Entropy and Sorrow's Kiss

"Not at all, Alan," she said in dulcet tones as she focused on his eyes. "But that's not what I expected."

"Oh? What were you expecting?"

She looked into his eyes again, still measuring him. "I'm not sure anymore, but I'm beginning to think that I'd like to know you better."

"Better than just a roll in the hay?"

"Yes."

"Good, because that's exactly what's been going through my mind."

"I like the sound of that, Alan."

"So, breakfast?"

"Do you have time?"

"Two days. That enough, or are you really, really hungry?"

She smiled seductively. "I've got three off."

"Oh, my," Alan Burnett smiled back.

"We could get into some serious trouble in two days."

"We could indeed."

She had a favorite deli she wanted to go to, and they sat in a small booth under a large window and she ordered iced coffee and bagels and lox for them both. They made small talk, she told him about growing up in Lawrence, Kansas, growing up with two stern, overprotective parents, both physicians, both very liberal, both Jewish, and how disappointed they'd been when she set off on her own to become a nurse. Her mother was diagnosed with cancer during her second year of nursing school, and died within months. She'd always been very close to her father, but she'd been devastated to learn that he had grown very withdrawn since his wife passed, and she missed him. She talked about nursing school, how she'd finished her RN at Baylor and was working at Methodist four days a week as a scrub nurse in the OR. She'd had two boyfriends in four years and both had been major duds, and she'd just about given up on the idea of ever meeting anyone here in the city – until last night.

"Oh, you got it bad, huh?" he said when she came up for air.

"I'm tellin' ya, Slick, there's somethin' in those eyes of yours that's got me real worked up. Anyway, tell me about you, 'cause I'm all talked out."

"Me?"

"Come on! Fair's fair. Spill the beans now, or I'm walkin'!"

"Where would you like me to start?"

"Parents."

"Both dead."

"Oh, Alan, I'm so sorry. How long?"

"9/11."

"You don't mean..."

"Yup. World Trade Center."

"Oh, Christ."

"My thoughts, exactly, but turns out I'm better at the agnostic thing than the mackerel snapper stuff I was brought up on."

"Catholic?"

"Nominally. The Agnostic branch of the Church, however."

"School?"

"Went to high school on Long Island, college in California."

"Where?"

"Berkeley."

"Ooh, I like it. You're not exactly stupid, in other words."

"Probably more so than you might think. I am a cop, you'll recall? Not a brain surgeon?"

"Point taken. Major?"

"Philosophy."

"Good background for a cop. Just the right amount of inherent lunacy."

"I thought so too."

"The old Beemer is a dead giveaway, though. You probably ought to get a pickup truck, a red one, if you want to fit in better, anyway."

"Not a high priority."

"So, why become a cop?"

"It was either that, or do the priest thing."

"Not a good choice for an agnostic though, huh?"

"Good point. That never occurred to me."

"You know, we're a good match."

"Oh?"

"You're an even bigger smart ass than I am."

"Well, it's a little to soon to make a call like that. I do see real potential in your style, though."

"Okay, so the real scoop. Why a cop."

"Goes back to 9/11. A cop saved my life, kind of gave me hope."

"Really? What happened?"

"I was on the Golden Gate Bridge. We had a long talk."

She looked at him with soft, knowing eyes then: "Bad time?"

"Really. But I learned some cops are actually decent human beings; they can make a difference. That was it for me."

"Been married?"

"Nope."

"Any boyfriends?"

"You mean...?"

"Yup. You're not batting for the other team?"

"Nope."

"Girlfriends?"

"One in high school. One in college."

"Serious?"

"Yup."

"What happened?"

"They were coming out to visit me. On 9/11. She was on the plane with my parents."

Her eyes teared up at that. "God, I think I'm gonna be sick," she whispered.

"I've been there, Debbie. For a long time all I wanted to do was go away. Can't really say much more than that."

"You don't have to, Alan. Not ever. But if you do want to talk about it, I'll be there."

"You will, huh?"

"Yup. Any time. Any place."

"So, this is getting kind of strange," he said.

"I know. Intense is the word I was reaching for."

"I was going to reach for that last piece of salmon. Want it?"

"You win, Alan. Ain't no way I'm ever going to be a bigger smart ass that you."

"You're probably right. Better to quit while you're ahead. Smart."

"You know what?"

"Probably. But go ahead and tell me anyway."

"I think I'm falling in love with you."

"I completely understand."

"Oh? You do?"

"Yup. I fell in love with you about five minutes ago. Just in case you hadn't figured that out yet."

