Kevin Brown

Minutes later, she let my head go and we broke from each other, panting. "Um, I should clean up the table," Sandy stood up, pushing her chair back. "I'm sorry, Kevin."

"For what?" I asked.

"Taking advantage of you like that."

"You only took advantage of me for about half a second, Sandy. You got more cookie than I did."

That got her to giggle a bit. She busied herself cleaning up the bucket and the styrofoam plates. I heard the silverware jingle in the sink, then she came back to me, taking my hands and lifting them so I would stand up and put my arms around her. She paid no mind to the erection tenting my shorts and nestled into my chest. "Will you take me to bed, Kevin?"

"Yes, Sandy, I will."

"Make love to me with the lights on so I can see you," she demanded.

"Of course, baby."

In my eagerness to bed Sandy, I didn't tell her about my ability to spy on her dreams. Her first one involved the scene at the department store, Karmala and Klara shopping together. Seeing actual events through the dream filter is sometimes hard to interpret. From what I saw in Sandy's dream it was Klara bossing Karmala around.

The second dream was of a sunrise over the ocean. When I see a dream, it's from the point of view of the dreamer, so I was a little shocked to see myself holding hands with me. The rest of her dreams were a jumble, being tasked with pricing a never-shrinking pile of clothes being the funniest.

***

Sandy woke up, dragging me awake with her. She shuffled around, grabbing her panties off the floor and shuffling to the bathroom. When she got back into bed, I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close to me so I could fall back into dreamland.

I was used to Klara cooking breakfast, but was managing cereal pretty good when Sandy came into the kitchen. I heard her going through the cupboards, and then the sound of the coffeemaker coming to life. "Did you sleep well, Kevin?"

"Better than I have in a while," I admitted.

"Just out of curiosity, why is there a thousand bucks in your centerpiece here?"

"Tips, from work."

"A thousand dollars?" She sounded dubious. "Are you giving happy ending massages to the MILFs?"

"Sandy, it's really hard to explain. I'll have to show you. I'm serious."

"After you finish your food."

My massage table at home was like my massage table at work: Clean. Sandy took off what little clothing she was wearing and lay down, sighing as she did so.

Minutes later, my magic fingers managed to wring three orgasms from her tiny body. It took so long for her to speak, I thought she had fallen asleep. She moved into a sitting position and grabbed my hand. "How many women have you done that to?"

"Two others besides Klara. One of the women was Karmala, before I knew she was the woman who stole, well, you know."

"And they paid a thousand dollars for that?"

"Yes..."

"Then I'm glad I got it for free, cause I can't afford that!"

"Are you upset?" I asked.

"No." She started to giggle. "I shook my head, Kevin, like you could see that! Anyway, take all you can get from them. If they can afford it, you should get as much as you can."

"So you're encouraging me to take strange women to the moon for money," I said.

"It's not like you're a gigolo, Kevin. At the core, you're relieving stress, just like any masseur would, except better."

I couldn't see any fault in her logic. The screaming and moaning at the shop might attract attention, but I did have the occasional squealer on my table anyway.

Sandy went to her parents' house to shower and get some fresh clothing, but she did swing by to take me to work. I didn't have any requests for the special massage, but I did get good tips for a Friday.

Elmer gave me a ride home, and I straightened up the house as best I could. Nobody called, I really didn't expect Klara to call, but I held out hope for Sandy.

Pizza showed up at ten, a bubbly sounding Sandy following it inside. The bread sticks made good kiss initiators, and the kissing in the kitchen led to more kissing in the bedroom.

I found out that Sandy loved her flying dreams. She sometimes was out in the open, wind whipping through her hair, and other times she was on a plane. I didn't recognize the city she was flying over but it was big and pretty.

My confession about dreamscaping went over better than I thought it would. She told me the city was New York, and she dreamed of living there one day.

I pointed out that she had been living there in her dreams and that was good for another round of giggles from her. Klara had said that my special massage had put a spring in her step, and Sandy admitted that she felt charged up as well.

Grocery shopping was fun with Sandy. She had made a list of what I needed and when we got to that item in the store she described every item in that category and add her personal observations on them.

