Oil of Roses Ch. 17

Now kiss me and decide how best to punish me for striking you. No matter how upset I was that was completely uncalled for, totally unacceptable and I deserve whatever correction you deem proper."

"I'm gonna punish you mercilessly, and I do mean mercilessly, by blowin' raspberries on your belly until you're laughin' so hard you can barely breathe. You won't know when, or where, but it's comin'."

"Yes sir," she said, smiling up at him.

* * * * *

The conversation had relocated more to the center of the room when she returned. Harry explained that the smell of sex back where they had been was sort of distracting.

Carol looked in shock at her two 'shots' of Goldshlager. The bartender, being friendly, had poured said shots into highball glasses... and since that wasted so much space in the glasses, he'd added more shnapps. Carol conservatively figured she had about 6 shots per glass. "Does anyone want to help me with this Goldshlager?" she asked plaintively.

"I'll help," Kelly volunteered.

"Sip it or bird it?" Carol asked.

"Bird me of course, you silly bitch!"

Carol took a healthy swig of the fiery liqueur, stood up and kissed Kelly from above, dribbling the fluid into her mouth. Kelly continued the kiss after the liqueur was long gone. Finally she broke the kiss.

"Damn that was good! Jess, Angel, you've got to try some of that."

"Okay, I'm game... Carol?"

"Yeah Jess?"

"Well, no offense, but could Kelly, what did you call it? Bird me?"

Carol smiled. "Sure, no problem, but I get to bird it to her first."

"Fair enough," said Kelly, never one to pass up two kisses in place of one.

Harry leaned into his wife as he gently stroked her thigh. "Do you think they have any idea the effect watching them is having on us?"

"Probably not," Margo said. "I think the desires of two horny old people are pretty damn far away from their minds right now."

"I heard that," Carol said, "and it isn't true." She took another large mouthful and stood over Kelly, kissed her and let the liqueur pour down into her.

They both kept the kiss short and Kelly got up, straddled Jessica's lap and leaned down to kiss her, accidentally spilling some of the liqueur down the side of Jess' face. She caught it with her fingers and as Jessica swallowed and the kiss continued, Kelly put the fingers between their mouths so they both could lick them clean, then continued to kiss Jessica. Finally Kelly just sat down astride Jessica and the two of them made out like teenagers.

* * * * *

Mrs. Reynolds was quite sure something was going on... the only problem was, she had no idea what. There was no way that they were taking any sexual advantage of her daughter; those people could have no interest in a fat girl like Jessica. Maybe it was drugs, or something even darker.

She did a smile-and-greet pass through the bar and made sure the two waitresses on duty were doing their jobs. Then she told Mike, the bartender, to keep an eye on things and quietly headed back towards the rear.

She got to the section entrance, stepped inside and to the right, one of her observation points when overseeing this part of the bar. She waited for her eyes to adjust.

Whatever she was expecting to see, it wasn't this. Nothing really unusual on the right side; the large man and his little companion were cuddling and talking. Her eyes scanned to the center of the room, the more mature of the women and her husband, Mrs. Reynolds assumed, were sitting together watching... something... the girl on the chain was watching whatever it was as well.

She moved deeper into the darkness.

* * * * *

Kelly was back in the arms she'd been missing all day. She felt the warmth of her love close to her and she realized that she had fallen so hard for this girl.

"Jess, I love you and I've missed you all day and every second I've wished you were with me."

"Baby, I know, it's been the same for me. I love you so much. I called Jimmy this afternoon and broke it off and I've wanted to be back with you so bad."

Their lips joined again and their hands began to roam across each others back and arms and neck.

Carol felt her before anyone heard her but it was only a split second before and could in no way change the course of events.

"JESSICA ANN REYNOLDS! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

Time stopped, in that funny way it has of stopping when one really doesn't want it to, those times one wishes one could just fast-forward past the next several hours and arrive at a point in time when all the drama was over.

"How do you want to play this one, she's your mother?" Kelly whispered. She got no answer so she pulled back to see that Jessica was furious. "Whatever happens Angel, we're all with you, okay?"

Jessica nodded, a tight, angry, controlled little nod.

Kelly got up and swung out of the way. Jessica got up, took Kelly by the hand and pulled her over to where Mrs. Reynolds stood, steaming.

