Rule of the Bone (30 page)

It sounds coldhearted and all probably, but it wasn't. At least not completely. I mean, Evening Star was definitely a hot babe irregardless of her age and from when she'd hugged me after I first came down the stairs to greet her and Doc I'd been pretty turned on and everything, plus somehow just being in that house always got my sex juices flowing. Right from the start with all the loose screwing that went on at Starport for me the place'd been a sex box. It was hard especially for a teenaged kid to ignore female poets from New Orleans slapping on suntan lotion by the pool and black natties with great builds and no shirts and their units showing in their shorts sneaking off to hook up with Evening Star's many white friends and relations, and I hate to admit it but it's true, I really was turned on by lesbians from Boston trotting around in bikinis and from the beginning I'd been way turned on by the sexual vibes that Evening Star herself gave off constantly, how she sort of suggested that her whole purpose in life was to give pleasure whether in the form of food or drugs or sex didn't matter, it was like the giving that mattered because that was the only thing that gave her pleasure back which is some weird kind of generosity that when you think about it and I did is more like constant desire than generosity and is very sexy to a guy. With all that going on for months and years and for all I knew for centuries practically, since slavery days, the place hung suspended out there in the darkness of normal life like Pleasure Island vibrating and twinkling and giving me a perpetual hard-on so to speak that up to now I'd tried to deal with on my own you might say.

But it's also true that it was coldhearted too, my asking Evening Star if I could fuck her or to be exact if she would fuck me. A, because I was wicked curious in a scientific sort of way about what it'd be like and had been wondering about the mechanical details of screwing for at least a couple of years, ever since I first found out about Russ and other guys my age or slightly older getting laid by girls they picked up at the mall and so on. And B, because of Doc and I-Man. More than my general ongoing horniness and Evening Star's buff appearance and more than the Pleasure Island lifestyle of Starport and definitely more than the requirements of scientific curiosity, the force that drove me to hit on Evening Star in the kitchen that evening was my need to try and undo the sin I'd committed against I-Man.

When I told Doc the night of my birthday that I-Man'd screwed Evening Star I'd separated myself from I-Man and joined up with Doc. It only lasted a minute and I did it because Doc was my father but still I'd betrayed my best friend and teacher and he'd died for it maybe. Now though, by committing the same crime against Doc as I-Man'd done, which was to steal something that Doc thought was his but actually wasn't since it was a person, I'd be separating myself from Doc and joining up with I Man again. Stealing is only a crime but betrayal of a friend is a sin. It's like a crime is an act that when you've committed one the act is over and you haven't changed inside. But when you commit a sin it's like you create a condition that you have to live in. People don't live in crime, they live in sin. I didn't know if it'd work, I was still new at this sin-versus-crime business but I had to try. I already had enough experience as a criminal to know that you can't undo a crime. Even a so-called minor crime. When it's done it's done. I'd known that since the day I got kicked out of my mom's and stepdad's house for stealing my grandmother's coin collection. But a sin which can go on forever irregardless of whether you're punished for it I was hoping could be undone. Even if I had to commit a crime to do it. Well, sort of a crime. Like I said, Doc didn't really own Evening Star, he only thought he did.

She stood there by the stove with this little smile on her lips for a long time not saying anything, like she was running a mental video on fast forward to see how screwing me might turn out. Finally she let go of the spoon she'd been stirring with and carefully lowered the stove flame. She turned back to me and smiled. Y'all want to do it now? she says.

Sure. Why not?

She glanced at the clock on the wall like this won't take long and said she had to get something from her bedroom first that I figured was some kind of birth control device which was cool as I was definitely not into fatherhood. Wait for me in the laundryroom, she said. I reckon nobody'll bother us there. Except
you
maybe. And I'll have y'all with me this time, won't I, darlin'?

Yes you will! I said and went through the door into the darkened laundryroom where there was a washer and dryer and various yard tools plus the little cot against the wall in back. I could tell I already had a wicked huge boner but I didn't take off my clothes or anything yet. I remembered from porn films and such that the female always takes off her clothes first so I just sat there on the cot like in a doctor's office until the kitchen door swung open and I could see from the daylight behind her that she'd taken off her bathing suit and was only wearing the striped gauzy shift now and nothing underneath. My breathing had definitely speeded up and I could hear my heart pounding and my hands were all sweaty. I was seriously scared, more of doing something bad than scared of Evening Star herself but no way I'd turn back now.

