Double Dippin' (5 page)

“We were just playing, Miz Holmes,” said Shane, looking contrite. “I always look out for my brother.”

Tariq agreed with a head nod as he and Shane resumed eating.

A
few hours later, on their way to the public swimming pool on Kingsessing Avenue, Shane and Tariq ambled along Forty-Ninth Street, their necks draped with brightly colored towels.

“We have to make a quick stop before we go to the pool,” Shane announced.

“What for?”

“We gonna see LaDonna. I told her about your situation and she’s gon’ hook you up with some poon tang.”

“You told LaDonna that I’m a virgin!” Tariq looked horrified. “Man, why you do that? Now it’s gon’ be all over the neighborhood. I can’t believe…” Tariq’s angry words faded into a defeated sigh.

“Man, it’s cool. LaDonna is cool people. She’s doing it for me. She ain’t gon’ tell nobody about it. Man, you should be thanking me instead of cussing me out.”

“I ain’t cuss you out,” Tariq mumbled, looking unhappy. “You sure she’s gonna do it?” Tariq asked as he and Shane crossed Chester Avenue and rapidly approached Regent Street, where LaDonna Fulton lived.

“Yeah! I said she was, didn’t I?”

“It just don’t make sense that your girlfriend would be willing to give me some.”

“She’s
one
of my girlfriends. I keep a couple chicks. When one starts acting funny, I make sure I have some backup pussy waiting in the wings,” Shane said, smiling. He looked pleased with himself. “And that’s your problem, man. You waste all your time on that stuck-up Shiree and she don’t do nothing for you.”

“Shiree is all right; we only been going together for a few weeks.”

“Man, you crazy! It shouldn’t take more than a day or two at the most to get inside a pair of panties. You too soft, Tariq,” Shane scolded. He gave his brother a playful shove as they reached LaDonna’s apartment building.

“Hi Shane,” fifteen-year-old LaDonna said, using a sexy voice, when she opened the door.

LaDonna was as well-endowed physically and as sexually experienced as a grown woman. By day, she was Shane’s girlfriend, but after eleven at night, when her mother worked the third shift, LaDonna spent her time and shared her bed with a twenty-two-year old named Easy Money.

Today her mother was working a double shift, and LaDonna would have the apartment to herself all day and throughout the night.

“You got any smokes?” Shane asked.

“Uh huh. Easy left me a whole pack.” She took the pack out of a plastic purse and shook out two cigarettes.

“Good ol’ Easy Money,” Shane said sarcastically.

“Don’t be actin’ jealous, Shane. I told you how it is.”

“I’m not jealous.”

“You smoke, Tariq?” LaDonna inquired.

Tariq frowned and shook his head emphatically.

“We’ll be right back, man. I gotta ask LaDonna something in private.”

When LaDonna and Shane went into her bedroom, Tariq felt tremendous relief. Maybe he was off the hook. He didn’t want to have sex with Shane’s girl. LaDonna made him nervous because she didn’t act like the girls his age; she acted too grown-up—too womanly. Besides, he really didn’t want to cheat on Shiree.

He could hear his brother and LaDonna arguing, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. Then their voices became whispered murmurs. The creak of the bedsprings came next, followed by the violent banging of the headboard against the wall.

Certain that he was off the hook, Tariq smiled and settled back into the soft cushions of the sofa. He clicked on the television and channel-surfed. Looney Tunes. Hot damn! Yeah, he wasn’t ashamed to admit it; he still liked cartoons.

Maybe if Shane and LaDonna didn’t take too long, he could still meet
Shiree at the pool. He’d told her he’d be there; she’d probably stop speaking to him if he didn’t keep his word.

Tariq had become so caught up in the cartoons that he hadn’t noticed that the bedroom had gone silent. The bedroom door opened and LaDonna stomped to the bathroom.

Zipping his pants, Shane emerged wearing a big grin. “It’s your turn, man.”