Jessica had plastered a politely neutral face on. "Mother, please lower your voice. I'd like you to meet Kelly, my girlfriend."

Mrs. Reynolds' hand snapped back and headed for Jessica's face only to run into Kelly's face on the way.

"Mrs. Reynolds, you get that one as a freebie," Kelly said, standing in front of Jessica as a shield, "you don't want to pull that hand back again, though."

Mrs. Reynolds sneered and brought her hand back. It was caught by the massive hand of the very large man.

"Really ma'am, you don't want to do that," Eddy said, gently holding her hand in place.

"Or what," the woman said, suddenly frightened... she did a masterful job of covering the fear with scorn, "you'll hit me?"

"No ma'am," the huge man responded, calmly, "someone, whomever you hit, will be filing assault charges. That would be bad enough, but also, in all probability, they'll be filing a lawsuit against you and the Omni Hotel chain as well, and that would get damned ugly, pardon my language. I certainly don't think your employers want you to hit anyone in this room again; no matter how justified you might feel."

Slowly reason returned to her eyes and everyone breathed a little easier. Her next words destroyed that sense of ease.

"You're terminated, Jessica. I'll be calling Security to escort you to the employee locker room and then off the premises. We'll discuss this further when I get home."

Kelly shot Harry a glance, he nodded.

"And immediately after you have her walked off the premises, Mrs. Reynolds, I'll walk her right back on as our guest in the Presidential Suite."

"I don't think so, whatever your name was. She will not be allowed back onto hotel property."

Margo stepped to the fore. "Then I think we'll be leaving and talking to my friend, the manager of hotel operations, Mr. Saunders, explaining to him why we're leaving and requesting a full apology from you, not only to us as a group, but to Kelly and to your daughter specifically."

"You can give that shit up for Lent, I'm not apologizing to that little nigger..."

Mrs. Reynolds found herself facing a collection of very angry people. The very large man was behind her, blocking her exit. The rest of the group was in front of her and to her sides. The short girl who'd been led in on a leash got right up in her face.

"You're going to apologize to my friend and you're going to do so right now. If you don't, I'm going to pull something very nasty out of my pocket and go to work on you with it. I'm real tired of ignorant fucking bigots using that hateful goddamn word to refer to a woman who's a much better person than they'll ever be. And please don't think I'm afraid of the law. My friends will get me a very good lawyer and I'll tell such a truthful and heart-rending story of a fucked-up childhood and an unfortunate life since that I won't do much time at all. You, on the other hand, will be looking for a real good plastic surgeon to fix your face. Now apologize, bitch."

Never for a moment did Mrs. Reynolds doubt she was in mortal danger from the little woman. In that she showed one of the few flashes of wisdom she had that night.

"Kelly... I apologize... for referring to you by that hateful word... I ask that you forgive me... for losing my temper and saying something I didn't really mean."

"Apology accepted." Kelly turned to Jessica. "What do you want to do now, Angel?"

"What she wants to do is immaterial, I'm her mother and she's going to go home and wait for me to get off work."

Kelly turned and looked at her. "Ma'am, when I'm speaking to you, you'll know it. Your daughter is eighteen. I asked her what she wanted to do, I did not ask what you expected her to do. I'll thank you to let her answer the question."

Jessica looked from Kelly to Harry to Margo and back to Kelly.

Harry'd had enough. "I'm sorry but I'm going to hurry this up a little because standing this close to you, Mrs. Reynolds, is something I'm finding distinctly unpleasant. Jessica, if you need a place to stay, we've got the room."

"You need a job? Wanna deliver Chinese food? Pay ain't what it was here, but it's a living," Kelly said.

"Kelly, I want to move in with you at Harry and Margo's. I'd like to get a job delivering Chinese food. Mother, may I pack up some things at the house?"

Mrs. Reynolds barely contained her anger. "Take whatever you want but be out of there by the time I get home. Anything you leave I'm throwing out."

"Fine," Harry said, "glad we have all that settled. Eddy, would you and Kelly go with her and help her get her stuff together and over to the house? Margo, go get Mr. Saunders on the phone from the front desk. Tell him the whole story, including Mrs. Reynold's unfortunate use of racial epithets. See how much shit you can stir up. Carol, you and I are going to go pack out the room. We're going home."

"What about me, Harry?" Tamara asked.

