Valley of Sinners Ch. 03

Almost two hours later she heard the Chevy come up the drive and the garage door open.

“Like mother, like daughter,” Lisa smiled, already drifting back into sleep. Once when she’d been sitting Alayna, Maggie who’d been to a party and was rather primed, had giggled when she’d driven Lisa home and said, ‘Don’t tell anyone this, especially you mother, but when I was about seventeen your grandfather used to take me parking and would lay me along that lovely seat in the Chevy’.

Lisa had been rather shocked but then remembered her mother saying that her father had rather a reputation with the women. Obviously it was not only as a favored partner at bridge.

Before going to bed she’d set her alarm. When it went off at 5:15 she jumped out of bed, brushed her hair, cleaned her teeth and splashed on perfume. She dressed in her red top with a plunging neckline that reveals her half-bra, and put on her black pedal pushers. She felt great.

Downstairs Lisa made two cups of coffee and four pieces of toast and took the tray down to Nash’s room, knocking and waiting to give him time to pull a sheet over himself. She entered the room only to find it empty. She felt the depression where he’d been sleeping, but the bottom sheet didn’t feel warm; he’d been gone for sometime, but where?

Lisa went outside to find Monty tethered. He scarcely bothered with her after giving her two quick licks, instead returning to strain against his chain looking down to the Montgomery block. Two minutes later a shotgun blast confirmed Nash’s whereabouts and Monty rattled his chain and whined.

Flouncing back into the house Lisa sprawled on Nash’s bed, drained both cups of coffee and whined, “Why am I behaving like a whipped up teenager. This has to stop.”

An hour later Nash entered his bedroom to find Lisa asleep on his bed, her legs wide apart but she was covered decently. Grinning, he took the four bits of toast, fetched his camera and returned outside to where he had nine rabbit corpses lined up ready to be photographed. Hopefully, by the time he’d butchered nine carcasses Lisa would be back upstairs preparing his bacon and eggs and hash browns.

Lisa sensed Nash had returned the room – ah, yes. The door was closed. Although embarrassed to find she’d been on her back with her legs splayed was confident she’d been adequately covered. Ah, the toast has gone; he’d think she’d brought coffee down to drink with him and had fallen asleep – after drinking both mugs of coffee, of course.

It was after seven and Lisa knew if her mother has trained him well he’d be expecting breakfast at 7:30 on a rabbiting morning. She hunted unsuccessfully for low-fat yoghurt and wholemeal bread. What would her mother give him? Ah yes, the kill me kindly breakfast – fatty bacon, eggs done in fat and hash browns cooked in butter. Quickly she cut fat off the bacon rashes and began grilling them and fried the eggs in a smearing of vegetable oil. She toasted the hash browns and just before the bacon was done she put four halves of Beefsteak tomatoes under the grill, turning them after one minute and putting a pinch of sugar on the top of each half.

She was correct about 7:30 as right at that time she heard Nash coming up the stairs.

“Good morning,” he said quite boyishly, almost a little shy. “What a lovely smell to be greeted with.”

“Yes, it’s a lovely perfume.”

“Oops, sorry I mean the aroma of cooking food. I have yet to catch the fragrance of your perfume.”

Come closer and I’ve give you fragrance, both barrels of it, she growls to herself.

“What a lovely top, and cute bra.”

He’s noticed! Lisa is delighted, quite forgetting she’d decided to no longer act like a flighty teenager.

Lisa sipped her coffee watching him eating and was surprised to learn he’d shot nine rabbits, saying her mother was a great shot and her record was nine.

“Well, I better make sure I stop whenever I reach nine, if I ever get that many again.”

What a sweet thing to say, sighed Lisa. He’s such a nice young man.

“This meal – this meal,” Nash says deliberately. “It’s not cooked the same way Hope cooks it, but I rather like it. In fact I prefer it. Much less fat, right?”

“Yes, we must look after our bodies.”

“Well, you’re obviously good at looking after yours,” he said, eying the top of her half bra that is just showing. She resisted bending over a bit more to give him a better eyeful; that’s just the sort of thing a girl like Alayna would do. But she isn’t that type of girl, or is she? Alayna’s tee-shirt in the downstairs bathroom would be dry; perhaps she should go down and put it on. She began to giggle.

He looked puzzled, so she decides to be nice.

“I’m not used to any man saying my bra looks nice. You must be seeing a lot of me if you can see my bra.”

“Not all of it. I love women in sexy underwear.”

