Chapter Ten

Charlotte was thinking. She had overheard the conversation between her daughter and husband. Now she sort-of wanted to take back her application for divorce. But to take that back, she would have to appreciate her husband on the surface at least, and she wasn't quite sure if she would after all. In a sense, she felt, she could be having to have a conscience about his feeling against her. But at the same time she felt that she had a reason to believe that she never could have been happy in this marriage without any love affair beside it.

But meanwhile her husband was thinking about seeing to it that the divorce was done with. He figured that he should take a stroll, during his lunch hour, to try to talk to the man who was their divorce counsellor. And so he did.

It was almost not possible for him to see him in such short notice. But the man was, though not easily, able to appreciate a conversation after his lunch with him. So, after hearing this from him, Richard took a hamburger, while waiting for the man to finish his lunch.

When twenty minutes remained of an ordinary lunch hour, Richard spotted him leaving rather exclusive restaurant of choice. He quickly walked up to him.

The man turned around and said:

ـِـ OK. I think I can take the few minutes we need, then.

They went to his office, and he handed over a few papers, some already signed by his wife. Richard read them for five minutes, and then signed them all. He smiled.

ـِـ Finally done, then. Finally I'm free form her – and she from me!

The man laughed and ordered him to pay the hundred dollars it cost for the extra meeting.

ـِـ I think I will soon enough.

He cleared his throat.

ـِـ How do I know that these papers really do work for us?

ـِـ Please trust me on that.

ـِـ Can you write another paper, that you have signed, which says that the papers we have signed actually mean that we have an already finished divorce.

The man giggled.

ـِـ OK, he said.

ـِـ Good, meanwhile I'll go out and take out that money!

Five minutes later he was back. He received a piece of paper that thoroughly stated that his divorce with his wife was now complete and paid the man the hundred bucks that he had received from a cash dispenser nearby.

Chapter Eleven

David was with another one of his female customers. He was seducing her into signing a contract for him to work on her boat for quite some time. She readily accepted his hopes for a engaging for the long time it stood in making the vessel crafty and insinuated an invite for to have a romantic evening with her now and then on that boat.

But what he didn't know was that this woman – or girl, rather – knew his sister very well from school. She had talked there – more than at home – about him being the empty shell of a man to have as a role model. She therefore thought thoroughly about how he could have tricked her into finding him too attractive to be wanting other men besides him. At the same time, though, she felt a deep attraction from him, something saying that he would be appreciative of her attitudes if she only did give up all other men.

She handled the contradiction by stating:

ـِـ You and I should be into getting laid as easily as anybody!

He smiled at her.

ـِـ Oh, sure. I beat we can really make them appreciate that if we have it!

She smiled back, now scornfully certain that he was a playboy and not the fake idol his sister had described him as.

ـِـ It's fine with me, he said, if we do have some summer's romance. But what if you and me somehow eventually get married?

She looked at him in amazement.

ـِـ Oh, wow!

He smiled again, but without knowing why he suddenly had gotten that idea.

She smiled back, now knowing that he even would appreciate her for being absolutely cunning about him.

At that moment, a male costumer entered his workshop. They both turned their heads towards him. He was tall and almost handsome, but a little too skinny to really be that.

ـِـ Hi, is this the place to have one's car painted?

David gave a shrug and said:

ـِـ I can hardly keep it here, but OK, I'll go to your house and take care of it.

He smiled inwardly before adding:

ـِـ That is if you pay me, of course!

ـِـ I was going to, of course.

The tall man smiled awkwardly when saying it.

The girl in the work-shop looked around for a while. She didn't say anything, but seemed to be feeling somewhat attracted to all the work going on there. The tall man said nothing.

David now turned to her and said:

ـِـ We should finish our business for now! If you like we can sign the first contract already.

She looked at him.

ـِـ Wow, you're really a good-looking man!

The words sounded more like a dumbbell than an appreciation.

David looked puzzled. The tall man stood and looked at him and was puzzled as well.

ـِـ Well, David said, we'll either sign it now, or we can work on it later – whichever you want!

The tall man giggled.

ـِـ Why are you talking to him about him being handsome and not about the contract you were talking about?

She almost laughed out loud at the misplaced repetition of the words talking and about. But she settled for saying:

ـِـ It's all about friendship, isn't it?

Then looking at Dave:

ـِـ You and I should have to appreciate one another during that summer job on my boat.

She indicated with her hand that she wanted to caress him.

David looked annoyed.

ـِـ Either way we have to finish our contract! Either that or I can't be working on it!

She was startled.

ـِـ OK, she said at last.

Chapter Twelve

Deborah sat and listened to her parents quarrelling after dinner.

