The Arcturus Man (23 page)

With two buttons gone, she was showing more cleavage than she was used to.
She tugged on her shirt to gather more material to the front. It didn’t help much.
“Heck with it.” This was not a good day.
She got a table for four. The hostess paused but finally relented and seated Jenny.
The hostess checked the bicycle wheel and came back with the claim ticket.
Normally Jenny wouldn’t order beer in the middle of the day. Sweet iced tea was
her beverage, but this was a beer day if there ever was one.
“Get me a Sam Adams. A big one!”
“We have bottle,” said the Asian waitress.
“OK, a bottle,” said Jenny.
She was calming down but still felt despondent. She nursed her bottle of beer for
almost an hour.
The restaurant was filling up and the hostess looked increasingly displeased with Jenny. She was hogging a large table.
“Having a PMS day?” asked Jared.
It was easy to see that she was upset about
something.
He was early. Jenny was delighted to see him despite the jibe.
She needed some
tender loving care. “
Hmmmm… Jared isn’t a TLC guy..new plan!
,” she thought.
“I just got fired from the Sea Grant Program.”
“OK, we’ll get you unfired.
I am a major alumnus contributor. And, yes I am a
TLC kind of guy.”
“Stay out of my head. Not today Jared. OK?”
“No problem,” he said.
“You’re early. That’s great. I need the company.”
“What happened?” asked Jared.
“Professor Hartung hated my report.
He told me to take a freshman English
course in writing.
The…” she was searching for a word, “doofus never read past the
second page. And he threw the report at me. And he stared at my boobs the whole time,”
said Jenny.
“Doofus.
Interesting choice.
Clearly not the first descriptive word that came to
mind. Scottish Gaelic for fool—a doof or dolt.”
“Please quit it. I don’t need this Jared.”
He wanted this to be a good day.
Their relationship had been getting a little
rocky. He could be a real ass hole. He vowed to make it a good day this time.
“I’m sorry. I was just trying to lighten things up. Not to worry Jenny. I’ll make
a few calls. Problem solved.”
She closed her eyes. “I sort of flashed him.”
“Pardon?”
“I shook my boobies at him. The creep was staring at them the whole time he was
berating me.” Jenny was mortified.
“You flashed your tits?
Why would you ever do such a thing no matter what he
did?” He glanced down.
“Why would you wear your shirt like that?
What did you expect?”
“I did not flash my…boobies.
I just shook them a little bit,” she said.
“You
know… a shimmy. You ever watched really good dancers? They do it all the time,” she
said.
She wasn’t finished. “That is a typical male response, Jared.
The woman’s at
fault for inviting a lecher to stare.
Thanks for being so understanding.
The buttons
broke, DARLING.
The buttons broke.
I obviously didn’t break the buttons intentionally.” She was steamed.
“I didn’t mean to imply you did,” said Jared. “It’s just that this makes it a little
more difficult to patch this up.”
“I’m sorry. I know it was infantile but he made me so darn mad.”
“Did you record the meeting?”
“Yes.”
She opened her purse and took out the digital recorder.
“It won’t be of
any help. I was as much of a jerk as he was. I lost it. I called him names. I’m sorry.”
Jared turned it on. He turned down the volume and held it to his ear. After a few
minutes, he smiled.
“That would be too much of a coincidence,” he said laughing. “That is really
clever. A great come back. I’m impressed. I have to remember that one,” he said.
She couldn’t hold back her grin even though she wanted to. She wasn’t ready to
stop being angry but Jared had this way of managing her moods.
“Yea…I thought it was pretty good too.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll fix it. You will remain in the program. I promise. It
is probably time for another donation anyway.”
Jared’s self-confidence was infectious.
She was beginning to feel better about
everything. He was an instant cure.
She turned to him and kissed him.
It was a hard,
long kiss.
“But I’m not going to apologize,” she said.
“Noted!
You will not apologize.
Let’s rip off another button,” said Jared grinning. “Great cleavage.”
She gave him her most seductive smile.
“Knock it off.
There are children present,” said Krissy.
Krissy and Jake were
standing behind them. “She’s got great melons. It runs in the family.” Krissy puffed up
her chest.
Jared laughed.
“I sure hope you’re Krissy.”
He stood and put out his hand.
Krissy ignored the hand and gave him a light grazing kiss on the cheek.
Jared didn’t return the air kiss. Jared was dumbstruck.
She was beautiful. Jenny
hadn’t described her as being this gorgeous. She had raven hair and dark sensuous eyes.
