V.
"Kyle – you wanna come back here a sec?”The long-haired, bespectacled young man at the counter looked up from his reading and looked behind him where a door opened into his uncle's back office.
“What's up?”
“Just come here.”
Kyle put his book down (a four pound, 750 page tome entitled The Development of Electronic Communication from Marconi to the Internet), sighed , and poked his head into the office.
His uncle – a pudgy, balding fifty-something-year-old man who resembled the love-child of Danny deVito and Roseanne Barr, was staring intently at a TV security monitor. “Whaddya make of that?”
Kyle looked at the image on the TV screen. Someone wearing a shapeless gray overcoat, a dark hood that covered the whole head, and sunglasses was perusing the racks of videotapes.
“What about him?”
“He's been here almost an hour.”
“So what?”
Uncle Franz looked up at his nephew. “He's makin' me nervous. Look at 'im – sunglasses this time o' night – that hood - “
“Comes with the business, Uncle. We get all kinds.”
Uncle Franz looked back at the monitor. The hooded figure was just passing out of the range of one camera and into the one over the cash register. “Get 'im outta here – no, wait - ”
“What?”
“Maybe I oughta call the cops - “ Uncle Franz was cut off by a sharp ding! from the front counter. Kyle turned to see the hooded figure standing at the counter, holding three videotapes.
He turned back to his uncle and raised an eyebrow. “You're too paranoid after that holdup last month,” he commented, moving toward the counter.
“Just 'cause yer not paranoid don't mean they're not out to getcha!” Uncle Franz called after him.
Kyle snorted as he pulled the office door shut. He gave the customer a friendly smile. “Hi, that do it for you, tonight?”
The hooded figure nodded. Strange, thought Kyle. The man's face seemed awfully smooth, rounded, and delicate. “You're – uh, over eighteen, right?”
The customer nodded, handing over the videotapes. Kyle looked at them quickly. Sex Sisters, Fun With Debbi and Trish, and Women Loving. Kyle turned each box over, then entered a series of numbers into the computer sitting on the counter. He hit the “return” button, then turned back to his customer. “Okay, that'll be nine dollars and twenty-one cents tonight.” The customer nodded and pulled a billfold (odd, that looks like a woman's clutch purse, Kyle thought). The customer handed him a ten dollar bill, when Kyle asked “You have your card with you?”
It was hard to tell what the customer's expression was behind the dark glasses, but Kyle's question seemed to be neither expected nor welcome. “Your rental card?” asked Kyle. The only response was a shaking of the head. “Have you ever rented videos here before?” Again, a shaking of the head. Kyle nodded, pulling out a pen and a form from behind the counter. “That's okay,” he said cordially. “It'll just take a sec to set up an account, if I could see some I.D. - “
The customer placed a gloved hand (again, a delicate hand, clad in a black gloved that seemed like a woman's) on Kyle's arm. He looked up. The customer's head was shaking back and forth. Finally, the customer's lips parted as if to speak.
“Look,” (the voice was odd – like a young boy trying to sound older)”can I just purchase these?”
“Uh – I'm not sure - ”
At that moment, Uncle Franz came out of the office. “What seems to be the problem?”
“He wants to buy 'em.” Kyle handed the tapes to his uncle. Meanwhile, the customer seemed to be getting increasingly uncomfortable. Kyle leaned toward his uncle's ear and whispered “I think the kid's underage - ”
Ignoring him, Uncle Franz stepped up to the counter and sat the tapes down. He picked up the first (Sex Sisters) and said, “Twenty-four ninety-nine for this - ” held up the second (Fun With Debbi and Trish) “nineteen ninety-nine for this one, and...” he held up Women Loving and gave it a long look.
Unlike the other two with the garish colours and photos on the boxes, this one was rather muted. There was little in the way of a cover design. “Hell, I hardly ever rent this one. You can just have it,” Uncle Franz said, handing the videotape over.
The customer nodded, pulling out another ten, a five and a twenty from the billfold/clutch purse. Quickly, the mysterious hooded figure scooped up the videos and hid them inside the gray overcoat, then turned to leave as Uncle Franz was putting the currency into the cash drawer. He looked up. “Hey, dontcha want yer change - ?”
But the mysterious customer was gone.
* * *
I can't believe I just did this, thought Michelle as she walked quickly out of the windowless, nondescript storefront. The name over the door – F & J Books, Magazines and Videos – was innocuous enough.
Who would have guessed that the interior held the largest selection of pornographic films and literature (catering to almost every taste, fetish and perversion)in the Pacific Northwest?
Michelle had seen porn before, of course – boyfriends' attempts to get her “in the mood.” Most of it had been enough to make her want to swear off sex forever.
The three videotapes she'd just purchased had seemed the most promising of a sorry lot. Most of the videos had seemed to be little more than women with unnaturally large breasts administering fellatio to anonymous penises. Others were the same women lying on their backs, spreading their legs wide as if submitting to a gynecological exam, or on their knees being rammed from behind by men who seemed to be having most of the fun.
But...after her evening with Lina, and an entire day of intermittent self-pleasuring over fantasies in which she figured prominently, curiosity had gotten the better of Michelle.
