Sintown Chronicles I: Behind Closed Doors (46 page)

Betty trembled. What would she do if Rita plunged her hand inside her blouse—scream or have an orgasm? “That sounds like a loaded question to me,” she replied. “Is the expected answer ‘you'?"

“Hell no,” Rita laughed, scooping up the now empty mugs and heading for the kitchen. “I'm concerned about number one also. I'm determined to build a team of employees that will put the big bucks in my pocket. The correct answer is that
you
must be concerned about your own best interests. You can bet both your lovely boobs on the fact that nobody else is."

Rita returned with the cups filled to the rim. “Do you love Bo?” she asked.

Betty's face colored. “What kind of question is that?” she replied.

“An intimate question that is none of my business. But I wish you would answer it."

“No,” Betty said softly.

“No, you don't love him or no, you won't answer?"

“We don't love each other. Oh, we say we do sometimes, but we really don't.” Betty could not believe she was having this conversation. Rita was so easy to talk with. “We were buddies all through school, simply because we were so ugly, nobody else would have anything to do with either of us. When we graduated high school, getting married just seemed like the right thing to do."

“I can't believe you were ever ugly."

“Still am,” Betty sighed.

“No, you're not. A little work on your teeth and you will be a very pretty young lady."

“I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I met Dr. Hartman downstairs this morning and talked with him about braces. Whether I move to Dot or not, I'm definitely going to get some dental work started soon."

“Betty, you like Bo but you don't love him. He doesn't love you either. You want to take the in-house job with my agency, but you won't unless Bo decides to take the golf course job. Why do you put what's best for you in second place behind what Bo thinks is best for him?"

“Because he's my husband."

“You could change that."

“You didn't divorce Max."

“Max didn't stand in the way of what I wanted for myself, and besides, I have two children."

“Where are your children, Rita?"

“They're staying with their grandparents for a few days until I get things straightened out here. They love Max's mom and dad, and I do too."

“Do they know that..."

“Do they know that I'm a lesbian? They do. Max told his mom and dad years ago. They don't like it, but they accept it."

Rita studied Betty, who seemed to have drifted suddenly off into a world of her own. “My being a lesbian makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it?"

“No. Yes. No."

They both laughed.

“It bothered me last night and this morning, but it doesn't bother me now. I can't explain it.” Betty fixed her eyes on Rita's. “How did you find out..."

“That I prefer women? I was twelve years old. Mom and dad packed me off to summer camp. There were six of us in the tent—some twelve, a couple were thirteen years old. The older girls were beginning to sprout boobs and the first night one of them claimed she once slept with her boyfriend. At that age, we were all crazy about sex and she held our full attention. Thinking about it later, she was lying. Many of the particulars were wrong, but it was a fascinating tale at the time."

“But how did that..."

“My, you are impatient,” Rita laughed. “After this girl finished her tale the other thirteen year old said she didn't want to have a boy's thing inside her. She preferred to masturbate. I guess several of us did not know how to masturbate. I don't think I had ever heard the word before."

“One of the other innocents asked for a demonstration. Without hesitation, the older girl lifted her nightgown under which she was wearing nothing and began to rub herself vigorously. I moved in for a closer look. Other than my own, it was the first vagina I had ever seen. It was beautiful, and this girl had a few pubic hairs beginning to grow. I was fascinated—obsessed. Without thinking I pushed my finger in the girl's twat and began to jerk it around inside her. She told me to find the button and she moved my finger to it. She lay back on her cot, began to moan and she stretched her legs wide apart. I felt overcome with a sense of power. I remember that she began to lift and lower her butt. I don't know why, but I grabbed her ass cheeks with my hands and replaced my finger with my tongue. I had never tasted anything so delicious. Suddenly the girl began to scream with pleasure. The other girls pushed a pillow over her mouth to keep the counselors from hearing."

“Wow,” Betty said, fully aware that her panties were moist.

“Afterwards the other girls wanted me to do them. The results were much the same. Each one tasted differently, but each one was good, and the feeling of power was overwhelming. Finally, the older girl said it was only fair that she do me. I enjoyed my first orgasm that night."