Looking panicked, Tariq exclaimed, “What? I don’t want none of that; you already did it to her.”

“So what! I just loosened her up for you. I know you don’t think I’m gonna take sloppy seconds with my own girl. Now, go ’head, man. You should be glad LaDonna loves me enough to hook you up, too.”

Tariq felt frozen in place. “I don’t know…”

Tariq clearly didn’t want to have a sexual encounter with LaDonna, but Shane wouldn’t relent. “Man, if you don’t go in there and get some of that…” Shane shook his head in disgust. “All this trouble I went through for you, and you acting like you scared or something.”

“I’m not scared!”

“Well, act like it. Look, we’re brothers. We share and share alike. Right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“Yeah, nothing. You’d do it for me, wouldn’t you?”

Tariq nodded and gazed nervously at LaDonna, who stood in the doorframe of the bedroom chewing gum and looking bored.

“Then go ’head in there and get that cherry popped.” Shane flopped down on the sofa, picked up the remote, and stretched his long legs out on the coffee table.

Looking as if he’d prefer to stand before a firing squad, Tariq entered LaDonna’s bedroom and slowly closed the door.

Shane went to shoot craps with some old heads outside the neighborhood deli. Rushing, Tariq made it to the pool just before it closed.

Shiree gave him a wide grin.

“Oh, now you’re smiling,” chided Shiree’s girlfriend, Tasha. “She thought you stood her up,” Tasha confided to Tariq. “She was crying and everything,”

“I was not,” Shiree protested and elbowed her friend.

With his arm draped across her shoulders, Tariq walked Shiree home.

“Are you all right?” Shiree asked when Tariq seemed satisfied with just tongue-kissing.

“Yeah, why?”

“Any other time, I’d have to spend half the night trying to make you keep your hands to yourself.”

He went over his sordid sex act with LaDonna in his mind and cringed. He felt dirty and guilty as sin. Clearing his throat, Tariq said, “I’m a gentleman and I respect you too much to try to get you to do something you’re not ready for.”

“Aw, Tariq!” Shiree pressed into Tariq, then opened her mouth and kissed him. She stuck her tongue so far down his throat she nearly strangled him. Instead of having his hands smacked away by Shiree, as he usually did when he got too frisky, he had to restrain
her
from squeezing and caressing his genitals.

He wasn’t suffering from a case of blue balls anymore, but LaDonna had worked him over with her mouth, sucking him until he felt drained and chafed. Now, the only thing he wanted from Shiree was pleasant conversation and a light kiss or two.

At quarter to nine that night Tariq left Shiree’s house and walked to the deli where Shane was standing on the sidelines watching a crap game.

“Give me a few more minutes, man. You got any money left? I wanna get back in the game.”

Tariq stuck a hand in his pocket and then checked his Timex watch. They had a nine o’clock curfew. It was important to stay in Ms. Holmes’s good graces so they wouldn’t have to move again. “We gotta go, man,” Tariq said, hoping Shane wouldn’t give him a hard time. To his surprise, Shane left the crap game without putting up a fight.

They made it home on time and sat in the living room watching TV with Ms. Holmes. Later that night, Ms. Holmes went upstairs, put on her night
clothes and terrycloth bathrobe, and returned to the living room to watch the eleven o’clock news.

Tariq yawned and rubbed his eyes.

“You act like you had a rough day, bro’,” Shane teased.

Tariq’s broad grin progressed into another wide-mouthed yawn. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed. Good night, Miz Holmes.”

“Good night, sweetheart. Pleasant dreams.” Ms. Holmes switched her gaze to Shane. “It’s getting late, honey pie. Aren’t you ready for bed?”

“I’m not sleepy. Can I watch TV with you?”

She considered his request and shrugged. “I don’t see why not. It’s summer time now and you don’t have to get up early for school. Sure, you can stay up for a little while.”