She arrived home about thirty minutes later after a brief stop at the liquor store for a bottle of her favourite cabernet. She sat the videotapes atop the television then went to hang up her gray overcoat. As she pulled off the hooded sweatshirt, she noticed the light on her answering machine blinking merrily. Sighing, she went over and pressed the button.
* BEEP *
"Hey, 'Chelle - 's Kathie. Just wondering how your night on the town went. Also, I just got a call from Aunt Lora. She just got something from Grandmama's lawyers - some kind of package. Anyway - call me. Love you!"
Hmmm, thought Michelle. "Aunt Lora" was Michelle's mother, with whom she spoke only occasionally. I probably should give Momma a call, she thought with a sigh.
* BEEP *
"Hello, this is Chuck with Sell-All Industries with a special offer for Michelle Deverucks - "
Michelle hit the "delete" quickly. How do these fucks get my number, she thought.
* BEEP *
"Hi, baby - this is Momma. Your grandmother left some things to you and Kathie. Call me when you get home."
Strange, Michelle thought. They'd buried the dear old girl six months before. There had been a legacy - consisting mostly of a trust fund that had paid off Michelle's student loan and most of the mortgage on Kathie's plant store. Other than that, there was only their grandmother's collection of antique jewelry, which went to Michelle (Kathie did not care for jewelry - nor makeup, for that matter).
She picked up the phone and dialed.
“Hello, Lora Devereaux.”
“Momma?”
“Hi, Chellie-Anne.” Michelle rolled her eyes at that. She hated being called “Chellie-Anne.”
“Kathie said you got a package, or something from Grandmama’s estate?”
“She wanted each of you girls to have a copy of her diaries after she was gone for awhile.”
Michelle’s eyes grew wide. “Great goddess...” she murmured.
“What was that, darling?”
“Nothing.” Grandmama’s diaries...
“Can you come out this weekend?”
“Uh – I don’t know. Maybe...”
“You could bring that nice boy you just met – Darrin?”
Again, Michelle rolled her eyes. She’d practically forgotten about Darryl already. “He’s so history, Momma – ”
“What, dear? I didn’t understand – ”
“Never mind. I’ll come visit when I can. Right now, I gotta go.”
“Okay, baby. Momma loves you.”
“Me, too. ‘Bye.” Michelle hung up the phone.
Grandmama's diaries...Michelle couldn't believe it.
Grandmama had spoken frequently of her wild younger days. Even when she was older, she had been arrested twice. The first time had been in 1953 when, on a trip to Washington D.C., she had urged a certain senator from Wisconsin named McCarthy to perform an anatomically impossible auto-sexual act. The second came seventeen years later when she became one of the oldest persons jailed for protesting the Vietnam war.
Nonetheless, Michelle and Kathie suspected there were many other stories that had gone untold. The diaries (which Grandmama kept under lock and key) had become somewhat of a legend among the Devereaux women...
* * *
After showering and changing into pajamas, Michelle ate a light supper of leftovers while watching another episode of The Young At Heart. Predictably, Moudrakis had driven his son out of the family home and the family business, and was now divorcing Suzette. Meanwhile, Suzette and Niko (Moudrakis’ son) were plotting against the old man – despite their increasing dislike for each other...
The episode finished as the tape reached the end. The video player spat out the tape abruptly, as if expelling an apricot pit or a chicken bone.
Slowly, Michelle rose from the sofa, walked over, and started to push the tape in for rewinding. Her eye fell upon the three videotapes she’d purchased earlier.
She hesitated, staring at the brightly coloured boxes of the top two. Gingerly, she withdrew the “Young At Heart” tape and set it on top of the television set. Then she picked up the first box.
The words SEX SISTERS! were splashed across the front cover in neon red and orange. Below were the words “HOT TONGUE ACTION!” in a slightly smaller font (which resembled that used on the paper signs taped to the windows of grocery stores screaming “FRESH WHATEVERS, 2.99/LB.”)
These words were superimposed over the image of two voluptuous, busty women. They were nearly naked except for nylon stockings, garter belts and French-heeled shoes. They had their arms around each other and breasts smashed together in a cruel embrace. Cheek-to-cheek, they faced the camera.
Oddly, the expressions on the womens' faces were not those of two people making love. In fact, their expressions, although smiling (after a fashion), seemed downright hostile.
Michelle shrugged and loaded the tape.
The next ten minutes consisted of a series of scenes in which numerous men and women (none of whom resembled either of the women on the cover) engaged in an astonishing variety of sex acts, ranging from unusual to downright bizarre, as well as raw and animalistic. What little dialogue there was (plot was non-existent) consisted of exaggerated grunts, cries of feigned ecstacy, and exclamations such as "OH YEAH!" and "FUCK MY HOT PUSSY" - and worse. The cinematography was on a par with something shot in a basement with a cheap camcorder.
About eleven minutes and thirty seconds into the video, a scene began in which a woman (clad in what seemed by now to be a standard uniform of high heels, thigh-high nylons of various colours with garter belts, and nothing else) sat on a bed in a room that looked to be located in a seedy motel on the edge of town.