“And you have been a lesbian ever since?"

“Yes, I think so. I didn't know what the word meant at the time, but I knew I liked what I was doing every night for the remaining month we were at that camp. I didn't really know that I preferred girls to boys until the last day."

“What happened?""

“One of the teenage counselors saw me in action one night by accident. The next day he took me into the woods and said he would tell unless I agreed to have sex with him. He shucked off my pants and rammed his dick into me. His penis looked repulsive. I was very dry down there and it hurt like hell. I bled profusely. It scared this kid half to death. He kept telling me how sorry he was. His balled up jockey shorts became my first sanitary napkin. I know now that I must have had a thick hymen, which he ruptured."

“If you knew you were a lesbian, why did you get married?"

Rita smiled thinly. “Don't you know lesbians are evil and going to hell? Many people today are acknowledging that they are homosexual, but the stigma remains. I wanted to be what everyone thought of as normal. I married Max and gave birth to two children. I love my kids, but I hated every sexual experience with Max except when he wanted oral sex, and I didn't care for that very much. Finally, I told him. By that time, we had started the business. Because of the children and the business, we decided to stay together. He knew I was sleeping around and I knew he was, but we never discussed it."

“Thank you for telling me, Rita,” Betty said genuinely. Somehow I understand."

“Now I want you to tell me something that is not so personal,” Rita laughed. “I love your hair, but whatever possessed you to cut it so short?"

Rita was so easy to talk with that Betty did not hesitate to relate the story of the Herks and the near rape. “Rita,” she concluded with tears in her eyes. “I'm going to tell you something I have not shared with another living soul. The humiliation and pain that afternoon turned me on like a firecracker with its short fuse on fire. I wanted those boys to fuck me so bad. Bo regained consciousness and risked his life to keep it from happening. I pretend I am grateful, but oh, how I wish he had stayed unconscious another hour."

Rita laughed and again sat on the arm of Betty's chair and hugged her. Softly she said, “It looks like you are a bit masochistic."

“What does that mean? Max used that word once, but I didn't understand it and didn't ask."

“It means you enjoy a little pain along with sex."

“I don't know. I didn't like it much when Max beat me, but maybe I am.” Betty looked full into Rita's eyes, “Rita, there's more. Bo and Max are not the only men I've slept with. I found out in the seventh grade that guys like tits. I used sex then to feel accepted. I still do. I'm worse than a masochist. I'm a ... a..."

“Nymphomaniac?"

“If that means someone who wants sex all the time, then, yeah."

“So?"

“I'm going to hurt somebody one day. If you were a different sort of person, my involvement with Max would have hurt you. If Bo ever finds out, it will kill him."

“Betty, you can handle it. I think you need to start thinking more about what's best for you, rather than worrying so much about other people. I think you need to let Bo be Bo and let Betty be whoever Betty turns out to be."

She didn't mean to do it, but Betty returned Rita's embrace and buried her face in the tiny woman's warm, shirt-covered breasts.

“No wonder I'm hungry,” Rita said, glancing at her wristwatch and pulling away. “I skipped breakfast this morning. I'm going to take you to Dot's Diner for the best lunch you ever tasted. The bathroom's that-a-way,” she said pointing her finger towards the bedroom door, “if you want to freshen up."

Until they began eating their dessert, the lunchtime conversation revolved around Dot, the advertising business, and the possibility of Bo and Betty renting the efficiency apartment Rita was currently living in, should Bo decide to move to Dot. However, as Betty chewed the first bite of chocolate pie, Rita asked, “Betty, have you ever made it with a woman?"

Betty was expecting the seduction, dreaded it, and then feared it would not happen.

“No,” she replied after swallowing.

“Would you like to try it with me?"

“Yes."

Conversation on the return trip from Dot was largely a Big Willie monologue with a few grunts thrown in by Bo. From the back seat Betty listened long enough to realize she was being excluded, and relished the time alone with her thoughts. On the drive down she had been filled with anxiety, wanting desperately to keep her fledgling career as an artist on track, but fearing that the new head of the Holder Advertising Agency would try to seduce her into lesbian activity. Now she felt anxiety of a different sort. She decided that if Bo would take the job in Dot, she could have a wonderful relationship with the outrageously beautiful lesbian named Rita Holder without Bo ever knowing about it and a satisfying career as well. She recalled Rita's admonition about putting herself first and wondered why she felt Bo's decision must be the deciding factor. Funny, she thought, how quickly one's priorities can change.

