East One #3
“So, one night, lying on a beach, staring into the night above me, I thought my high was doin’ me right when a woman appeared. Wet from the ocean, and naked—Oh, so beautifully naked—”
“Styx, please stop. I already have to imagine you with Noma—”
“Well, that’s just a weird thing for you to do.”
I placed the towel over my face, lay back on the bed, and proceeded to smother myself.
“So fucking dramatic.” He took another swig. “Anyhoo, what is a man to do with all that hotness being offered?”
I dropped the towel to my side and glowered at him. “Move on with the fucking story?”
“Okaaaay. Fine.” He stared off at the white wall cabinet as if witnessing this woman all over again. “After the ‘deed’, imagine my fucking surprise when she walked into the water like a goddess, then poof, grew a tail and swam away.”
The room went quiet as I tried to wrap my brain around what he was saying. Then, I sat up. “That? That is how this story goes? My high-as-a-kite grandpa got laid while basking in the moonlight?”
“Many moons ago.”
My mouth opened. Then closed. “So… then what? What does this have to do with the debacle I’m in now?”
His humor faded away to the point I almost regretted being so hard on him. “I went back, for many more moons, hoping for one more glimpse of a creature who had… altered me. If that makes any sense.”
Oh, it did. “Seeing Saleeni changed everything for me. Now water sparkles, in any form I see it,” I confessed, thinking he might have had a similar experience.
Styx leaned back, eyeing me. “Ya don’t say.”
I blinked. Fuck. “That didn’t happen to you?”
He sat forward, now appearing baffled. “No. I just had a constant boner.”
I cringed. “I’d love for that image to leave my mind, thank-you-very-much. And ew. I’ve never had that for Saleeni.”
Gramps leaned away, studying me again. “Ya don’t say.”
“She’s a little girl!”
“Not no more!” He winked, kicking his feet out and stretching his legs.
I jutted out my chin. “Well, I only learned that three nanoseconds ago.”
His head wobbled in agreement. “This is true.” He proudly patted me on the shoulder. “Well done not being a perv.”
Staring at him because I simply didn’t know how to handle his idiocy, I finally said, “Can you please get back to your story?”
He snapped his fingers as if just realizing he had gotten off course. “That’s right. Shit, where was I?”
My tongue pushed against the inside of my cheek for a long pause before I had calmed enough to say, “By chance, can I read this story in a journal or something so I can just kill you now?”
He smirked. “Already hungry for more blood?” He held up a fist. “Give me a bump.”
Giving up on the old coot, I held out my open hand.
The shitty storyteller was thrilled. “Atta boy!” And handed me a beer.
I cracked it open and swallowed the bitterness, hoping for it to be the remedy I needed.
Not even halfway through the bottle, my body eased, and then my mind stopped racing around a track like a NASCAR vehicle running out of gas.
The sensation was so rewarding I downed the rest and now understood the ‘nectar of the Gods’ statement.
I even confessed, “You’re no longer so annoying. ”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
A grin developed on my face; that’s how peaceful I finally felt. “Take it however you like.”
His playful tone began to fade as he commented, “Ah, finally nice and relaxed. Good.”
I rolled my neck and shoulders, the empty bottle moving with me. “So good.”
There was some much-appreciated and needed silence.
It gave me the time to realize I had just been had.
I exhaled as it dawned on me that I truly was a silly rabbit.
I fell right into tonight’s predator’s hands.
I stared at the empty beer bottle, the result of so much purposeful banter.
This had been the only way to get me to ‘ease up’.
“Okay, Styx. You have my full attention.”
Not that he hadn’t all along, but I wasn’t being a good listener. Until now.
He confessed, “Sorry, I had to play you for a fool.”
No blame in my heart, I shook my head, staring at the bottle. “It was needed. I’m, uh, was, a little shook up.”
“Of course. Hell-n-back can do that to a man.”
Man. Now I nodded, grateful for the respect.
My grandfather mindlessly pulled at the label of his own empty bottle, returning to his story. He easily remembered right where he left off. “Many moons.”
Not daring to move, my eyes began to water.
He added, “So many I lost count.”
My jaw ticked back and forth.
“But… one evening, she finally returned.”
I pulled a shaky breath into my tightening lungs.
“She had legs again. She was naked.”
There was no joking around about sex. Styx was telling me a dark secret I could feel closing in on me.
He whispered through building emotions. “And she was bleeding.”
I looked up to the ceiling. Noma, I need you.
“An infant in her arms.”
Still staring up at the Heavens that weren’t answering me, tears rolled down my face.
Noma had told me Dad’s mom had died at birth, as mine did. The similarity seemed coincidental. That belief was so wrong.
Styx wiped under his eyes and his nose, then told me, “And handed me my son.”
The bottle slipped from my hand.