“Really, have you seen mum’s collection?”

“What sort of trick question is that?”

“Unintentional, I assure you. I guess she wouldn’t show it to a man. Want to come up for a look?”

“I’m sure she would not take kindly to that.”

“What mum? She wouldn’t mind. Come on,” says Lisa, holding out her hand, but he didn’t move saying, “I’d rather not, if you don’t mind. If she wants me to see it, she’ll show it to me.”

“It doesn’t matter, I accept your viewpoint. I’d take you up to show you mine, but I’m traveling light so have none of the really lovely pieces with me.”

That conversation lapse so Lisa said brightly, “What should we do this morning? Mum should be home around lunchtime.

“I’d really like to sit in the orchard with you telling me some of the interesting things you can remember about growing up with your mother. Just let your mind wander. If you don’t mind, I would like to take notes.”

“What, are you a writer?”

“Do I look like one?”

“That’s difficult to answer.”

“Well then?”

“Memories about living with my mother, from childhood through to leaving home; that could take hours.”

“So?”

“All right, let’s clean up here and then do it.”

That’s it, Lisa thought triumphantly. He’s going to write a book about my mother. I’ll tell him only the nice bits. How fascinating, but who would buy a book about her?

They sat in the orchard on sun loafers; it’s lovely and cool as the house was still blocking the sun and would do so for at least another hour.

“Now Lisa, I expect you to reminisce with integrity, telling me the good and the bad and even the shocking. Is that our understanding?”

God, he’s good. How could anyone not find suitable employment for him?

“Okay, warts and all,” she replied. “Why you should want to even hear me talk about this must be linked to this mysterious relationship you have with my mother. Should I start?”

“Whenever you are ready, Lisa. God you look beautiful in this gentle light and lovely setting; the light looks wonderful on your hair and you do have a wonderful figure – quite the modern woman.”

“That lovely to hear that, Mr Carson, but shouldn’t I be the one doing the talking?”

“Yes, of course,” he said, wiggling in his sun loafer, after propping the back up.

“Let it rip.”

* * *

Alayna Tait was pleased it had happened but now Lisa was home she’d be relegated but she didn’t mind. She recalled how it began. She was standing at the window of the Drop-In Coffee Shop, waiting for the mini morning tea rush. Lucy the proprietress was home trying to shake off a cold; she’d phoned to say she’d be in at 10:00. Alayna interpreted that as Lucy had been on the booze the previous evening with her good-for-nothing husband Frank, a refrigeration repairman.

Earlier that morning her mother Maggie had asked her to write out a list of presents she’d really like for her birthday which was a month away, her twenty-first. Composing a mental list, Alayna thought a car, a new saddle for Sweetheart her eight-year-old black mare, a ticket and accommodation for a week’s stay in Surfer’s Paradise in Queensland, a voucher for new clothes at Miss Modern’s in the city, a…

She’d then found it necessary to focus on a man on the sidewalk staring at her. He was a stranger to the village and looked rather attractive, although perhaps a little too staid and proper for her. Anyway, her interest is now in older men as so far they have proven to be more generous, expecting to have to treat her well and treat her to a meal before getting what she had to offer. They also tend to have nicer cars and if they are married there’s an extra burst of excitement when they are out together, with him trying to dodge being recognized which often means going out of town to a resort hotel. Lovely!

To her amazement the conservative young guy on the pavement signaled to her to give him a quick look at her breasts. She stares at the cheeky bugger; he didn’t know her from a bar of soap and yet instantly picked her out as someone likely to do such a thing!

Alayna was aware that she’d inherited her mother’s great sense of fun, thank God. What her father had to offer in the way of good blood lines was nil, the half-mute scarcely bothered to converse with his own wife. Men could be so stupid, frowned Alayna. Her father looked unloved and yet was married to a woman who expressed love and affection from almost every pore.

That guy outside was waiting for her to react. Alayna was very tempted as she had occasional surges that her mother called uncontrollable sexual impulses. But then she saw Hope Honeybun approaching, looking lovely as usual. Alayna smiled at the guy outside, made an obscene gesture at him, and went to serve Mrs Honeybun.