Her lips were full and she wore only enough makeup to enhance her natural beauty. She
had a touch of blue eye shadow. Her hair might have been dyed, but her thin eyebrows
were dark as well. Jared wasn’t sure. Krissy was shorter than Jenny but she had the same
athletic build. Her breasts were smaller and weren’t as full, but they were pert. Her skin
was fair and clear. Krissy was not as tanned as Jenny but her complexion was darker.
Whereas Jenny looked like a classic Nordic woman, Krissy was just a little different. Her
face was narrower than Jenny’s. There might be Finnish genes in their ancestry—Saami
genes, that is. There was an alluring smile that changed in intensity as her mood changed,
but it was always there. She liked to laugh. She was stunning.
She was so beautiful.
Jared had to remind himself not to stare.
“I’m Krissy…her YOUNGER sister.
This is Jake, but I’ll dump him in a minute
if you’re tired of dating older women. Jenn doesn’t talk about anything else. You’re like
really loaded. Smarter than Einstein!
A super jock!
And you’re gorgeous.
Jake…get
lost.” Jenny just rolled her eyes.
Jake wasn’t amused.
She always did that. He sat down, ignoring a handshake.
He was far enough away that the slight wasn’t obvious. Krissy flopped down in the chair
between Jake and Jared.
“I’m glad you could come, Jake,” said Jenny.
“YO,” said Jake.
Jared focused on Jake. He was tall, muscular, very blond, and very good looking.
The hair looked bleached, or at least it wasn’t streaked. Jenny said he was a geek. Jake
looked nothing like a geek. His casual clothes were expensive. It took a lot of money to
advertise the appearance of not caring how one looked. The Brooks Brothers logo was
prominent on his striped polo shirt and khaki shorts. His shoes were Johnston Murphy.
He didn’t wear socks. He reeked from 1818 cologne.
The gold chain around his neck
completed the uniform. Jake came from money…probably old Boston money.
Krissy, on the other hand, was wearing K-Mart from top to bottom. Her hair was
wild.
She wore a too-small red patterned tank top and very short red skirt.
Her midriff
was showing at least five inches, as is the fashion for young women today. Her sneakers
were scuffed, torn, and dirty, which is also in style. She wore a small gold cross on a thin
black ribbon around her neck. That didn’t fit. Jared wondered about the cross.
Jared undressed Krissy in his mind. Krissy had a black butterfly tattoo above her
mons. Jared didn’t understand why anyone so beautiful would decide to deface her own
body. It is tribal behavior that persists in mankind despite several thousand years of cultural and intellectual evolution. He regarded it as tantamount to self-mutilation. Despite
that, he felt an instant sexual attraction.
Her pheromones were compatible and he knew
she was attracted to his as well.
“
Everything is chemistry
,” thought Jared. He now knew that he could have her if
he wanted her. That was interesting. Sisters?
“
Analysis isn’t always paralysis
.
Black butterfly!
” thought Jared.
In a few
seconds he found what he was looking for in the poetry section of his brain. Now he understood why she had the tattoo. It was a song recorded in 1984.
Jared was surprised that the sisters got along so well. They were very competitive
and they looked different enough to not look like sisters. That they were so close was
odd. Jared pondered that while they all chatted. He wasn’t paying attention to what they
were saying.
It was most strange.
Krissy was uninhibited while Jenny was fairly conservative. Jenny was a touch Swedish but Krissy was nothing but American. They were
so different. It was something to think about. Jared understood that he had to be loyal to
Jenny but it was an intellectual, not an innate, understanding. Jared felt lust.
Jared knew himself and that he was basically amoral. In his world, there is nothing about right and wrong that was an absolute. It was all culturally derived and learned,
but most people, perhaps all people, regarded morality as universal truth.
Jared thought
different and he did understand that he was perhaps the poorer for knowing it.
Then
again, maybe not!
He hadn’t known many women, at least not since Ginger. Going to
bed with two women was an exciting fantasy. It was not a new fantasy. That they were
sisters added spice. He didn’t feel guilty thinking about it because he also knew that it
would never happen.
Jared never felt guilty.
That Krissy was pregnant was also immaterial. It couldn’t be more than a few weeks. He glanced at Jenny.
Neither Krissy nor
Jenny knew about the pregnancy.
Jenny was watching him. She didn’t know exactly why, but she felt uncomfortable. Krissy had stolen boy friends before.
Was this something she should be concerned
about? She didn’t think so, but it had crossed her mind.