"Tammy, if you feel up to it we could sure use your help packing out the room. Good night Mrs. Reynolds, I sincerely hope you're unemployed in the morning."

With that they walked out, leaving Mrs. Reynolds with nothing but her anger.

* * * * *

The next several hours were full of activity and everyone's tiredness didn't make them go any easier. But eventually Harry, Margo, Carol and Tamara had made it to the house.

Perry and Bevy had been sent away after being paid for the full week. Before they'd left they'd hauled the crates of albums and equipment up to the old upstairs master bedroom, which had been Harry's father's office. They'd made arrangements to come back and shoot some photos of Carol, Tamara and Margo to use as models for "Dinosaur Ho". Harry was pretty sure that once they met them, they'd be adding Kelly and Jessica to the model list.

After hauling in their luggage, Harry had gone upstairs to see the shape his bedroom was in. He threw the last of his remaining things into some boxes and put them in the office as well. Then he ripped the sheets off the double bed and took them down to the laundry room. He had Carol go put fresh sheets on the bed and finish airing the room out.

Margo put away everything they had brought home. She was satisfied, overall, with the results of her conversation with Martin Saunders. Mrs. Reynolds was going to be spoken with the next day. If Mr. Saunders wasn't happy with the answers he got, and Margo was pretty sure he wouldn't be, she would be terminated. They had three nights stay in the Presidential Suite comp'd the next time they visited, provided they stayed a full week. After Jessica had mentioned it to her, she'd made sure that Saunders knew she'd paid to have a night's stay and the brunches of the people they'd discomfited that morning taken care of. She knew he'd make sure they received them.

They didn't mean to be loud and obnoxious... it just seemed to happen: especially when Harry and Eddy got together. If you added alcohol and an appreciative audience to the mix, inappropriateness and high volume were guaranteed. Margo foresaw a lot of apologies and soothing of ruffled feathers when they went out together. She smiled. She wouldn't have it any other way.

Harry walked into the bedroom. "My beloved wife, I have a date with a big ol' bowl of dope in that pipe, but before I go getting stoned, I'm going to make a quick run to H.E.B."

As Eddy had checked out of the Omni as well, Margo and Tamara prepped the guest room for Eddy and Tamara to occupy.

"You know, I wasn't quite thinking when I stormed out of the Omni just how much work would be involved," Margo said with a rueful grin.

Tamara looked up at her. "You were all willing to go pretty far for someone you'd just met the day before, ma'am. I was a little surprised."

Margo sat down on the edge of the newly sheeted bed. "If she and Kelly weren't involved, I don't know if we would have gone as far as fast... I'd like to think we would have. Jessica seems like a very sweet girl, I like her a lot. But she is involved with Kelly, and Kelly's one of our own, just like you and Eddy and Karen and Patricia are. We protect our own, whenever and wherever we can."

Carol came in. "Well, both sets of sheets that were stripped are in the wash. Shouldn't be a problem getting them in the dryer before everyone crashes. What's up with y'all?"

"Oh, we're just discussing what went down at the hotel," Margo said. "Have a seat, join the confab.

"Besides," she continued, "I noticed you were right there with us, Tammy."

"Edward was there, I was there." She said as the simple axiom it was, in her mind. "Carol, were you really going to cut Mrs. Reynolds?"

"Not sure. I know I sure wanted to. I don't like that fucking word. I really don't like it when it gets applied to someone I love, someone who's as special as she is. I think if the chickenshit bitch had been a little ballsier and not backed down, I probably would have just beat the shit out of her. Using my razor could get me in serious trouble." She leaned over and hugged Tammy. "Have I mentioned how happy I am that we were able to get you away from that fat fuck Phil? It's good to be able to spend some time with you again, especially since you're away from that line of 'family men' you were with."

"It's good to be out of there. Edward is so sweet and so gentle. I don't know how he's managed to stay that way, given the women in his past, but he's so beautiful and so fragile."

Above her head Carol and Margo looked at one another and smiled. It might be a part of Eddy they'd never see, but they didn't doubt that it was real. They both envied her the chance to see that side of him... not the physical intimacy, but the emotional intimacy.

"I'm glad you're happy, Tammy. I'm glad Eddy's happy. I'm glad we're all happy... let's just see if we can have a more drama-free life for awhile," Carol said.