Alayna’s mother had a huge number of friends, but Hope Honeybun was way out Alayna’s favorite of then. She acted like an unofficial godmother even though some of the women call her with a catty tone, ‘Mayoress of the Valley’. That’s because Hope was absolutely loaded, reputedly to be ‘a silent millionaire.’ But the beauty of it she acted as if she didn’t know this herself. She’d do anything for anyone, and often did but why Alayna was such a fan was because Hope treated her as an equal, and didn’t seem to mind hearing Alayna cuss, and had a few four-letter expressions herself. But she also was the only one who talked about ‘Alayna’s males’ as she politely referred to them, as Alayna was not able to be that intimate with her own mother. That situation developed from Alayna thinking she was pregnant – mistakenly as it turned out – and she went to Hope for advice. Hope had not even batted one of her false eyelashes when hugging the distressed girl and comforting her.

They’d talked for hours and Hope had told her gently, ‘Alayna, all this activity of yours is bringing an unsavory reputation down on you, you have to learn to be more discreet. Do you know I occasionally go with a man?” No Alayna didn’t, and stared at Hope open-mouthed. If Maggie Tait was unaware that Hope Honeybun was occasionally bedding a man, then nobody knew! Her mother knew everything, or at least Alayna was under that impression until Hope’s confession. So trusting was Hope that she didn’t even ask Alayna to keep her secret and from that moment Alayna learned to differentiate between secrets and gossip fodder.

“Hullo, sweetheart,” Hope had greeted her after Alayna had decided not to flash at the guy on the sidewalk. “Looking lovely as ever I can see.”

“Good morning, Hope. You’ll be turning a few heads yourself.”

They exchange big smiles and Hope ordered two black coffees and said ‘Himself’ who is dragging his heels will choose his food.

Himself? It has to be that young bloke outside. Was this another of Hope’s secrets? But then she remembered he mother had mentioned Hope had a young guy staying with her.

A confession isn’t forthcoming from Hope so she was left to speculate. Apparently this guy was working for her on some project. When he dropped his plate she quickly said to Hope that was $7.00 for their coffees and two muffins, and had rushed to clean up the mess. It pleased her to find the guy on his knees already picking up pieces of broken plate. This considerate action triggered one of her uncontrollably urges so she impishly leaned low to give the fellow a real eyeful. She caught where his eyes were focused and gave him what only could be called a motherly smile. At least that’s how she interpreted how a mother would smile at a suckling infant.

So, good old Hope Honeybun. She moved in like a professional matchmaker and an afternoon visit was arranged and she’s been invited to cook for Nash the following Saturday night – but not only that, Hope invited her to stay over knowing there’ll be no one else in the house other than two young people ready to bonk. Nash seemed rather shy about this, but she’d pull him out of that.

But she had worried unduly. While serving the morning tea mini rush, Alayna was delighted to catch Nash glancing at her, even though he was talking to Hope. Then she saw him looked at her again; he was hooked! Later he came up and stood at the cash register waiting to catch her attention. He was ever so polite, and held out his hand to shake on a temporary farewell. Alayna didn’t wait for an uncontrollable urge, she stretched across, pulled him forward and kissed him. The guy looks exceedingly grateful!

“My, Alayna, you seem beside yourself in excitement,” said her bleary-eyed boss Lucy as they clean up after closing for the day at 12:30. “You look as if you’ve found yourself a nice man,” she joked.

“Yes, I’m seeing him for late lunch.”

“Good heaven,” Lucy said. “Then you go, dear. You got everything ready by yourself this morning, so it’s only fair that I do the cleaning up work myself. Just go!”

Lucy was one of her mother’s more conservative friends, but she was kind. Lucy flushed with pleasure when Alayna kissed her leathery cheek and thanked her for being such an understanding employer. Like most of the mothers in the district, she knew Lucy was aware that her assistant had taken the virginity of about half of the class when she was at high school, including that of Lucy’s rather shy younger son Alec. From that experience Alec really came out of his shell and became quite a lad himself as well as doing much better at schoolwork. So, what could Lucy say about Alayna other than she was a lovely young woman who was willing and very popular with café regulars, including mothers who all know about Alayna’s extracurricular past.

Reaching home Alayna performed a speedy broadside in her mother’s car on the unsealed driveway turning into the garage. She preferred mum’s sporty car to her own modest sedan. She raced into the kitchen, grabbed her mother who was preparing lunch, and twirled her around.

Maggie shrieked, and Basil came running thinking she’d stuck herself with the carving knife when ripping into the leg of ham. Instead, Basil found mother and daughter hugging and kissing each other all over the face. Obviously they were having one of their emotional overloads. “What’s up? Did you get a raise, Al?”

“No, Basil. She’s got a date. Hope’s man is coming for lunch.”