ـِـ Do you know what, her father asked. I've finished the divorce papers you were filing. I can't appreciate you having to be here all the time!

ـِـ It all comes down to me, huh?! And now I have to go after managing your house hold for two decades.

He was silent for a while. Then he answered:

ـِـ I appreciate you having taken that into you that it's almost helping me out. But it's worse than you're admitting! It's less than twenty of the full twenty-four years we've been married.

ـِـ Stop that, his wife retorted. You know as well as I that there was laundry and dishes and stuff even during the first four years.

He looked at her, now slowly pondering on if he should keep scolding her back or try to do something else in order to insinuate that she would be better of without the young men she wanted.

ـِـ Charlie, he said at last, you don't know what you're into. When you're fucking those young men and scolding me for after all being, and for having been your husband.

She giggled.

ـِـ How come you don't think so?!

Now he looked at her with new eyes. The room was silent for almost a minute.

ـِـ Because I feel there's not any notion of sense to seeing in them the caretaker of the home you've been living in!

She looked at him with a very scornful glimpse, and shrieked:

ـِـ Ha!

She was still looking the same way at him when saying:

ـِـ I don't ever see you doing the laundry here do I!?

Now Deborah broke in and said:

ـِـ So what? Mom, you haven't ever tried to let him do it! At least I don't think that you have.

Charlie looked chocked now. After a while she began sobbing. Deborah's eyes wondered between her and him.

No one said anything. After ten minutes, Richard said:

ـِـ I don't know if there can be room for us to sleep in the same bedroom anymore. ...

His wife looked at him.

ـِـ No, I don't suppose there can be after all of this!

While they were talking someone turned the key to the outside door. Deborah went up to greet her brother. But he wasn't responsive at all for her greetings now.

ـِـWhat's the matter, she asked.

ـِـ What have you been saying to me, he asked back.

ـِـ Nothing you didn't know!

He looked at her sternly.

ـِـ I just found out that you've been talking to all the girls in school that I appreciated being the idol that was to be adored by my little sister, whom I supposedly tried to fool into thinking I was a role model!

ـِـ But I have said that to you as well!

He examined her.

ـِـ Sort of, he said at last. But I haven't been told how they would appreciate that as a comment on my business, which can be sort of ruined because of you!

ـِـ No it can't!

ـِـ What do you mean by that?!

ـِـ I mean that it's not to be seen as a comment on the business you're doing!

ـِـ What do you mean?!

ـِـ How can you ask that?

He stared at her. At last he answered:

ـِـ I ask that because I don't have anything that says to me that there's no business in the women that want my art.

Richard broke in with:

ـِـ I don't think it's really worth it to ignore them, Deborah! At the same time I think you're right in that they're not the important part of it!

ـِـ They are the important part of my business! They are the most appreciative, up until now at least, of my customers!

ـِـ They are?!

Richard sounded very surprised.

ـِـ Yes, dad! Yes, they are!

ـِـ They are?!

His mother sounded almost as surprised as his dad.

ـِـ They are, mom, he assured her.

ـِـ Then how come, his mother asked, you don't feel like telling us about them. ...

ـِـ It never occurred to me to talk about them, he answered.

ـِـ Then do now, both his parents retorted at once.

ـِـ No, I don't want to talk about it, he said, and left for his room.

Chapter Thirteen

The next day in school, Deborah was in cooking class. Her teacher in that class was a woman of about fifty. Deborah new what she was doing in her class. So she decided to prepare a meal rather fast, and then ask if the teacher could possibly come and share it with her.

ـِـ Oh, I'm not sure yet. I mean what is there so say you've cooked something good enough for me.

But that she had made an effort to do.

ـِـ I think you could taste it, and then say if it is. I apologize if it isn't, but at least I need to talk to you!

She looked thoughtful.

ـِـ OK, I'll come and taste your meal. But I hope what you have to say doesn't take all day.

She sat down with her and let her serve her beef with onion and vegetables. After tasting it she said:

ـِـ It's OK, but what is it you wanted to talk to me about?

ـِـ It's about my brother, Deborah said.

ـِـ Oh, his cooking was fairly excellent!

Deborah sighed.

ـِـ It's not about that! I'm sad to say that he is the big playboy brother of mine that I really have to be careful about admiring and stuff! I hope you can realize that he is almost into being a real nasty womanizer nowadays!

She looked chocked.

ـِـ I had no idea!

ـِـ It's about his art business that I need to say something. It is that it's about his business that it's been said to be, when he's actually a playboy that screws around much worse worse than even mama has!

ـِـ Your mama?

ـِـ Oh, uhm, yeah! My mama.