Shane settled into the cushion next to Ms. Holmes. Watching the evening news, however, was boring and before long, Shane was snoring. Ms. Holmes was too involved with the latest government scandal to give Shane a strong shake and send him up to bed. When his head lolled to the side and slumped down to her shoulder, she just smiled and patted the side of his head.

The anchorman switched to the next news report, the successful armed robbery of a Brinks truck, which had taken place at a strip mall not too far from her house. Bristling with excitement and trying to get a closer view of the scene, Dolores Holmes leaned forward. Her sudden change in position caused Shane’s head to slip from her shoulder to her ample bosom.

Her heart went out to the poor motherless child. The urge to nurture was innate and overpowering and since Shane was sound asleep, what harm would it do to treat him as if she were his natural mother?

She patted his head and pulled him in closer, cradled him with one arm, and rocked him gently as if he were a young child.

Shane nuzzled against her bosom, moaning softly as his lips brushed her terrycloth-covered breasts. Alarmed, Ms. Holmes shook Shane’s shoulder. He didn’t awaken. In his sleeping state, Shane was like a baby whose mouth sought the comfort of his mother’s nipple.

Panic ran through Ms. Holmes, who stood up so abruptly, Shane toppled onto the floor. Startled and confused, Shane rose clumsily. His bloodshot eyes locked onto his foster mother’s eyes and requested an explanation.

“You were having some kind of a dream,” she explained, feeling embarrassed. “Now, go on upstairs, honey, and get yourself some rest.”

She watched Shane climb the stairs. He looked as if he were sleepwalking.

An uncomfortable feeling washed over Ms. Holmes. There was no denying it, her nerves were badly rattled. Times like this, she could sure use a shot of liquor, but instead she reached for the Bible she kept on an endtable next to the sofa. Hopefully, she’d find some scripture that would settle her uneasy soul.

S
hane was up early the next morning. Before either Tariq or Ms. Holmes had awakened, he’d scrubbed down the front porch, swept the sidewalk in front of the house, and had started trimming the hedges in the backyard.

Startled from sleep by the loud buzz of the power hedge trimmer, both Tariq and Ms. Holmes wore curious expressions as they ambled sleepily to the back door and gawked at Shane as he struggled with the power tool. Shane’s face glistened with perspiration and his T-shirt was soaked.

“What on earth? Boy, cut that thing off and put it down. You’re liable to cut off your fingers!” Ms. Holmes fussed, but the pride was evident in her tone.

“I can do it,” he insisted, sounding winded. “I’m almost finished; I just need Tariq to get me some trash bags and a broom. He can sweep up the mess I’m making,” Shane said with laughter.

“It seems like my handyman, Mr. Watkins, just trimmed those blasted hedges for me. Mr. Watkins must not be cutting them down low enough; those dang things grow fast as weeds.” She turned to Tariq, who was still rubbing sleep from his eyes. “Go get your brother a glass of ice water and then run upstairs and put something on so you can help him. I’ll get the trash bags ready.”

“Miz Holmes,” Shane called and then cracked an impish smile. “Go check out the front of the house.”

Garbed in a cotton nightgown, robe, and bedroom slippers, Ms. Holmes happily indulged Shane and waddled to the living room. Her slippers flapped loudly as she rushed to see what other surprise Shane had in store for her. She
tightened the sash of her robe and opened the front door. Ms. Holmes shook her head in amazement. The porch and sidewalk, spotlessly clean, gleamed in the early morning sun. “Shane! Boy, you’re something else. The front of this house hasn’t looked this good since the day I bought this place.”

Ms. Holmes hustled to the kitchen cabinet and pulled out several plastic trash bags. Her heart was warmed by Shane’s initiative. It saddened her, however, that she hadn’t gotten the boys when they were little. Oh, the years she’d wasted trying to help out the parade of unappreciative, fast-behind girls when she could have devoted herself to these two well-behaved and beautiful twin boys who were a pleasure to behold.