Once we got home, we unpacked the groceries, and she made a wonderful smelling lasagna. I was engrossed in a novel written by Lee Child about a man named Jack Reacher who wandered around the United States on foot. I idly wondered how well Jack could wander if he were blind.

Dinner only served to charge Sandy up, and she did a really good job wearing me down in the bedroom afterward. She fell asleep, head on my chest, her apple-scented hair tickling my nose as I descended into her dreams with her.

This time, she seemed acutely aware that I was in dreamland with her. She performed an active parting, a method that people used to clone themselves in their dreams, and took me out of her dream-self. It was surreal, and I was also me and not a clone of her. While I was just a participant in the dream and couldn't manipulate her dreamscape, it was wonderful. The last part I remembered was flying through a thunderstorm with her, and then I was alone all of a sudden.

That sudden solitude snapped me awake, and Sandy wasn't in bed with me. I couldn't hear her in the bathroom, she was at the front door, talking to Klara. "...again, Klara. Oh, that's a nice ring you have there."

"Karmala and I got engaged. So what, you little twit?" Klara answered.

"What were you going to do? Come back and rub it in his face? You'd probably take his eyes out with that thing. Oh, wait, you did!"

"Kevin and I made a deal, Sandy."

"I know about your deal. You'd come back and give him a pity fuck right before you tore his balls off!" Sandy was fighting mad. I knew Klara had a good five inches on her, but Sandy was a scrapper, it came with being short. "Why don't you just stay gone this time?"

"There are still some of my things in this house!"

"I can pack them up and send them to Los Angeles for you. Hell, I'll do it with my own money," Sandy snapped.

Los Angeles?

"How do you know about that?" Klara demanded.

"You're not the only person from Wadesboro thats been to 'La Vie Enchantee.' Some friends of mine were already there when you and Karma came strutting in. They saw your little impromptu engagement party."

"Her name is..."

"Karma is a bitch, just like Karmala." I heard a slap. It was a good one, nice and juicy, it was going to leave a mark. "You get that one for free, Klara. Go ahead and move along now, let a real woman have a chance with Kevin."

"Fine." There was the sound of heels strutting off, a car door, and an engine moving away.

Sandy came back into bed, and I wrapped her in a big hug. "Thank you, Sandy. I don't know if I would have been able to face her on my own."

"Face?" Sandy giggled.

"Confront," I corrected myself.

***

Sandy drove me to work the next morning, making Elmer promise that I would get home okay. When she was gone, I assured Elmer that I could get home if he needed to take off early. Sure enough, at the end of the day, a woman came in asking for a 'Kevin Special.' She didn't give me her name, which set me off a little bit, but I gave her the special anyway. With Klara gone, I wasn't too sure about the bills unless Sandy moved in, which she probably wouldn't.

The sun felt nice on my skin as I walked home. More than once Klara and I had walked the route, which wasn't too dangerous for a blind man. She did petition the town to put in audible walk alarms for the two intersections I had to cross, and managed to wrangle some money out of the National Federation of the Blind to put them in. I also had another tool, a pace counter, which knew my exact route home to the foot.

I applauded myself for getting home in one piece, wondering how blind men of days past had managed that feat without technology. Dinner came from the microwave and all the dishes I had to do was the fork and spoon I had used to eat it. Shit, shower, and shave, and I went to bed, lulled to sleep by a book on CD.

Sandy had spoiled me. I had to settle for dreams in black-and-white, which mostly centered around things I had seen in Sandy's dreams. The nightmare was getting stuck in a thunderstorm on the way home, a path that never seemed to end.

The next day was more of the same. Six women and two men came in for their regular massage, sharing with me their gossip and sins like I was their priest. I walked home again, this time with the feeling that somebody was following me. I wasn't sure, and wrote it off to the jitters of being alone.

Wednesday held little surprise, even the woman showing up at closing time asking for my special massage wasn't surprising. Another walk home alone, another lonely dinner, this time a book to pass the time between eating and sleeping. Thursday morning it was raining, so I had to resort to calling a cab. I didn't want to wake Elmer, he was probably stressed out as it was worrying about me.

There was an early client at the store when I got there, she told me her name was Annabelle Andrews. I remembered her from last week, my second 'Kevin Special.' She wanted to take me out to breakfast, and I told her that I was already seeing somebody. There was the obvious snort when I said 'seeing' but I think she got the picture.