"So let me get this straight. Your falling in love with me, Miss Hyper Jew."

"Guilty as charged."

"You think I'm cute enough for you."

"You have great legs. I'm a leg freak, so you could be a cyclops, and it wouldn't matter to me."

"Thanks, I think. Uh? Freak?"

"Some guys like boobs. I like legs."

"And you think mine are..."

"Great. Fucking Great, with a capitol G."

"Really, the Jewish thing doesn't bother you?"

"Really, the agnostic Catholic thing doesn't bother you?"

She laughed. "Point taken."

"So," he said, "I'm gonna go out on a limb here. You wanna date for a while, say a few years or so, or would you like to go to the airport and hop a ride to Vegas."

"Vegas?"

"Get married."

Her eyes went wide. "Are you serious?"

"Hey, I'm circumcised. What else do you want?"

"A wedding. With my dad and my family, at home in Kansas."

"Okay. Have anyone in mind you'd like to do that with?"

"You."

He nodded his head. "So, you're the one, huh?"

"Kinda feels that way to me, Slick."

She was looking at him now with such love in her eyes he felt weak in the knees. "I think we need to get out of here," he said.

"Why bother. I'll do you right here under the table."

"That'd pretty much be a one way street, Ma'am."

"Yeah. So?"

"Not quite what I had in mind."

"Oh? You still hungry too?"

"Yup."

"Anything in particular you'd like to eat?"

"Yup."

"Care to tell me?"

"Nope."

"A man of few words, huh?"

"Yup."

"Uh, Miss, could we have our check, please!"

+++++

The time he spent with her those first few weeks together would always ring true as the best he'd ever know. Laying beside her their second full day together he had leaned over and kissed her on the cheek then rolled over on his back and looked at the ceiling.

"This is like puppy love, you know? Puppy love for grown-ups."

"Oh? Is that what we are? Grown-ups?"

"I guess so, yeah."

"Speak for yourself. I don't ever want to grow up."

Burnett laughed, then rolled on his side again facing her, marveling once again that even her breasts were perfect. "I know what you mean; this feels almost childlike to me. Innocent, kind of pure, and fun as Hell."

"Listen, Slick, like what you just did to me wasn't so innocent..."

"You liked that, huh?"

"Shattering. That's the word."

He reached over, cupped her breast, leaned close and took a nipple in his mouth.

"Oh, no you don't!" she said, sliding off the bed. "Look here, Slick, the only thing I've had to eat in the last twenty four hours comes out of that rocket thingy you got tucked in between your legs..."

She stood there before him and he drifted off within the currents of her beauty. "What? You don't like..."

"Don't put words in my mouth, Slick. Listen, I'm hungry. Got it? Even slaves get time off for bread and water!"

"Can we at least shower first, or shall we come as we are?"

"Nope, Slick, ain't fallin' for any more of those cute little 'double entendres' you keep tossing my way. Sorry."

"Okay," he replied, his lower lip jutting out. "What sounds good?"

"Oh, stop it with the lip, would you? My God in Heaven, I must bring out the worst in you, you know?"

He looked down at his cock, which against all odds was rising to the occasion. Again.

"Oh my God! Make it stop!"

"I can't hep it, Ma'am, just can't hep it," he cried as she laughed, then she ran off to the bathroom and turned on the shower.

"Get in here," she called out.

"Who? Me?" He walked in, stood before her.

"God, you're like some kind of weird poster child for Viagra!" she said as she grabbed it and pulled him into the shower. "I had a roommate in college who told me you could lead men around by their cocks, but never in my wildest dreams did I think she meant that literally..."

"Yup. They're handy for all kinds of things."

She squeezed it: "Yeah, like hammering nails!" She turned, faced him under the spray and let the warm water run down her neck and shoulders. "Getting cold yet?" she asked, taunting him...

...he started on her face, kissing, licking, then nibbling the landscape between her neck and shoulders. He paused, then went down to her breasts and worked them over for a long time. He felt her respond under his tongue, then knelt lower, played with her navel, before sliding down to her lips.

The water running down her belly led him deep, and she raised one leg and put it over his shoulder. Soon she was holding his head in her hands, grinding her face into his mouth, coming again for the millionth time. He stood, turned her around and pressed her against the back wall of the shower, then lifted her and slid her down on his cock.

"Don't you just love showering together?" she said, her eyes half closed as the water ran over them.

"Well, I know I love you," he said to her eyes as they rolled in their slow motion.

"I'm really getting hungry," she said, her eyes rolling back.

"I may have something for you..."