ـِـ I don't know about either of them, she said thoughtfully.

ـِـ Well, my parents are recently divorced because my mother slept around with kids.

ـِـ Children?

ـِـ Well almost kids, then. Very young men, you could say.

ـِـ How young.

ـِـ I'm not sure, Helen.

ـِـ What's it about?

ـِـ It's about that I have a brother who seduces girls and women into paying for stuff they wouldn't be having if it wasn't for his charms. It's just the other day that we found out, I mean me and my dad, who are the only decent people in the family!

ـِـ Oh my!

ـِـ Yeah, and there he tried to tell me not to talk to even my girlfriends about how he has seduced both our parents into thinking that he should be my permanent role model or something!

ـِـ I see. And that's where I have to be their substitute, then?

She sat thoughtful before answering:

ـِـ I guess I sort of meant that. ... But what I didn't mean is that you should have to be talking to me all the time! Rather, I would like you to appreciate the fact that I warned you! And perhaps the word can be passed around!

Her teacher answered with a sigh. After a while she said:

ـِـ If that's what you've had to talk about, then I'll settle for that he is a bastard and that we shouldn't appreciate men like that! It's horrible that they all probably catch HIV and spread it!

ـِـ Yeah, even that.

Deborah shuddered. It was silent for a while, then Deborah decided to say something about her family:

ـِـ Daddy is the one that always insisted on having us know better than to sleep around. He, and mother too, said that if we do, we should always, very much always, use condoms – and even then it's not quite safe, they've said.

Helen thought for a while.

ـِـ Even so, I imagine your brother – if he is the playboy you say – either has caught it, or he will sooner or later. ...

ـِـ Yeah, it's horrible!

ـِـ Yes it really is! ... I'll be trying to pass the word around about him, then, Debbie!

ـِـ Thanks Helen!

Chapter Fourteen

Today David was late to his studio. He had been at a sleep-over with two of his most appreciated female customers. When he arrived there, he saw a woman standing outside it and looking fairly impatient.

ـِـ Hi, he said. I'm sorry I'm late for you.

ـِـ Hi, she said to him.

As he was unlocking the door, he said:

ـِـ What do you want me to work on?

The woman, who was Spanish-looking and in her mid-twenties, answered that she wanted him to fence for her.

ـِـ What kind of fence, he asked her.

ـِـ A fence for my chickens.

ـِـ Chickens?

ـِـ Yes chickens.

ـِـ How tall do you want it?

ـِـ Actually I would like it like a cage, which should be about five feet tall. A fence with a roof that is.

He thought for a while.

ـِـ What if I make it a chicken fence with a smaller roof than the fence itself. Would that be a probable luck for you and ... ?

She giggled.

ـِـ It really might be lucky for me to just have you around in my house! You see I've heard so much about you! All women in town seem to know about it!

He looked startled. After a while he asked:

ـِـ What is that you've ben saying about me?!

She giggled again.

ـِـ They've told me you were so much of a lover that there is no limit to what there could be for a pleasure for anyone who catches your fancy well enough!

He looked solemn for a while. then he said:

ـِـ How come you've all been talking about me when there isn't even the first thing to know about being a womanizer about me?

She looked straight at him, fixing her eyes on his.

ـِـ They've been saying that you're the womanizer that is the first bastard son of Peter Ebanes, which makes me think you must be at least as exciting as he was!

He looked surprised.

ـِـ Why would they think that I'm a bastard child and then fancy me as the womanizer for their health?

She stood silently for a while.

ـِـ Why would you not be at least half the womanizer he is, and then also more than half of what that mother of yours is, a womanizer but with an edge of sarcasm against the womanizing she's into?

Now he looked startled.

ـِـ What?!

She giggled once more.

ـِـ Yes, like that!

ـِـ What if I'm not the womanizer type they're after?! Then what would they be into saying abut me after that they realize it?!

She kept on giggling.

ـِـ It's not true that you're not into womanizing me!

He stared at her.

ـِـ No, he said at last, I don't appreciate me as the womanizer you think I am!

Her giggle became a smile as now as she said:

ـِـ Then aren't you into tricking me like that mother of yours, into thinking about the ordinary man in you as being the womanizer instead, and then of the womanizer as being the ordinary person, that we all have inside ourselves?!

He looked at her in astonishment.

ـِـ What do you want me to take that as?!

ـِـ As an invitation for you to do me as well as most good-looking female customers you've had!

He froze inside as he said:

OK, I'll do you honey!

Chapter Fifteen

At home, at dinner, David discussed that a Spanish woman had told him that he was “ the first bastard son of Peter Ebanes,” and that this meant that he was supposed to be one the best lays for women to have!

