Spout

{1984}

(I had to ask my mom how to make a Martini and then i did some research. I'm clearly underage.)

He came outside, into the sunset, into the long blue shadow of the car. Kayla held on to his shoulders until her heel touched the ground.

She took his hand. A tremor through him.

"Thank you," she said in the living room of his apartment. "This is a big apartment, isn't it? How many rooms?"

"Just one."

"It's old. The things in here are old." She brushed against a fringed lampshade and touched it with her fingers.

"Martini?"

"Let me help," she said, taking off her heels.

She flicked vermouth from her finger into the glass. Two and a half ounces of gin on top, and two olives.

He took her to his big chair. He sat on the couch.

There was a change in the air. Like fluorescence in the sea, it limned movements; she found a place for her drink on the stand beside her, he put on music.

He asked her about New York and she told him a little, absently, as though she thought of something else.

In the silence while he changed the records, she said, "That wonderful dinner, this apartment, you're just full of surprises, Tom. I don't think anyone at Scrappe knows you at all."

"Did you ask them?"

"Who?"

"Anybody."

"No."

"Then how do ou know that nobody knows me?" His concentration on the words kept the tone of the question neutral.

"Oh, some of the women from Scrappe saw us getting into your car the other day. Boy, were they curious. All of a sudden I have company at the Coke machine."

"What do they want to know?"

"They just wanted some juicy gossip. When they found out there isn't any, they went away. They were just fishing."

"And what did they say?"

She had meant to make the women's avid curiosity into humor directed at herself. It was not working out that way.

"They wonder about everything," she said. "They find you very mysterious and interesting. Come on, it's a compliment."

"Did they tell you how they thought i looked?"

The question was spoken lightly.

"I didn't ask them. But, yes, they told me how they think you look. Want to hear it? Don't ask if you don't." She was sure he would ask.

No reply.

Suddenly Kayla felt that she was alone in the room, that the place where he had stood was emptier than empty, a black hole swallowing everything and emanating nothing.

"I think i'll tell you," she said. "They said you have a remarkable body. How would they know?" Clearly she couldn't leave it at that. "They say you're a very good-looking guy. Honest to God i've gone out with lots of guys didn't look that good. I went out with an eighteen-year-old one time. Anyway, Reba asked me if you were as strong as you look."

"And?"

"I said i didn't know." She drained her glass and got up. "Do you know what i think about it?"

She found his mouth with her finger and kissed it, lightly pressing his lips against his clenched teeth. She registered instantly that it was shyness and not distaste that held him rigid.

He was astonished.

"Now, would you show me where the bathroom is?"

She took his arm and went with him down the hall.

"I can find my way back."

In the bathroom she patted her hair and ran her fingers along the top of the basin, hunting toothpaste or mouthwash. She didn't see a medicine cabinet, only exposed shelves. She touched the objects on them carefully, until she found a bottle. She took off the cap, smelled the mouthwash, and swished some around.

When she returned to the living room, she sat on the couch.

He sat on the other end of the couch, his weight clinking the ice in her glass.

"I think i'll stretch out for a few minutes if you don't mind." she said. "No, don't move. I have plenty of room. Wake me up if i drop off, okay?"

She lay on the couch, holding the glass on her stomach; the tips of her hair just touching his hand beside his thigh.

Kayla stirred on the couch. She sets her glass on the floor. Tom feels a weight and warmth. She has rested her head on his thigh. The nape of her neck is pale and the lights TV lights play on it.

He sits very still, moves only his thumb to stop the TV with the remote.

His pants are mashing him so hard. He feels heat. He feels warm breath through the cloth. Kayla has made a discovery. She has unzipped his pants. His hand is squeezing the arm of the couch. His fingers pop. Oh, gone.

Kayla rests her head on his thigh and turns her gleaming cheek to him. she runs her hand inside his shirt and rests it warm on his chest.

"I hope i didn't shock you," she said.

She held his hand on her heart gently. "My goodness, you're not through yet, are you?" She smiled at him. Filled with power, he lifted her from the couch easily. She weighed nothing. Quick. Somewhere. His bed, the satin comforter sliding under them.



♥♥♥

As she slept, Tom listened time and again to her heart.

♥♥♥

He slept hard at dawn.

Kayla woke at nine and heard his steady breathing. She stretched lazily in the big bed. He didn't stir. She rose quietly and found the bathroom.

After her long shower, he was still asleep. Her torn underclothes were on the floor. She found them and stuffed them in her purse. She pulled her dress on over her head, picked up her heels and walked outside.

The morning breeze was cool, the sun warm. She stood in the yard and let the wind toss the seed heads of the elderberry through her hands. The wind found the creases of her body, fresh from the shower.

Tom woke, puzzled for an instant. His blue eyes grew wide as he remembered. An owlish turn of his head to the other pillow. Empty.

Was she wandering around the apartment?

He looked in the bathroom, in the kitchen. From the window over the kitchen sink he spotted her in the yard.

Kayla felt the cool bar of a tree trunk's shadow, and then the sun again as she wandered across the yard. Kayla flipped up her crystal watch and looked at the time. She'd have to wake Tom soon. She needed to go home.

The door slammed.

"Good morning," she said.

His keys tinkled as he came across the grass.

Kayla put her arms around him and laid her head on his hard chest. His heart was going fast.

He managed to say good morning.

"I've had a wonderful time, Tom."

Really? What would someone say back? "Good. Me too." That seemed all right.

"But i need to go home now," she was saying. "My friend is coming by to pick me up for lunch. You could come too if you like."

"I have to go to the shop," he said, modifying the lie he had ready.

"I'll get my purse."

"No, i'll get it."

♥♥♥

Tom pulled into a Shell station to fill his car.

The attendant was a heavyset, sullen man with muscatel on his breath. He made a face when Tom asked him to check the oil.

The car was a quart low. The attendant jammed the oil spout into the can and stuck the spout into the engine.

Tom climbed out to pay.

The attendant seemed enthusiastic about wiping the windshield; the passenger side of the windshield. He wiped and wiped.

Kayla sat in the seat, her legs crossed, her skirt riding up over her knee. Her purse between the seats. She was looking for something in her purse and was not watching the attendant.

The attendant started over on the windshield. he was looking up her dress.

Tom glanced up from his wallet and caught him. he reached in through the window of the can and turned the wipers on high speed, batting the attendant's fingers.

"Hey, watch that." The attendant got busy removing the oil can from the engine compartment. He knew he was caught and wore a sly grin until Tom came around the car to him.

"You son of a bitch."

"What the hell's the matter with you?" The attendant was about Tom's height and weight, but he had nowhere near the muscle. He was young to have dentures, and he didn't take care of them.

Their greenness disgusted Tom. "What happened to your teeth?" he asked softly.

"What's it to you?"

"Did you pull them for your boyfriend, you rotten prick?" Tom stood too close.

"Get the hell away from me."

Quietly. "Trash." With a one-hand shove Tom sent him flying back to slam against the car. The oil can and spout clattered on the asphalt.

The attendant shook his head fast. "I didn't mean no offense, now. Honest to God."

"Keep your pig eyes to yourself." He stuffed money for the gas in the man's shirt pocket. "You can run now," he said. "But i could catch you anytime."