She drove her tongue into his mouth, held his head fast as she ground down onto his shaft. "Not this time, Slick," she whispered grittily in his ear. "I want this one inside me."

"Only too happy to oblige, Ma'am," he grunted as his back arched, sending his cum deep inside her womb.

He held her there in the afterglow, not for the first time wondering what she felt for him. Easy words of love were one thing, but now all of a sudden he was beginning to feel like this was the real thing...like he didn't want to ever let go of this girl, ever.

"Excuse the fuck out of me, Alan, but are you crying?"

"Me? Are you for real? That's sweat, whore-bitch, and you done it to me, too!"

"Alright, dickhead, them's is fightin' words. Names yur weapon!"

"It's all you can eat pancakes at IHOP. First one to ten wins!"

"Yur on, you cur-dog." She kissed him while she rubbed the tears falling down his cheeks. "And Alan, if you could just let that thing down there get soft for a minute, I just might be able to climb down off this horse..."

+++++

"So, what were the tears all about back there," she said as she finished up her first plate of pancakes.

He looked at her, then at her plate and shrugged. "I was just lost in thought for a minute, that's all."

"Did you find your way back?"

"I think so, yes."

"Are you getting serious on me again?"

"Sorry. Can't hep it, Ma'am," he said with a grin.

"So. What were you thinking?"

"This feels real to me, Debbie. You feel real to me. I've got to go in tomorrow, but I don't want this to be over."

"What makes you think this has to end?"

"I just don't want it to. Ever. Hope that doesn't sound selfish."

"I'm not sure how you got through it all, Alan. Your parents and all, all that horror." She reached across the little table and took his hands. "But nothing has to end, Alan. Nothing."

"Okay. I mean, I understand."

"But?"

"But...I just don't want to lose you. I don't know what else to say right now, but I'm afraid of that."

"Can you get a few extra days off? Say in two weeks?"

"Probably. Why?"

She dug around in her purse for an hour – looking for her phone, then took it out and pulled up a screen. She dialed a number and listened to it ring.

"Dad? Yeah, hello to you too... How're things at the clinic... No kidding... That sounds like a lot to take on. Are you sure? So anyway, Dad, I've got a guy I want you to meet... Yeah, really, finally... Anyway, not this coming weekend, but the one after... Yeah, maybe have the rest of the family around, if you know what I mean... Yes, Daddy, I'm sure... No, I don't want to get into that right now, I just want you to meet him, get to know him... Yes, I love him, and I think you will too... Okay, Dad, I know... We'll get a car at the airport... No, no, you don't need to pick us up... Oh, alright, Daddy. See you there, at the baggage claim. Love you too. Bye."

Burnett sat in silent awe, looking at her. "You are kind of a force of nature, aren't you?"

"So, cop, you sure you want to do this?"

"What? Meet your family?"

"Well, that too. But I was thinking more about the whole getting married thing. You sure you want to?"

"Yes."

"That's a definitive yes? Not, like, a 'maybe' kind of yes, or an 'I think so' kind of waffle, but a real, solid 'yes'?"

"Yes."

"No shit? You really mean it, don't you?"

"Yes. And you? Do you want to? I mean really want to?"

She looked at him for a long time, hard and direct, eye to eye, then she stood from her chair and came around to Burnett and knelt there before him.

"Alan Winslow Burnett," she began, and every eye in the crowded pancake house was on her in an instant, "would you be my husband, to have and to hold, through sickness and health, for the rest of our gosh-darn lives?"

The entire restaurant fell dead silent, waiting for Burnett to say something – but instead he got down his knees in front of her and kissed her once before speaking.

"Debbie Whatever-your name-is, being of unsound mind but apparently hung like a horse, and knowing that that means a whole lot to you, I do hereby and in front of all these God-fearin' people promise to love you at least twice a night, more on weekends, 'til death do us part. Amen."

"Amen, brother!" someone yelled from the back of the restaurant, and the whole place erupted in applause.

Debbie grinned, hugged him. "Hot damn! Knew you wouldn't let me down, Slick. You are the best – the world's champion smart ass!"

He grinned back at her, then held her tight. "If I'm the best'," he whispered in her ear, "'it's only because you inspire me."

"You better take me home now, Slick, 'cause I'm getting horny again..."

He stood, took a bow as the applause continued, then helped her up as he took out his wallet and dumped some money on the table.

"Y'all gonna have to excuse us," he said to the crowd, "but BessieMae here is gettin' right horny, and I am too, and it's a fifteen minute drive to the nearest mattress store..." More laughter, more applause, some of the men standing and stomping their boots on the floor...