Margo heard her cell going off in the living room and went to answer it. Carol looked at Tamara. "Do you need anything from the kitchen? I'm feeling a bit hungry."

"If you don't think anyone would mind..."

"Goddamn it, Tamara, stop that! These people like you. Give them time and they'll love you, just like they love Eddy and Kelly. You're a guest here, a welcome guest. Quit acting like you're imposing by breathing."

Tamara looked up at her from having dropped her eyes to the floor. "Carol, I'm sorry... I'm not used to being welcome."

Carol sat down and hugged her. "I know, Tammy. Just work on believing you are, here, and that these people want nothing but good for you. If you and Eddy didn't work out, as long as you behaved honorably and decently, they'd still want nothing but good things for you. Now let's go get something to eat before I starve!"

As the girls headed for the kitchen Margo got off the phone and followed them in.

"Well, that was Eddy. They stopped and grabbed some boxes behind a couple of liquor stores and hit Jessica's house. Luckily Mrs. Reynolds was already there... Eddy was worried otherwise she'd claim that he or Kelly had stolen something. They're doing a very hurried smash-and-grab on Jessica's room. She's somewhat of an emotional wreck, completely understandably, but seems to be holding her shit together well enough to help them get her out of there."

"Yeah, I imagine she wasn't expecting to lose her mother, her job and her home all in one night when she got up this morning," Carol said. "I'm thinking that if it looks like this is going to be permanent, we'll eventually switch the office upstairs with their room, to let them have the extra space."

"Well, sounds good to me. You are, after all, the lady of the house," Margo said with an honest and open smile. "You do what seems best to you."

Carol looked at her, trying to see any sign of resentment. "You're sure you're okay with that?"

Margo laughed, "God yes! Honey, I'm not the housewifely type, I have a career I love and while I'm by no means a neat freak, I like coming home to a reasonably clean house and the promise of a hot meal somewhere in my future. For the freedom from having to worry about that," she dropped to her knees, "I will, upon request and advance notice, do anything the Lady of the House demands."

"Margo, you are so beautiful... I may forget how hungry I am and do you right now on the floor," Carol said.

Margo looked up. "Well, let's get you and Tammy fed first and then find a bed... I'm a little worn out tonight for the floor in the kitchen to have much appeal... although the living room... that's a different story."

In the end they all agreed that soup or sandwiches were probably best. As they sat and ate, Harry got back from the grocery store. After he unloaded the car he nuked a bowl of soup and sat down with them. Margo started to fill him in on Eddy's call.

"Don't bother honey, he called me too. I'm glad Mrs. Reynolds was there as well. I hate to think this of anyone, but I wouldn't want her causing any trouble for Eddy or Kelly, or Jess for that matter, and I wouldn't put it past her to claim they robbed her blind. With all four of them there at the same time. The chances of that should be negligible.

"I used to think my naïve little liberal ass understood the plight of blacks in this country... I don't understand shit. I can't understand it. There's no one name anyone can call me that's loaded with four hundred years worth of hatred and bigotry... and I can't begin to imagine how it must feel to have one out there that can be used so freely by people. I never had any problem understanding how blacks could use that word among themselves. Not to equate the two situations, but Eddy and I called each other names we would've beaten the shit out of anyone else for calling us."

"Well, I know you have a deep and abiding need to get stoned, Harry, but let's wait for them to get back... I'm thinking we all need the break... and after never smoking very much at all before I came here, I've missed it the past several days," Margo said. "Good God! Harry!"

"What!"

"Does this mean, after all these years, I'm finally not a Brain anymore, I'm a Stoner?"

Harry laughed. "Yes my dear, you are now one of us. The many, the incoherent, the brain-fried... welcome to the Society of the Baked, Those Who Wear the Red Eyes, the Dope-Smoking Freaks! Just a few more degradations must I lure you into and you will be a complete and total bottom-feeding servant of Evil like myself!" He chuckled maniacally.

"It's like I said, Margo, the drug use has destroyed his mind. Luckily we're made of stronger stuff than him," Carol said.

"True. I kept praying he'd snap out of it... but now it's too late. He's fallen to the Drooling-Moron side of the Force. Tamara, I must apologize for my husband... he is not well."

"It's alright Margo, I've seen this before. A perfectly normal and sane person driven to depravity and perversion by exposure to the demon marijuana... I hope they hurry home soon so we can smoke some."