“Damn,” Bo said as they climbed into their own car after arriving at Big Willie's house. “I thought this was going to be a hard decision to make, but it sure as hell isn't.” The car roared to life and Bo headed for home. “Did you hear Big Willie ranting and raving about what a wonderful opportunity the Dot job is for me?"

Without pausing for an answer, he continued, “They want us to work our asses off. Even the experts told them the courses were two years away from being ready to open. They expect us to beat that by a full year. They want us to do the work ten men can't do."

Betty stared in disbelief. This was not what she wanted to hear.

“Us, hell,” he fumed. “Mr. Hathaway was right. Big Willie wants me along to do all the work for him. It may be a great opportunity for Big Willie,” he continued, slamming the palms of his hands into the steering wheel, “but I'll be damned if I'm going to be his slave."

“Bo,” she said, “Slow down. You're going to get us killed. It couldn't have been all that bad."

“The hell it couldn't,” he fumed, glancing at her. Even in the dark, she could see his eyes flashing. “One-horse hick town,” he muttered.

“You didn't see the town, Bo. I liked it."

“You can have it, dear,” he sneered.

“What kind of salary did they offer?"

With sarcasm dripping from every word, he spat out, “Twenty-five thousand frigging dollars plus about the same benefits I have at Tanglewood. That was the final insult."

“Bo, that's more than you're making now,” she said.

“The hell it is.” She felt his eyes flashing again. “I got up after you went to sleep last night and figured it out. You're being paid nine dollars an hour and they pay me ten. For you that comes to almost twenty thousand a year, but you have no overtime. I have been working an average of seventy hours a week. That comes out to about forty-four thousand a year. They expect me to take a nineteen thousand-dollar salary cut to join their little party. No thank you.” He punctuated his last remark with the raised middle finger of his right hand.

Damn, Betty thought. Rita offered me a fifteen thousand dollar increase.

“I think you're overestimating your Tanglewood income, Bo. You won't have all that overtime during the winter months, and besides, wouldn't you have just as much overtime in Dot?"

“More,” he replied, “but in Dot I wouldn't be paid for it. I'd be on salary—an exempt employee they called it."

Betty couldn't think of any more arguments to offer.

“When Big Willie turns in his resignation, I'm going to go to Mr. Hathaway and see what he has to offer. It'll probably be at least fifty thousand."

“Didn't Big Willie say that he would not take the job unless you do?"

“That's what he said, but not what he'll do. I'll tell him first thing in the morning that I am going to stay at Tanglewood. He'll just find another patsy to take my place. There's no way he's going to pass up an opportunity to become a club pro. Hell, Betty, you should have seen him drooling all over himself down there."

When they arrived at the doublewide, Bo yanked two beers from the refrigerator, handed one to Betty and took a big swig from the other. “It's been a long, disgusting day,” he said. “I'm going to bed.” He turned the bottle up and drained it.

Betty sat at the kitchen table, nursing her beer. She heard him in the bathroom urinating, then brushing his teeth. As he passed from the bathroom to the bedroom, his noisy belch disgusted her. Rita was right. He cared only about himself. Was she going to allow him to crush the greatest opportunity for happiness that might ever come her way? She allowed her anger to build and then stormed into the dark bedroom. In the faint light, she could see Bo, dressed only in jockey shorts, lying on his back, his head resting on his folded hands.

As she snapped on the overhead light, she yelled, “Get up, you son-of-a-bitch."

Startled, he sat bolt upright and stared at her in disbelief.

“Why do you think that what's best for Bo is also what's best for Betty? Why do you think my thoughts, my concerns, my hopes, my dreams, don't matter? That damned marriage certificate is not a ball and chain. I'm not your personal property, Bascomb Oliver Nading.” She burst into tears which made her even more angry.