"Go get 'em, horse!" cried the old lady at the table next to theirs, who proceeded to slap Burnett's ass as he walked by.

"We better get out of here," Debbie said, "before we start a riot!"

"Or an orgy!"

"Ooh...tell you what...you can have that old lady..."

"Nope, I'm havin' you."

"Hope you can drive fast, Slick!"

"Hope you remember how that zipper thing works."

+++++

Burnett looked out the window, at thunderstorms boiling out there along the western horizon, and his hands gripped the armrests as a savage gust tore into the little 737 on final approach to Kansas City International.

"Fuck!" someone yelled as the wing dipped violently.

"I second that!" Burnett replied.

"Geez, Slick, never knew you was a pussy. Maybe we'd better just call this whole thing off."

He looked at her, sitting there as calm as a cucumber, as she grinned at him.

"Just a typical Kansas City slobberknocker, Slick. Ain't no big deal."

"Yeah, right," he said – just as the right wingtip plunged straight down towards the ground.

"FUCK ME IN THE ASS!" he heard Debbie scream – amidst all the other cries.

"That's more like it," Burnett yelled. "If we're gonna die, please scream just like that, okay?"

"You got it, Slick!" she said, gripping his hand tightly.

"Hey, lookie there..." Burnett said as he looked out the window again. "A tornado. Now, gee whiz, Debbie, this is such a treat. Did you and your dad arrange this just for me?"

She leaned over his lap, looked at the window. "Ah, that's nothin'. Just a puny little F2."

He continued looking at the black ropey thing hanging beneath the advancing wall cloud. "Puny, huh."

"Hey, Slick, after dealing with that horse's dick of yours for a couple of weeks, everything's beginning to look kinda' small."

"Gee, thanks. I think."

"I mean it, Slick, I've never been so saddle sore in all my life."

Burnett looked at the man across the aisle looking at them; his knowing smirk was a little disconcerting and she saw the expression in Alan's eyes, followed them and turned to look at the man:

"You know, what can I say?" she said to the man across the aisle. "Ever since my sex change operation, he just can't get enough of my asshole..."

The man made a little retching sound and turned away, hid his face.

"Hey, Wassermann, not bad. You win that round."

She beamed, just as the landing gears slammed down on the runway.

+++++

Dr Henry Wassermann, MD, FACS, met them at the baggage carousel; and while Burnett hadn't heard enough to really develop any serious expectations of the man, he was nevertheless surprised. Far from a wizened old Jew, Henry looked like a western movie star straight out of Central Casting: he was taller than Burnett, and still had a fair shock of silver blond hair on his head, but it was his physique that was a little out of the ordinary for a man nearing sixty. He looked like a boxer, and still left the impression he could knock men half his age around a boxing ring.

Their handshake left little doubt that Burnett's first impression was right on the money.

"Alan, good to meet you." Direct eye contact; an open, friendly face.

"You too, sir."

"Sir won't cut it 'round these parts, son. It's either Hank, or Doc. You choose."

"Okay, Doc."

"Fair enough, for now. That's a pretty mean looking storm out there, Deb. Did it give y'all any trouble coming in?"

"Oh, not much," she said.

"My guess is there're a couple of pilots who'd disagree with that statement, sir."

"Alan, you call me 'sir' one more time, and we'll have to go to the ER to get my boot out of your ass. Comprende?"

Debbie laughed. "C'mon Dad, it's his first day. Cut him some slack, okay?"

"Oops, there's a bag," Burnett said, dashing for a spot beside the spinning carousel.

A few minutes later they were heading south out of the airport and onto Highway Five.

"Ever been to Kansas, Alan?"

"Drove through once, on the way to college."

"That's a big mother," Henry said suddenly, looking up at the towering thunderstorm rolling across the prairie just ahead. He turned on the radio and the chirping of a tornado warning filled the car; he took the next exit, pulled into a gas station and listened to the alert. "C'mon, Alan, let's fill this thing up."

Burnett got out of the huge Chevy Suburban and opened the gas tank while Henry slipped a card in the pump and entered data. "Okay, should be good to go," he said a moment later. "And, use premium."

Burnett filled the tank, Henry came over and stood close while the pump churned away.

"This thing between you two is getting serious, I take it?" he said.

"Serious? I love her, if that's what you mean."

"And she loves you?"

"Yessir, I think so, but maybe you ought to ask her."

"Fair enough. So, you went to Berkeley, studied philosophy, and became a cop. You'll have to tell me how that came about someday."