Dr. Feelgood (23 page)

“Hey, Dr. Worthy,” one of my USC alumni asked from the lynx in the Valley.

“Call me Makkai on the course.” I was decked out in all black from cap to shoes.

“Okay, Makkai. How’s it going?”

“It’s going,” I responded, removing my black bag from the cart and then visually sizing up the hole.

“Where’s Carlos?” he asked, still seated in the cart.

“He’s out of town.”

“Oh, I remember. That Black Golfers’ Association weekend, huh? That can get pretty wild.”

“I know. I’ve checked that out before.”

“I know he’s having a blast. Why didn’t you go?”

“Too much going on. Plus I’m about to go out of town, myself.”

“Oh, yeah, where?”

“To Florida, for a family reunion.” I gave a practice swing to get a better idea of what it would take to go the distance.

“That should be fun. There’s usually a whole lot of family drama during those reunions. I know I went to one last year, and a fight broke out between two of my cousins who fought over something that happened when they were twelve.” He stepped out of the cart and grabbed his tweed bag.

“I know. That stuff from our childhood can haunt our butts for years. Excuse me a second,” I said as my phone vibrated. I looked at the screen and noticed it was from a private number. I let it go. It rang again. I let it go again. It vibrated again with an emergency message and rang yet again.

I firmly pressed the answer button.

“Dr. Worthy here.”

“Hey, Makkai, it’s Salina.” She sounded in first gear.

“Hey, what’s up?” I stepped aside. “Was that you with the priority message?”

“What are you doing later on? Can we get together?”

“Aahhh, not today. I’m getting ready to get out of town for a while.”

“Makkai, is there someone else?” Her voice dragged.

I glanced over at my golf buddy, who was selecting his club from his bag. “What do you mean? Is
this what you wanted to ask me with an emergency page?”

“You’re not making time for me like you did before.”

I could barely make out what she was saying. My intention was to whisper my reply, but I failed. “I’m just busy, Salina. Like right now, I’m on the golf course, so I’m going to have to call you later.”

“Okay, but don’t forget.” She sounded like she either needed a nap, or had too long of one.

My jaw was tight. “Okay.” I released the call, shaking my head. Damn, I wished I hadn’t answered that. “Sorry about that.” I turned off my phone altogether.

“No problem. Hey, Makkai, I know you have a crazy schedule, but look. I’ve got this client, I mean, I’m handling a divorce case for her, and she’s a nice woman, an attractive and sweet and good woman, who was done so wrong by this wealthy jerk, and it burns my butt. Hey, do you think I could tell her about you and maybe, if you’re interested, the two of you could hook up?”

“No thanks. I don’t do blind dates.”

“That’s cool. I just haven’t seen you with anyone on the few occasions we do run into each other. You are single, right?”

“Very.” I grabbed my iron.

“She’s a real catch.” He sounded like a salesman.

“So then why did he leave her?”

“It had nothing to do with—oh, I can see you’re not buying this.” He read my face well.

“Why don’t you talk to her?” I asked, stepping up to set my ball.

“Attorney-client no-no.”

“Well, thanks, but I promise you I have my hands full.”

Another alumni friend of ours walked up. “Hey, do the two of you want to play or stand up there running your mouths? We’ve got time to make up and the folks behind us are about to throw darts.”

“Okay, okay,” I told him.

He replied, “Play on, player.”

“I’m on it.” I swung with precision and hit the tiny white ball up and over, and in the distance I could see it hit the green and bounce and roll on over and right up toward the hole, slowly rolling and rolling, inching along in slow motion until it spun with a curve, right into the cup. A grand hole-in-one. I gave the air a fisted pump. “Yeah,” I yelled. “Let’s pray my life hits a target like that. It sure needs to be.” I felt like Tiger himself.

“Do the damn thang, man. You couldn’t have a care in the world,” said my alumni buddy.

“Oh, but I do. I do,” I assured him, still grinning ear to ear.

“I
missed you,” she kept saying over and over again later on during the week. I’ll bet she did.

“How badly?” I asked Mary Jane as she panted with urgency. She had me flat on my back while she did her straddled, smack it up, flip it, rub it down, erotic grind routine to the sounds of Baby Face’s “Whip Appeal.” She was giving it to me, but good.

I didn’t make time for more golf, but I did stop by to see Mary Jane for the first time since her lovebird weekend with Carlos. I had to make her really work it after the stunt she pulled.

“So you went on ahead and headed out of town anyway, huh?”

Her face was sweaty and her hair was wet. “You said it was okay.”

“I know what I said. I think you owe me an apology, though.”

“I’m sorry, Makkai.” She raised her hips up, braced herself, and started bouncing her ass along
my upper thighs, leaning her torso forward to rest her tanned breasts on my chest.

“Sit up and turn around for me.”

She stopped her pumping motion and asked, “Turn around?”

“Yes, give me the reverse cowgirl so I can hit it right.”

She flashed demure eyes that didn’t match her hips. “Makkai.”

“Baby, turn around so I can see just how sorry you are.”

She lifted her legs over and faced the other way, leaning toward my feet as she held onto my shins.

I stared at her toned back. “I see that tan looks good. You went away with some other brotha and then you bring that dark body back for me to see after he’s been showing you off?”

She spoke without looking back. “No. We barely spent any time together.”

I stroked her harder. “And you won’t ever again, will you?”

“No.” She was getting the hang of it, and it felt damn good.

“Mary Jane, don’t do that again.”

“I won’t.” She flung her hair back.

“Show me you really missed me. Work it so that you cum for me.”

I looked at her ass that was full and wide, working an up and down, side to side motion while it flopped about. The sound was X-rated.

“Do I need to put my mouth down there?”

She breathed harder. “No.”

“Then lean back so I can hit the right spot.”

She bent back and readjusted my entry. “Like
this?” She balanced herself and threw her hands in the air.

“Yeah. Ride it.”

The loud sound of her headboard banging repeatedly against the wall was as if somebody was getting their back broken.

Her words were throaty and sexy. “Oh, baby. That feels good.”

“It does?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it feels good to me too, Mary Jane. You’re gonna make me …”

“You’re gonna make me, too.” As she leaned back even more, she held on by bracing herself with her hands behind her, flat on the bed on each side of me.

“Do it for me, baby. Do it for me hard. Damn, that’s it. That’s it right there. That’s my spot.” I grunted, swelled up inside of her, and froze.

“Aaaahhhh, Makkai. Uhhh, yes, yes. Yes.”

She slowed down and exhaled as the last drop spewed from my tip and into the condom that engulfed her.

“That’s my girl.”

She looked back at me. “That’s my baby.”

“I’m glad you’re back.”

During the last week before the reunion, I got a call from long lost Monday, whom I hadn’t seen in a long while. Not by my own choice, though. I’d been trying to get with her for months but she hadn’t returned my calls. However, today, she had the operator page me at the hospital.

“Makkai, where are you?” Her voice was frantic-coated.

“I’m in my office. That’s the number you called, isn’t it? Where have you been?”

“Can I come and see you?” I heard the sound of traffic.

“Why, what’s up?”

“I need to talk to you. I need to tell you something important.” The bark of her dog in the background filled my ears.

“Now, Monday, the tone of your voice tells me something is wrong, so what is it you need to tell me?”

“Makkai, I need to see you. I don’t want to talk over the phone.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m on my way to my doctor’s office for another appointment.” She took a breath. “I’m pregnant.”

Oh, Lord. “What? Monday, I thought you said …”

“I know I told you I couldn’t get pregnant. But, my body and my words didn’t hook up. It had to have been that night the condom broke.”

“That was so damn long ago.”

“I know.”

“And you’re just now telling me?”

“I was away for a while. But I’m back now.”

“You’re back now? And they didn’t have phones where you were?”

“Makkai, I’m telling you now.”

I turned my back from the nurse who stood nearby. Lowering my voice as best I could, I battled to figure it out. “Telling me now, after months and
months? So you’re telling me that the one time the rubber busted, you got pregnant?”

“Yes, I am. And I’m having your baby.” She spoke like she was simply telling me what the weather was like.

“And there’s no one else?”

“No.”

“Now, Monday, we met at a swingers’ club. You expect me to believe there’s no one else?”

A sound of irritation flavored her every word. “I practice safe sex just like you, Makkai. I’ve had sex with you far more regularly and frequently than anyone else. You can try to deny the baby’s yours if you want. But, I’m telling you, it is yours.”

“Monday, I can’t believe you didn’t pick up the phone way before now. That’s just not right.”

“Why is it not right? Would you have preferred that I let you know before the third month so that you could’ve suggested that I get an abortion, Makkai? That is so damn selfish. Maybe that’s why I didn’t tell you. You don’t care about what my body goes through, yet you stick your dick in me and bust a nut, knowing that condoms break and tear and come off. So don’t get funky with me. You’d better be glad I’m telling you now. Some women make the call when they’re about to deliver, or not at all. So don’t try me. I am not in the mood to be scolded. This has been hard on me, so screw you, Makkai. I’ll do this on my own.”

I breathed a deep, long sigh. Waited, and then asked, “What time is your appointment?”

“It’s this afternoon.”

“Where?”

“King Drew.”

I fought to keep my voice down. “King Drew. You mean the county hospital? Is that where your doctor is?”

“Oh, excuse me. Yes, I’m going to see the OB/GYN at King Drew, Dr. Taksa.”

“No, you’ll come here. I’ll get Dr. Marshall to see you right away. Come to my office. Now.”

She exhaled loudly. “Fine.” She hung up in my face.

Dammit,
I said in my head while heading back to my office.

Right away I made a few calls to arrange things as quickly as possible. A text message from Carlos popped up on my phone.

What up?

Hey.

Man, Palm Springs was a bust. Anyway, guess who I’m seeing?

Look dude, not right now. I’m headed out. Something came up.

What?

Man, Monday claims she’s pregnant.

By who? I know not by you.

She says it is. So, I’ll get back at you.

Handle your business, dog. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.

Out.

I
had an abortion maybe ten years ago. I got pregnant and then started clotting early on, so the guy I was with talked me into getting it done. I never got over that. And so I’m not doing that this time. I just can’t kill a life again. Even if I don’t end up raising this child, I’m going to give birth, unless God chooses to take it from me first. I admit that I’m absolutely not the motherly type, though. I’ve got some things about me I need to straighten out before I let anyone call me Mom. Maybe adoption. Maybe Makkai will agree to it. Maybe not. I really don’t give a damn.

“Well, Miss Askins, your own weight is on track for your height, but your blood pressure is a little high. Have you had any pre-natal testing done to check the baby for Down syndrome and neural tube defects? I mean, considering your age? Being that you’re over forty,” Dr. Marshall asked at Cedars, while sitting on a small stool. “The blood test?” “It’s called maternal serum.”

“Yes, they did that at King,” I replied while sitting on an examination table wearing a white gown.

“So if you’ve been getting treated there, then why are you changing doctors now, if I might ask?”

I used my eyes to point to Makkai. “Ask him.”

Makkai stood near the sink with his hands in his pockets. “It was my idea. I want to be close by when she goes into labor, since I’m here more than anywhere else.”

“I’ll bet,” said the doctor.

He continued, “And she has to get the best care. I’m financially responsible one-hundred percent.”

I’m sure I flashed a look of shock.

The young female gynecologist asked, “Did you put her on your health insurance? You know you don’t need to be married.”

“No, we haven’t discussed that,” said Makkai. “We’re not living together.”

I added, “We haven’t discussed a lot of things, Doctor.”

“I’d say now’s the time,” she said while she wrote. “Okay, so, we’ll get your file sent over here from King Drew Medical Center. Just make sure to sign the release document when you make your next appointment.” A nurse walked in and stood behind the doctor.

“Okay,” I said.

She stood up. “I’ll need to examine you now. Nurse Thomas, did you set up an exam tray?”

“It’s right here,” the nurse replied while wheeling it toward the doctor.

“Can I get you to lie back and scoot forward as close to the edge as you can?”

“Sure.”

Makkai actually stepped forward and helped me scoot my butt down by bracing my upper body.

“Have you had an ultrasound yet to determine the gestational age?”