She came over and sat down beside me and started kissing me and putting her tongue in my mouth and all that and guided my hands around to her nipples but they didn't need much guidance so she let go of my hands and started unbuttoning and unzipping my cutoffs. I kicked off my old sandals then and wriggled out of my tee shirt and she let her shift fall off and lay back and pulled me straight to her and I went right up inside like despite everything of a sexual nature that'd happened to me in the distant past this was exactly what I was made for. I'll spare you most of the details but she pretty much controlled everything which was cool because otherwise on my own I probably would've hopped around there for a few seconds and that would've been it and I would've had to wait for five or ten minutes of downtime before I could do it again which would've been embarrassing. But she clamped onto my ass with her hands and drew me slowly in and out and taught me to make certain hinky little hitching moves and drifty swirls with my hips that seemed to really do a job on her and I was feeling kind of proud but then when she started moaning and pulling me in faster and faster I found myself getting incredibly excited and then just as I started to have some really good thoughts about this, like how sex with another person really does block everything out of your mind except that person herself who fills your mind and becomes like the whole universe, and it really helps your concentration and lets you finally forget all your troubles, and it's got so strong a pull on your attention that you actually can't think about yourself anymore, you can't even try, it even blocks out your thoughts, my thoughts got blocked out and I came.

She kept me moving for a little afterwards but then gave up I guess due to my thoughts having returned and let go of my ass and flopped back on the cot all wet with sweat and smelling like cake. She was smiling though, I could see in the dim light coming through the shuttered window and she looked wonderful to me, an amazing new creature on the face of the earth like from a different species than me and ten times more beautiful. She was a naked adult woman and I'd never seen one up close and leisurely before so I just kind of took my time and gazed at her.

I said I was sorry I came so fast but she said not to worry, I was really great and someday I'd be a worldclass lover. I had all the right moves, she said and she was proud and happy that she'd had the privilege of glimpsing my future which was a kind thing to do for a kid on his first try at regular sex, irregardless of his motives.

Well, she said, time for me to get back to makin' dinner for my guests. And then I'm gonna jump in the pool an' cool off. What about you, sugar? We won't eat till after dark, when Jason finally gets that goat barbecued. I wouldn't have done it but I promised Rita and Dickie some irie Jamaican roast goat an' they're holding me to it, bad girls.

I had my clothes back on and was standing next to the cot still kind of gazing at her beauty but my mind was clicking through the gears and moving rapidly on to the rest of my life. You know, I said to her, when I was out there like in Accompong I heard a few things. About Doc.

Oh? she said all suspicious.

Yeah, but nothing bad, you understand. One thing though I wanted to ask you before I talk to him about it myself.

What's that, honey?

I heard he had another kid. Maybe more than one. Over in Kingston, you know? And I heard the mother was like Jamaican. I mean, some people knew he had a kid but not a white kid. That true?

There's a lot about Doc that nobody knows, sugar. He's a mystery man.

Yeah, but c'mon, you'd know if he had another kid than me. I don't think it's
wrong
or anything, you understand. It's not like a
sin,
or a crime even. I just want to know and I can't exactly ask him. Not right now anyhow.

No, not now for sure. But. . . well, yes, he wouldn't mind me telling you, I'm sure, he's just a little embarrassed to do it himself. But yes, he does have another son. Actually two, I think. But who knows with Doc? There could be other families in other lands. He's that kind of man, you know. Anyhow y'all shouldn't be jealous or anything. Doc loves you the most, I know that personally. He's told me that a hundred times.

What about the mother, is she Jamaican?

Yes. Yes, she is. A good woman too, as I've been led to believe, and Doc stays with her and Paul and his little brother when he's in Kingston, and he stays with you and me when he's over here! she said brightly.

His son's name is Paul? I said. The same as Doc's?