Another woman (in "uniform") walked in from offscreen and sat next to her. They shared a brief "kiss" consisting of a few seconds of tongue wagging. The second woman then lay back, spreading her legs wide. The first woman proceeded to administer cunnilingus for several minutes while the second made unconvincing moaning sounds, with several close-up shots of tongue caressing genitalia.
This is supposed to be erotic? thought Michelle. Completely un-aroused, she finally stopped the video and ejected it.
The second one - Fun With Debbie and Trish - actually had some semblance of plot. It revolved around two upscale "call-girls" and the various sexual acts they performed for their male clients. Despite the grunts, moans and assorted hysterionics, neither woman nor their clients seemed to consider their activities anything other than a business transaction.
Michelle "fast-forwarded" through most of the scenes. Then, she caught a moment when "Debbie" and "Trish," both naked (except for the "standard uniform") began an embrace.
Interested, Michelle backed the tape up to watch the scene from the beginning.
To her disappointment, Debbie and Trish had agreed to do a "show" for a couple of clients. The scene was remarkably similar to the one in the previous video - a perfunctory kiss followed by five minutes of close-up cunnilingus. Eventually, the two men undressed and joined the women for a four-way orgy.
Michelle sighed, shaking her head as she stopped the video and ejected it.
Slowly, she picked up Women Loving and examined it. The cover depicted two women (who looked enough alike to be sisters), nude from the waist up. One stood behind the other, clutching her partner's breasts. The one in front had her head thrown back, one arm behind her head, pulling the first woman's head foward, while the first woman seemed to be trying to bite through the second one's carotid artery like Vampirella.
Probably more of the same, Michelle thought. Oh well...
There was again, no plot - the video consisted of several scenes of pairs (and in one scene, a trio) of women engaged in various sexual activities. About 85% of it was cunnilingus featured in a series of graphic close-ups - which did little for Michelle (although the thought of actually doing it - and having it done - was intriguing).
There a few scenes of tender caressing, longing looks and slow, deep kissing - just enough to tease, but never enough to please. Finally, however, Michelle found a scene she thought might be worth lingering over.
It was set in a beautifully furnished Victorian room in front of a fireplace. One woman, clad in a long night-gown sat in front of the fire. Her lover - also in a night-gown - entered and sat next to her.
They gazed at one another as only two people in love can, tenderly stroking one another's faces and hair. They began kissing - slowly at first, as they gingerly undressed each other.
Completely naked, on their knees. face-to-face, the women slid their arms around each other. Their faces moved closer together... closer...eyes closed dreamily, lips parted in sweet anticipation, tongues extended ever so slightly... their mouths slowly came together...
Suddenly, the women became a blur as the camera's focus shifted, panning over toward the fireplace as the flames came into sharp relief -
"WHAT?!?" Michelle nearly screamed. All at once, the scene shifted to a bare mattress in a garishly-lit room. Two women were locked together in a position usually defined by a two-digit number.
I don't fucking believe this! thought Michelle angrily. What stupid, no-talent hack director -
The phone rang abruptly and shrilly.
Michelle vehemently pounded the "STOP" button on the remote and snatched up the rerceiver. "What?" she demanded.
"Did I call at a bad time?" said a low, sexy woman's voice in a Spanish accent.
Michelle's heart jumped. "Lina?"
"Hola, mi cara." came the seductive responce. "I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"
"Uh - no, not really."
"I couldn't stop thinking about you," Lina said.
Michelle was silent. Her heart was racing - but whether it was excitment or fear, she wasn't sure.
"Mija?"
"Yes - I'm here."
"I want to see you again."
Suddenly, Lina was no longer a masturbation fantasy. The possibilities became all too real...
"Michelle? Are you still there?"
"I'm here." Michelle found herself breaking into a cold sweat.
Look, Lina - the other night was a mistake - I was drunk, you were drunk -
"Are you free tomorrow?"
Relief flooded through Michelle. "I'm working at the library all day," she said.
"How about tomorrow evening?"
"I'm usually there until eight or nine at night," Michelle replied.
"Oh..."
Suddenly, Michelle heard herself say "If you want to drop by about noon, we could have lunch." Great Goddess, what did I just tell her...?
Brightly, Lina replied "I'd like that."
"Uh - great...see you tomorrow, then."
"Hasta mañana, mija." The connection broke and the dial tone started.
Michelle sat there with the receiver in her hand for several seconds until the dial tone turned into a harsh beeping sound.
Slowly, she replaced the receiver.
For several minutes, she sat there thinking about what had happened between them...and what might yet happen.
Half of her wanted it - even ached for it.
The other half wanted to run screaming back to Darrel, Jason and Akhmed. Even if those experiences hadn't been pleasant, at least they were what she knew.
But Lina...this was uncharted territory for Michelle (at least she thought so...unless that summer nine years ago - but no, that was just some old fantasy...wasn't it...?)
Finally, Michelle stood up, went over to the video player and ejected the tape. Picking it up wit the other two, she walked into her kitchen and tossed all three tapes unceremoniously into the garbage.
Whatever happens with Lina, it's sure to be better than the crap I saw tonight, she thought, heading off to bed.