“I didn’t know Hope had a man,” says ruddy-faced Basil – the ruddiness being a result of working outdoors on the cattle farm in weather extremes and over indulging in wine – red wine they purchased cheaply when Te Henui winery has a clearing sale.

Conscious that she was still in her mother’s arms, Alayna succeeded in not tensing in response to her father’s stupid phrase about Hope having a man.

Maggie said: “His name is Nash; he’s lovely and his living in Hope’s basement doing some sort of work for her that I must find out about. Now that you are here, you carve the ham. I’m always thinking I’m going to cut off a finger with your impossibly sharp knife – that knife would cut steel.”

“Oh, that chap Hope had at the golf club the other night. Most of the women were staring at him, licking their lips. I reckon…”

“Basil! Your daughter is in the room.”

“Oh yeah,” said Basil, slumping back into shut-mouth mode.

“Nash is not a funny name. Hope told me that his mother Rose, who went by the name of Debbie Reno, was a country and western singer of repute and used to do the beach circuit and she had this big thing about Nashville.”

“Christ, Debbie Reno. I haven’t heard about her for years. One night she and I…”

“Basil! Your daughter is in the room.”

“Oh yeah,” Basil said, slumping back into shut-mouth mode.

Alayna used both hands to make an obscene sexual action gesture to her mother. Maggie nodded and whispered, “Probably, but she’s not one that I’ve heard about. I’ll get it out of him.”

Maggie constantly worked to ensure that Basil continued to believe that Alayna was a model daughter. Because he didn’t talk much, there was little risk of him boasting that he had an upright daughter and thereby destroying his credibility!

“He’s coming, he’s coming,” Alayna called excitedly. “That’s the Chevy coming up the drive.”

“Quiet down, love,” Maggie said kindly. “Do you think you’re dressed adequately?”

“I’ve have my bikini on underneath so he’s going to see a lot more than this,” Alayna sniffed, thinking her mother could be a bitch at times. Maggie had come out in a sundress and ten minutes later had returned in a baby doll version, making her daughter feel jealous. Mother was out to do her big flirt routine.

“Stay here with us; don’t give the impression of being too eager,” Maggie advised, her daughter accepting that counseling.

Nash came around the side of the house to the pool, heading to the sound of a radio playing music. He’s carrying a bunch of colorful flowers from the village florist, and Alayna felt her heart pulsating. But the cad gave them to Maggie and her mother put on such a show of being shyly overwhelmed before reaching up and kissing Nash, leaving a lipstick imprint on his right cheek.

“Hullo, Mr Tait,” he called. Basil waved, not bothering to stand up.

“And hullo Alayna, don’t you look lovely!”

He said that so pleasantly and looking at her so intently that Alayna felt her legs weaken. God, until now she’d thought men no longer have that effect on her.

Nash unzipped his carry bag, pulled out a bottle of red wine and handed it to Basil, who looked at the label and grunted, “Thanks, a good drop.”

Did he have a present for me; I’ll be so disappointed in him if he doesn’t, worried Alayna, biting her bottom lip. She watched the hand dip into the carry bag pull out a wrapped CD.

“Don’t know your tastes in music, Alayna, but you said we would be lunching beside the pool so I found this re-issue of the Beach Boys at the bookshop.”

“Oh Nash, how wonderful,” Alayna shrieked, ripping it open, and kissing him flush on the mouth. Nash grabbed her to ensure the contact lasted.

“I thought you two didn’t know each other, that you only met this morning,” Basil said dryly.

“I think I know her better already, Mr Tait,” Nash grinned.

“Hmmm. Well since you bought me an Australian label of this quality you better call me Basil.”

Both women exchanged surprised glances and did so again moments later when their guest replies skillfully to a probing question from Basil: “I don’t suppose a Townie like you knows much about farming?”

“True Basil, although I do know farming has been the backbone of the country for a very long time.”

“Hmmm.”

What a perfect reply from a Townie Alayna sighed, knowing this one was all but between her legs.

“Darling,” her mother said. “I’ll put this lovely present on the CD player while you fetch the food.”

“Right, mum, responded Alayna, looking at Nash.

“I’ll help you, Alayna,” said Nash jumping up, returning his still untouched glass of red to the table.

Alayna saw her mother smiling as she looked at the CD; it was the same CD that Alayna bought her a couple of months ago as an apology after they had rowed over a new scratch on Maggie’s car. She showed the disk to Basil and put her fingers to her lips. He nodded, knowing not to say “Hey, we’ve got this disk already.”