I was almost out the door that evening when an energetic woman came through it. She wanted a massage, but didn't mention the 'Kevin Special,' which was unusual for me. We went into the room, and she crawled onto my table after peeling herself out of her clothes.

She gabbed and gabbed about a movie set that she was working on up in Albemarle. I finished her back, noting that she was relatively young by the feel of her muscles. I was rather surprised when she turned over and asked me to massage her front. I told her that there were masseuses that were available in Charlotte to massage her front. She insisted, and I backed away from the table and asked her to leave.

There wasn't any argument after that, she slid back into her clothes and after putting some money on the table, clacked off in her heels. On the walk home, I definitely heard somebody behind me, but it was only for two blocks, so I didn't get too paranoid.

Friday morning, there was somebody at my door. She had a dog with her, she said it was a seeing-eye dog. I refused her gift and her come-on as well. I was almost to work when I was stopped by Annabelle Andrews. She asked to know why I wouldn't take a ten thousand dollar seeing eye dog as a gift. After I informed her that my girlfriend was allergic to dogs, she backed off and left.

Elmer was a bit out of sorts when I entered the shop, wouldn't tell me why, but I could tell he was rattled. At closing, a woman came in asking for a 'Kevin Special,' and I asked him to tell her I wasn't feeling well. He came back and offered me a ride home and I accepted. There was just too much weirdness going on for me to walk, and I was weary.

Sandy came knocking about twenty-three hours. I let her in and she gave me one of her energetic hugs. "I got promoted, Kevin!"

"That's wonderful! Is it wonderful?"

"I'm going to be Sales Manager for the whole state!" She bounced around some more, I could hear the floor complaining under her. "We've got to go out and celebrate!"

"It's a little late for that, don't you think?" I indicated my current state of dress.

"We'll celebrate out tomorrow, I wanna celebrate in tonight and I'm over dressed." She took my hand and led me to my bedroom. After our lovemaking, I spooned up against her, one arm under her neck and the other around her waist. "You don't know how much I love this, Kevin," she murmured.

"I love it too. Why didn't we do this sooner?"

"Kevin, I didn't want to be the rebound girlfriend then. Now, I don't consider myself the rebound girl. You haven't been married to her for almost six years, and you've been out with other women since then."

"Why didn't you come see me?" I asked.

"I tried. It never seemed to be a good time to approach you because of...you know who. I would have tried coming to get a massage, but you don't date your customers."

She was right, that rule was begun by Klara and had kept Sandy away. Our relationship would work now, I hoped. I closed my eyes and let Sandy take me flying again.

***

Saturday morning, Sandy took me thrift store shopping. Even though I did have the money to go get new things, I much preferred to save it up. Sandy got a few things for herself, clothes that she could have at my place for when she stayed over.

On Sunday, Sandy took me to a movie. She wasn't trying to be cruel, I did enjoy movies for the sounds. I'm sure she got quite a few looks, but I know she didn't care at all. It was my favorite kind of movie, the kind with battles of any machine or person. The World War Two theme was amazing and the dialog was very good.

Sandy guided me to her car, and I opened her door for her. "Kevin, why is the FBI watching you?"

Huh? "The hell you say?"

"There is a black Suburban parked across the lines at the edge of the lot, two women inside, sunglasses. There, they just pulled off. I saw one of those on your street when I pulled in yesterday."

"Coincidence. There is absolutely no reason for the FBI to be shadowing me." I didn't mention the possibility that I was being followed on foot while I walked home. "Let's go get something to eat, I'm buying since you paid for the movie."

"You're not too full from the popcorn?" Sandy asked.

"No, you?"

"I'm just fine. In fact you're going to need the protein for what I have planned for us tonight," Sandy giggled. I had seen her smile in her dreams, and that's what I pictured her doing when she giggled.

Sandy did her best to try and wear me out, but we called a truce half past one and curled up in each other's arms and went to sleep.

Breakfast was actually at eleven hours, making it brunch. We went to the park afterwards and we sat there and listened to the sounds. Most prevalent were the sounds of children, some young and some older.

"I'd like to have kids," Sandy admitted. "I think you'd make a good dad."

Hold on, kiddie police. "Yeah, changing diapers would be real fun."