“I’m like starving. Let’s order,” said Krissy. She waved at the waitress. The hostess saw the wave and intercepted the closest waitress and sent her to the table.
That
woman had been there much too long.
“Hello, I am Kim. I will be your server. May I take your drink orders?”
Jenny and Jared ordered Sam Adams. Jake ordered a Tsingtao beer.
He was
showing off. He also knew that Jared was picking up the tab. Krissy asked for green tea.
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you Krissy. And you too Jake,” said Jared.
“I can’t tell you how glad I am.
I’ve been like waiting for Jake to finally meet
someone smarter. Face to face you know. It’s high time to get that swelled head of his a
few hat sizes smaller,” said Krissy.
Jake glared at her.
“Jake, if you want any tonight…or this month…you’ll be nice…honey,” said
Krissy.
“Krissy, lighten up. We’re here to get to know each other and have a good time,”
said Jenny.
“Exactly!
Exactly!
We’re here for a good time.”
She pulled her giant macramé
bag to the table. She reached in and took out two Rubik’s cubes. “Let’s have a race between Jared and Jake.
Jake, you’re a math wiz.
Put your money where your mouth is.
You guys play for the bill tonight. Girls go free.”
“Krissy, this is not cool,” said Jenny.
“Jenn…bug off. This is like my game. Just for fun, you know.”
This was a surprise to Jake. She hadn’t said anything about a contest. Jake was
squirming but his ego was huge.
He had to go along with it. He pulled his industrial
strength wrist watch off and handed it to Jenn.
“I’m game. You time it, Jenn.
The lower button controls the stop watch,” said
Jake.
“This is stupid,” said Jenny.
“No, it’s alright. It might be fun at that,” said Jared. He took the two cubes from
Krissy and examined them briefly.
“They’re not the same.
It wouldn’t be fair if they are different,” said Jared.
He
put one cube down and began to work the one in his hand.
In less than 10 seconds he
handed both to Jake. They were now identical.
“It would be unfair if you didn’t have time to study them as well,” said Jared.
Jake took both cubes and made a big show of studying each cube carefully.
His
eyebrows were furled in deep concentration. Yes, they were now identical.
Jake was
nervous.
He was smart enough to realize that he was about to lose. He was going to be
humiliated. He wasn’t used to losing. He couldn’t think of any way out of this. Maybe
he was wrong.
He was going to give it his best shot.
He handed one of the cubes to
Jared. He tried to visualize the cube he was holding, flipping the cube around in his palm.
“You ready?” asked Jared. Jake was a pretentious ass. He would enjoy this.
Jenny snatched the Rubik cubes from their hands and threw them to Krissy.
“This is not going to happen,” said Jenny.
“What is wrong with you? This is just a game. It’s going to be fun,” said Krissy.
“Just a game,” said Jared. Jake was silent.
“I will not be defied,” said Jenny.
Krissy looked at Jenny closely.
Jenny’s eyelids were half lowered.
They had
learned to read one another’s signs as little girls.
It was a skill that was a matter of survival in a large family. Krissy knew that Jenny meant business.
“OK, OK, we won’t do this,” said Krissy.
She stuffed the cubes back into her
hand bag.
“This is ridiculous,” said Jared.
Jake still hadn’t said a word.
He was getting a
stay of execution and was not about to blow it.
“Did you hear her Jerr?
She said ‘I will not be defied.’ That is a magic incantation that transforms our sweet Jenn into the horrid Green Jenn—you know, like Djinn—
the genie.
She learned that trick from one of those Sinbad movies from the fifties.
I’m
ashamed that you had to discover this family secret that I have been trying to keep hidden
from you,” said Krissy.
Jared glanced at Jenny. Yes, her eyelids were down. He smiled.
“Maybe she’s over that,” said Jared.
Krissy pulled back her hair just above her temple.
She pointed to a faint white
scar.
“See this.
This is where the evil Green Jenn drove Barbie’s legs into my skull.
Three stitches. Like trust me. You do not want to defy the evil one. She actually turns a
little green,” said Krissy.
Jenny sat quietly through Krissy’s tirade. She had heard it many times before and
it usually didn’t change much. She didn’t like this side of Jared. He was delighting in the
opportunity to humiliate Jake—in front of Krissy. She didn’t like how he was looking at
her little sister. Jenny looked at Krissy.
She was sitting on her legs on top of the chair.
Her short skirt had ridden up and her panties were showing. She saw that Jared had noticed it too.