always, yunno, found them hot, I mean attractive. In a way that other boys just aren't. But it was when I saw you and your husband that something sort of clicked.

'Them.' Even now, talking to Dee, she was apparently still scared to spell out her true desires. Well the first part of her education was learning to do just that. The first thing Dee needed to know was whether the girl was willing to do it.

"That wasn't my husband. Bill was one of my lovers and he is now my baby-daddy." Dee noticed that Helen's eyes were focused on her with laser precision. The girl had a blush on her cheeks and the tip of her tongue moved across her upper lip, as if her mouth was dry. But she didn't stand up or run away, she didn't show shock or outrage. Dee felt safe to go a little further, well a lot further.

She toyed with her wedding ring. "I only still wear this because a lot of Black men like to know they are fucking a white man's wife. My marriage effectively ended the first time that I made love to Shaka, the first time that I was fucked properly, which means the first time that I was fucked by a Black man. From that moment, no matter how much I might have wanted to fight it, there was never going to be any way back."

"Once you go Black - you can never go back." Helen spoke in a low tone, almost as if she was reciting a sacred text.

Dee shook her head. "For myself and my friends it was more like - 'Once you go Black you never want to go back.' Never, ever."

Helen's teeth gently bit the top of her lower lip. Dee knew the signs - hadn't she been there once herself. Wanting it so much but agonising over taking that first crucial step. It would be even harder for Helen. Up there in the coal-fields was as white an area as you got in the whole country. What did this girl know of African-Americans? Only what she was told by her parents, her pastor and the media, probably Fox News.

Some things were easier to shake than others. That was why when she'd escaped her stifling home the girl had come here and not to the city itself. It was more free and more diverse but not TOO free or diverse. Not TOO new and frightening. What to Dee had been dull and suffocating had to Helen seemed the sweet scent of liberty, even working most hours that God sent her. Or it had for a time.

"When I gave you my number last time you weren't ready yet. Are you ready now?" Dee was pretty certain she knew what the answer would be. Helen was here wasn't she?

"Yes - I'm ready."

Dee smiled. "So I just need to know what you prefer - vanilla or hot sauce?"

"I think I've had my fill of vanilla."

Dee nodded. "Well if it gets too hot for you tonight then let me know and we'll ease things back some."

The girl's mouth tightened a touch and her chin came up a little. Dee recognised that sign too. Helen had got used to making her decisions and then living by them. She would not be inclined to back down once she had started. That meant tonight promised to be a LOT of fun.

Suddenly Helen's face fell a little, the determination draining away in an instant. "What if, um, if they don't..."

Ah, youth had its strengths but also its weaknesses and insecurities. Did this beautiful young girl really doubt that the men she desired would also desire her? That was easily solved.

Dee pulled out her phone and took a picture of Helen then her fingers flew on the screen for a few seconds. The picture sent to six of her old friends with a request for comments.

It didn't take long. She had turned the screen so they could both watch the responses come in.

Odell: "Oh shit but that dime is fly. You gonna introduce us?"

Bill: "If I was thirty years younger that little honey wouldn't be getting out of bed for a week."

Pops: "Now that just about made my day. When you gonna bring that fine piece round?"

Tamika: "I'm working tonight. You know where. You two should come visit."

Antwan: "Hmmn hmmmmnnnnnnn. That girl got free membership at all my clubs you hear. She'll bring the brothas from miles around."

One hadn't responded but Dee knew that he wouldn't settle for a message. Meanwhile Dee had been watching Helen, seeing the blood come to her cheeks and the sparkle come into her eyes. Helen's mother would have called this the 'forbidden fruit.' Her daughter would be biting deep into it tonight and savouring the sweetness of its juice.

The phone rang. Well if it was the forbidden fruit then this caller had to be the devil. Helen's mother probably would have thought that he was. Dee knew better, a lot better. She stood up and signalled to Helen to follow suit.

As soon as they were out of the place Dee put her phone on speaker.

"Hey babe."

"Hey - what did you think of that little photo I sent you."

A low laugh came through the speaker. "Got a pulse and a big Black cock ain't I? How you think I feel about it. Shit - she just like you. Way too fine for any cracka, just built from the ground up for the Black man's pleasure."

Dee couldn't help almost laughing at the expression on Helen's face. Shaka could be a little full-on at first. But the girl wasn't running away and those beautiful brown eyes of hers were still sparkling, still hungry.

"Got a favor to ask."

"Sure - so long as you give me her number."

"Aren't you supposed to be concentrating on ME for the next little while?"

"Oh yeah - and you can KNOW that I'm looking forward to it too. But I know how inviting that little white pussy of yours is - how it just forces a Black man to fill it with his nigga nut. I don't think its going to take us long to get that belly of yours growing again."

Dee winked at Helen who now had her hand over her open mouth, a picture of shock. But she STILL wasn't running away.

"Well maybe, once you've given me my baby I'll THINK about putting you in touch with Helen here. But first - that favor?"

Shaka laughed again. "Sure..."

"My new friend here is just getting into the lifestyle. I'm thinking of taking her on a road-trip tonight. Can she wear your hoops - just in case?"

"Where you thinking of being at?"

Dee listed a few places.

Shaka named three of them back to her. "If she's serious about it then they'll show her all she needs to see. You were going by Leez's?"

"Of course."

"I'll ask her to supply your girl with my hoops. I'll talk to Tom - make sure he's ready for you. Not that word about you two wouldn't get out at warp speed." He laughed again. "Have fun baby."

"We will Shaka - thanks again."

"Shit you know I'll do anything for my girls."

The connection ended.

"Who was that?" Helen's voice was amazed but also excited.

"Oh that was Shaka - he's a sweetheart and an amazing fuck. With his hoops people will know not to mess with us and others will be making SURE no-one messes with us. Unless, of course, we want them to."