"It's just a matter of precision, goofy. Just like your massages, you'd just have to know where to put your hands." She snuggled into me, and now I was as uncomfortable as she was comfortable.

Me? A father? What did I have to offer my children? A job that mostly relied on tips, not much of a future in that. Would I be able to teach them a trade? If I had sight, I could teach them to drive, or how to fix the car. I might be able to teach them computers, but only with tons of patience. There wouldn't be any sports; no soccer, no football...no baseball.

Sandy gave me a nudge. "What's going on in that head of yours, Kevin?"

"I'm trying to figure out how I would play catch with my son," I sighed.

That statement pretty much put the rest of the afternoon in the dumps. Sandy left early, saying she had to get some things prepared for Monday. Her kiss was soft but distant, and I got a brief honk from her before she drove away.

My week went normally, except for my thoughts of Sandy. I had 'Kevin Special' requests Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but at closing time on Thursday, Sandy slipped into my workroom. "Hi, Sandy."

"Hey, Kevin."

It was Kevin now, not any of the pet names she had used. "You sound serious."

"I'm going to Pittsburgh for my training, I'll be gone for two weeks. They sprung that on me this morning. My offices will be in Raleigh, not Charlotte, so I'll have to move. The company is moving all South Carolina and Georgia operations up there as well."

"Sounds big," I probed.

"Kevin, you can come with me. JayCees has an opening in their IT department, and I hear that that visually impaired interfaces are top notch."

"Sandy, I can't just uproot everything here," I protested.

"Kevin, you don't have anything here! Your mom and brother are gone! Klara is gone and it's time to move on with your love life. You used to have mad skills on computers, you can still use those in the modern world."

I did have mad skills. The reason I wasn't in IT was not my sight, I could have left long ago for any number of computer jobs. I was comfortable here in this little town and I didn't want to leave it. "Sandy, I can't. I hated the city when I could see it, I am just not comfortable with the idea of living there."

Sandy let out a sob. "Then this is us breaking up, Kevin. I can live without kids but I can't be stuck here. The bosses tell me I can go places, and I wanted to go there with you. But you are tethered to this backward little burg so I'm cutting myself loose from you." Without so much as a goodbye, she was gone.

I finished cleaning my room and went out to the front counter. Elmer was still counting down the drawer, which meant he was staying just to check on me. "Looks like rain," he offered.

Yeah, it feels like rain. If only I could cry. "I should be okay, those storms don't usually hit till after the sun goes down. Thanks for the offer, Elmer."

"You should have gone with her, Kevin. I'm not gonna be 'round here forever, ya know."

That was a shock, Elmer saying something like that. "Are you planning on closing up shop?"

"God, Kevin, don't make this any harder than it has to be. I love you like a son, probably why I've stayed open so long."

"You're quitting?" There was nothing like another disappointment to truly fuck up my day. "It's Leon's, isn't it?"

"Yeah, the people that used to come here from Rockingham go there instead. Monroe has its own parlors, and the Wadesboro customers aren't sure if I'm going to be around much longer. Even your regulars are fleeing the coop. You have three hours booked tomorrow, and a total of eleven for the next week."

Eleven hours? Usually I had that in two days or less, not five. "I guess you get to call them Elmer. Tell them that Friday's the last day?"

I heard a sigh, then he spoke: "Yeah, I can do that, Kevin. I'm sorry to hit you with this on top of Sandy leaving you, but I've been putting it off for over a week."

He wasn't kicking me while I was down, I thought. I have been way down ever since Klara divorced me and didn't know it. "Thanks for trying, Elmer. I guess I will see you tomorrow?"

"Sure, kid," Elmer didn't take offense to my bad humor. "Sure."

It did start raining on my way home, I didn't care because the water didn't affect my ability to walk. An old song came to mind when I stopped at the bottom of my driveway. It was called 'Crying in the Rain.' I would cry if I could.

Somebody had been in my house while I was at work. The smells of cleaners, detergent, and dusting oil lingered in the air. My clothes were washed, my bed made, and my dishes done and arranged. For a moment, I thought that Klara had come back, but when I went into her room, all of her things were gone, even her smell was gone. I took a moment, then went back into the kitchen. A small note was on my table, embossed in braille: