Tears on a Sunday Afternoon (16 page)

“Thanks,” I said as she walked away.

“D
amn.” I got out of the bed with a slight headache. The persistent ringing of the doorbell was driving me nuts. I knew the reptile was somewhere in the house and I wondered why she hadn’t gone to the fucking door. She hadn’t worked a day since she had moved into this house. I went into the bathroom, washed my face and brushed my teeth. There it went again. I looked at the clock radio as I walked out of the room. It was 10:00 a.m. Maybe the reptile had gone out. I snatched a shirt out of the drawer and put on the same jeans I had worn the day before. I was about to open the door when I heard her voice.

“Donald, the cops are downstairs waiting for you,” Annette said.

“The cops?” I asked, startled.

“Yeah, the cops,” she replied. “Maybe they’ll put your ass away for the rest of your sorry life.”

I swear I’m going to kill that bitch. Fuck Oprah and what she said about not calling women bitches. That reptile outside is a bitch.

I nervously buttoned up my pants and headed downstairs. “Where are they?” I shouted.

“Downstairs having donuts. Where the fuck you think they’re gonna be?” Annette answered for everyone in the house to hear.

I walked downstairs and saw two white men in the informal dining room. They were standing up, their hats in their hands. “Good morning, Officers,” I said, extending my hand.

The older man, maybe in his late fifties, shook my hand. “I’m Officer Summers from Ketonya County and this is Officer Sindrel.”

I reached out and shook Officer Sindrel’s hand. I was hoping that they wouldn’t notice that I was nervous. I offered the officers a seat on the sofa.

“Thank you, but this shouldn’t take too long.” Officer Summers took out a small notepad. “You own a 2005 Hummer, New York license plate DRC7689.”

“Yes, it’s one of the family cars,” I said, sitting down.

“Family cars? Does that mean other people in the household drive it?” he asked.

“Yes, my wife drives it on occasion,” I answered.

“Can you recall who drove it approximately three weeks ago to upstate New York?” Officer Summers looked over at me.

“Exactly what day was that?” I asked.

“That would be a Saturday.” Sindrel spoke for the first time. “Yeah, that was me. I went to visit a buddy in Buffalo. He bought a house on Rounds Avenue. It’s a beautiful place but a little too slow for me.” I made a mental note to call my friend, Hill, who had recently moved to Buffalo.

“Did you stop at a restaurant while you were driving out there?” It was Summers asking the question again.

“Yes, I did, and that place was a madhouse. I think they had some kind of hunting meeting going on.” I looked at Summers. “Officers, can you tell me what this is about?”

“Well, an older man got killed with his own gun and we’re trying to understand what exactly happened,” he said.

“I’m sorry to hear about that,” I said, hoping that I had the most sympathetic look on my face.

“Well, this is the first time we’ve ever had something like this happen in Ketonya County in twenty years, so we want to make sure that it was an accident. Hunting is one of our biggest tourist attractions. We definitely don’t want to ruin it,” Summers said.

“The place sure seemed like a happy place when I was there. People were so friendly. Maybe one day, I’ll try that hunting thing,” I said.

“We’d be glad to have you. Before we go, did you happen to see any suspicious characters hanging around?” Summers asked.

“I don’t exactly know what you mean by suspicious. There were so many guns there but everyone seemed intent on killing the big one.” I rose from the chair.

“Yeah, we’re having a great hunting season. I think it’s one of the best in years,” Summers said. “Well, thanks for your time. I hope we didn’t cause you any inconvenience.”

“I’m sorry, Officers. I didn’t even offer you guys something to drink,” I said.

“No thanks; we just stopped at Wendy’s and had a big meal. Take care of yourself and we hope to see you in our woods next year,” Summers said as he opened the door.

“Good day,” Sindrel said as he followed Summers out the door.

I closed the door and listened to their car driving off. I went into the refrigerator and poured myself a glass of orange juice.

I walked back up the stairs, passing Annette as she was walking down.

“Freeloader. I thought they’d taken you away,” Annette said, her mouth in the same position it had been in before; unnatural.

“Why don’t you get an operation?” I asked.

She glared at me. “An operation?!”

“Yeah, your mouth is perverted. Oh I’m sorry maybe that’s asking too much because your whole body is perverted.”

“You should lock your door at night,” she said.

“Why? You might try to rape me? I know your type. You all just want some good dick to straighten you out.” I laughed.

“Motherfucker, your time is coming.”

I entered my room and shut my door, then laid back down on the bed, still shaking from speaking with the officers. That was a close call. It was obvious that they didn’t have me on camera because they were only trying to establish presence. I surmised that they had someone taking down license plates of all the vehicles that were in the parking lot that day. I took my clothes off and went into the bathroom to take a shower. While in the bathroom, I reminisced about the shower I had taken with Julie. It was one of the longest, most exhilarating baths I had taken. I had attacked each crevice of her body and she had done the same to me. We had soaped and cleaned each other from head to foot. By the time we were finished, we were barely able to walk to the bed. I remembered her collapsing over me and the two of us falling asleep again, totally exhausted. If that was what love felt like, I realized I had short-changed myself for more than 35 years. The memories of Julie had gotten my dick hard. I toweled off as I walked out of the shower. There was a loud knock on the door.

“Donald, Daddy is on the phone.” Lauren announced it like I had won the lottery.

My penis immediately became flaccid. I went over to my nightstand and picked up the phone. I hung it back up after I had made arrangements to meet Malcolm at his house.

The full-time maid guided me to Malcolm’s study. I dismissed her before she had an opportunity to knock on the door and opened it without knocking. Malcolm looked surprised; sitting in his chair in a light gray suit with a polka dot tie.

“I’m sorry, Donald, I didn’t hear you knock,” he said.

I pulled out a chair from the table and sat down. “I didn’t.”

“That was very presumptuous of you.” Malcolm looked at me like he wanted to spank me.

“Malcolm, please, the maid called you when she saw me waiting outside, so let’s not waste any time. You called me and I’m here. Now, what can I do for you?” I retained full eye contact with him as I spoke. I was way past being afraid of him.

“I don’t know what has come over you, Boy, but I think you’re treading on very thin ice here,” he said.

“Well, let the ice break. If it does, I’m either gonna be cold or freeze to death. Now are we gonna get on with it?” I leaned back in the chair. “I have a lot planned for today so I can’t stay long.”

Malcolm gave me this smart smile that looked like he was waiting to get my balls over some hot coals. “Dora informed me that you’ve kept up with your part of our deal.”

“I did what I had to do.” There was a certain amount of disdain in my voice. “I see that Annette is still alive.”

“The time isn’t right,” Malcolm said. “I promise you, I’ll take care of Annette within the week.”

I got up to go. “I’m leaving.”

“Would you like a drink before you leave? I thought maybe we could at least be cordial.” Malcolm rose from his chair.

It was amazing; Malcolm was finally giving me some respect. Whether he liked my attitude or not I wasn’t sure, but the respect was present in his voice. “No, thank you,” I said and walked out of his study.

“Officers from upstate came to my house this morning,” I said to Julie.

Julie opened her mouth as if the world had exploded. “Are you a suspect?”

I had told Julie the complete story of what had happened between me and my father. “No, I don’t think so. I think they were merely checking license plates.”

Julie still looked worried. “They didn’t need to visit you for that.”

“I think they needed to put a face to the vehicle,” I said, nonchalantly.

Julie stared at me. “You don’t seem very concerned.”

“I’m not. Their questions were more about doing their job than actually following leads. Of course, if I had run when they walked in, that would be an entirely different story. But, with the exception of Annette being her bitchy self, everything went good,” I said.

“You’re definitely not afraid?”

“I don’t think there’s anything to fear. I’m more concerned about the robbery. Do you definitely have someone to pick me up?”

“I’ll be there,” she said.

“You!” I jumped out of my chair.

“Yes, me; I only trust myself. Anyone else, I would have to tell them too much,” she said. “Don’t worry; I’ll definitely be careful.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” I asked, not wanting to endanger her.

She ran her hands over my shoulders. “Stop worrying about me, Donald. I can take care of myself.”

“Julie, I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.” I felt really messed up for involving her.

“Donald, the same way you trust me, I also trust you. I have no intention of letting anyone pick you up. We’re in this together. The only reason I didn’t tell you before was because I knew that Brian would never let me do it.” Julie kissed me on the lips.

I shook my head. This was becoming complicated. “I don’t know, Julie.”

“Donald, please stop trying to protect me. I’ll be fine.” Julie put her hands around my neck.

While I agreed that Julie should be the one to pick me up after the robbery, I was afraid that she might get caught up if there were any complications. I knew that I was letting my feelings control my judgment but I didn’t care. I had found something special with Julie and I didn’t want to lose it just yet.

“Alright, but promise me that if you see or hear anything crazy you’ll leave.”

“Crazy like what?”

“I don’t know. If you hear gunshots or spot me running with someone chasing me.”

She looked at me as if I had lost my mind. “I’m supposed to leave you to get shot and run home? Or leave you bleeding on the street while I run home and watch TV or something? Let’s change this topic because I won’t be doing any of those things.” She yanked her hands away from me. “Brian told me that he left you with Brenda last night. Did you have fun?”

“Are you jealous?” I asked, pulling her by the hand.

“No, but I know you.”

“Well, I’ve changed. I realize that’s hard to believe but I have. I turned down a trip to Puerto Rico with Brenda.”

“You’re telling me that you didn’t sleep with Brenda?” Julie asked.

“I’m not saying that. I’m saying that since I’ve been intimate with you, I haven’t slept with anyone else. Again, I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth.” I hugged her around the waist. “For the first time in my life, only one woman will do and that woman is you.”