His father looked astonished. then thoughtfully he said:

ـِـ Oh, I shouldn't have thought she was ever into any fidelity!

he looked at his wife.

ـِـ OK, and who's her father, he demanded, indicating Deborah.

ـِـ I'm not sure, she answered, rather truthfully.

He looked even more astonished.

ـِـ Well can't you remember? Not at all? Who did you have sex with during that time?!

ـِـ Well, there were a few, besides yourself, who were there, in my bed, while you were at it!

ـِـ What in the world are you talking about?!

ـِـ I can't say you weren't at the job you've had!

ـِـ So what?!

ـِـ So what?

ـِـ Yes so what you slut?! Cause now I don't see why there ever seemed to be any way to judge you as any better at all than the porn stars!

She sat down and looked at her children.

ـِـ Well, she was probably right that Hispanic lady! You do look a whole lot like Peter! ... As for you, Debbie, you actually do look like your father!

ـِـ Like my father? How can I know if that's who I really have been taught to believe is my dad.

She looked at Richard.

ـِـ You look like Richard, Charlotte said.

Debbie looked at him.

ـِـ Yeah, I guess I do, she answered.

He was sitting tear-eyed and very grim, by the look of it.

ـِـ It's settled, he said, that I also have some child alimony to collect from him. ...

ـِـ Money, money again. That's all you really care about!

Her words seemed to sting him like a knife in a deer.

David now chose to speak again:

ـِـ What about it, mom! He makes money, and so do I! And what are you asking for?! If we men didn't make all the money there is to be made, what do you think there'd be!?

Richard cried.

Charlotte looked at him. She smiled.

ـِـ Now look at the man in you! You've always had it I'm of the weaker sex!

He looked up at her.

ـِـ Of all the freaking creepy things a lady can say! ...

She almost shrieked.

Then Deborah said:

ـِـ There's not any use in you two quarrelling all the time! How about you and me and he going to our own rooms all of us, and then mom can be sleeping on the living room couch, perhaps!

Chapter Sixteen

At the bank, Richard said to a colleague that it seemed like women had to be at least told about that a man's business is a man's thing to do if aren't to start fancying other men and being infidels. His colleague didn't agree. Instead he told him that he was being prejudice, and that women are 'exactly like us', he said.

Richard got annoyed.

Later, at lunch, he asked asked a female colleague why she and other women seemed to be into men as if they were to be paying for everything.

But her answer wasn't at all what he wanted or expected:

ـِـ My, you seem to be from the eighteen hundreds!

He thought for a while before saying:

ـِـ I feel that you don't know why I feel that you're doing it!

She looked very indignant.

ـِـ So, you think I should have to listen to that crap of yours!?

Startled over this he tried another strategy:

ـِـ You don't know me! How can you be into saying that kind of thing about a man you don't know?!

She examined him carefully.

ـِـ I can't believe you're honest enough for me to be talking to! But I'll be honest enough to tell you that I'm into none-pretension about what men are like! And that you can take your pretension and shove it up yours!

He sighed at this. Now he examined her back.

ـِـ How can you pretend to know me when you don't even know my wife? Or perhaps you do know her!? Perhaps it's you that she's been talking to when she had it all men are womanizers except those who actually are?! ... Or are you only into pretending that you know either me or even my family!?

She looked at him.

ـِـ Well, I'm not into saying anything about men, she retorted carefully. I'm into, she continued, having it men and women are all alike!

He sighed, more deeply this time.

ـِـ I don't know why you feel that we are bastards then in first place.

She looked at him, scornfully.

ـِـ I still haven't said they are all bastards. It's just that the man standing before me clearly is one!

At length he asked:

ـِـ Which men are not, then, according to you?!

ـِـ Well, let's see, our boss isn't, for one. Then, also, my father isn't. Thirdly my husband isn't!

He looked at her while saying:

ـِـ Don't they all seem to be men of authority over you?! ... Now tell me what they have in common if not that!?

Now she looked a bit startled.

ـِـ They're unlike you; that's why they're alike!

He sighed and studied her.

ـِـ What have I done to you, he asked after while.

ـِـ Firstly, you've pretended I want your company in the first place. Secondly you seem to pretend our boss and then my husband and even my father are bad because they're authorities. Thirdly you've been into me as if I was a pretentious girl and not a woman to be looked at as a person, and not just what your kind of man pretend women are!

Nonplussed by this he drew another deep sigh. After a while he retorted:

ـِـ It really does seem that you say this only because I'm not authority enough for you!

She looked at him scornfully again. But she said nothing, just finished eating. He too finished his lunch without saying anything more.