The older one is. I'm afraid I can't recall the name of the other one or even if there's but one. Paul's the only name I've heard Doc say. Listen, sugar, I've got to get back to my stove now.

How old's the son named Paul?

I don't know, about ten, I guess. I've never met the boy. Not a teenager though. Now c'mon, we can chat about all this later. Right now I've got work to do, sweets. What're you gonna do? Whyn't y'all cool off in the pool?

No, I'm gonna book, I said.

Whatever do you mean, Bone?

I'm leaving now.

Oh Bone. Didn't you like it with me? She made a pout. Don't you want to do it again?

Sure, but I'm leaving. Don't take it wrong, it's not about you.

Oh now, Bone, you
mustn't
be upset about Doc's other family. I
never
should've told you.

Naw, that doesn't do anything to me one way or the other. In fact I feel a lot sorrier for them than for me. Especially the one named after him. I was only curious, that's all. No, it's on account of Doc himself that I'm leaving. If he wasn't here, yeah, I might stay. But he is here.

Listen, Doc won't
ever
know about us, sugar.
Trust
me, she said. Who's gonna tell him anyhow? You? she said and laughed.

Yeah, well, I would if I could.

Now don't you get any bright ideas, sugar, she said and cinched her shift tightly at the waist. She was really in great shape for her age. She said, Y'all just wait till later this evening, sweetie. I'll come tippy-toein' down the hall to your little room an' I'll show you some tricks that'll make your
hair
stand on end. Wait till everyone else's gone off to bed. The evening star, don't you know, is
Venus.
The goddess of
love,
sugar. An' don't you forget it.

She gave me a kiss on the lips and ran her forefinger down my tee shirt from my collar bone to my belly button. Then she turned and smiled over her shoulder and pushed open the door and went back into the kitchen leaving me alone in the darkness with my thoughts which were setting up in my mind like slabs of concrete. They weren't many but they were tough and hard and as I've found out since pretty near permanent.

Dealing with my father was eased a lot due to him having passed out on the couch. The CD was silent now and when I came out through the kitchen once I knew Evening Star'd gone swimming I stopped at the doorway and for quite a few minutes stood watching Doc lying there on his back and he didn't blink or move even afterwards when I came into the livingroom and picked up my backpack and Jah-stick. The sounds of naked women playing in the water drifted in from the pool and the bump of the diving board and so forth, and then somebody put a heavy reggae album on the big outdoor sound system and started blasting the jungle with it. Peter Tosh it was, Steppin' Razor. Party time. Doc stirred but then lapsed back.

For a few minutes more I stood over my father's unconscious body and looked down and wondered how I could've thought once that he looked like JFK. He didn't look any more like JFK than ol' Buster Brown had or my stepfather Ken. I'd sure run into a lot of evil men in my short life so far, at least that's how it seemed to me and I hoped it wasn't going to be like this the rest of the way even though I was much better prepared now to deal with them than before. I was thinking probably John F. Kennedy himself if I'd've known him personally wouldn't've looked anything like the man I'd imagined him as. Not necessarily worse or evil, just different. But Doc, my father, he looked evil. Even passed out like this. I almost felt sorry for him, like he was possessed.

Anyhow I had my plan and started to put it in action then. No time for feeling sorry. Over on the end table next to the phone was a notepad and pencil and I ripped off a sheet and in large letters wrote out, THE BONE RULES, NEVER FORGET-TEE! At first I was going to just pin it to Doc's silk shirt but I couldn't find a pin anywhere. Then I had a better idea. I reached down into my pack and came out with the stuffed woodcock that I'd hauled around with me ever since the Ridgeways'. Inside the hollowed-out place where I'd once stashed Buster's porn money I put the note with just enough of it showing so it wouldn't get overlooked and then I stood the woodcock carefully on Doc's chest facing him with its long beak almost touching Doc's nose. The bird looked stupid standing there but sad and stern too, like the woodcock was me and I was giving my father the evil eye that when he came to it'd be the first thing he'd see, and if it didn't make Doc change his ways of living right then and there maybe it'd give him a heart attack instead. Either way, it didn't make no never-mind to me. Not anymore.