Nasty (16 page)

Ophelia rushed to his side and saw Eli. She hadn’t seen him in five years. Her heart ached when their eyes met. He brought yellow roses for her. She took them. She then could see that he had been drinking.

Tarik, protective as always, stood between Eli and Ophelia. “Mama, keep away from the old smelly wino.”

“Tarik, calm down, baby…this is Eli, Eli Griffith…your… your…”

Eli, now completely sober, butted in. “I’m an old…old friend of your mother. She told me about your birthday…thought I’d come. Happy Birthday, Tarik.” He extended his hand.

Tarik rejected it. He did not understand how this bum could be one of his mama’s friends. He decided to try the polite route. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Griface.”

“That’s Griffith, Tarik.”

Eli interceded by stating, “Ophelia, it’s close enough. In fact, he pronounces it better than most.”

Tarik looked at the bum and back at his mama. Something was funny about them being together. He thought on it for a second. The kids at the party called out for him to join them. He decided that the bum wouldn’t hurt his mama, and, if he tried, well, he wasn’t too far away. He could still protect her. He still wished Pops had been there. He would pick this time to be late. Tarik ran off to join the kids.

“He’s beautiful, Ophelia; just like you.”

Ophelia beamed with pride as they looked after Tarik. Refocusing on Eli, her face registered cold disgust. “He does not know about you. We thought it was easier this way. And now, well, I can tell you’ve been drinking, or that you’re high on something. What is wrong with you? No show for six years and this is how you come? Like a bum!” Shouting now, she added, “Don’t…don’t come again…don’t ever call me…or Tarik again! You are dead to us…you understand…DEAD!”

Ophelia turned and stormed away. That was the last time she had seen Eli.

Revisiting her life with Eli was like watching a gothic ghetto soap opera. But with all the bad thoughts, good memories of Eli and the love they once shared still found an opportunity to resurface. She had realized for a long time that if her mom hadn’t interfered and created conflict in their home, they probably would have done all right together.

And wouldn’t you know it, Mr. Moms were all very acceptable
these days. But back then a man had to work outside the home and bring in the bacon. She didn’t lament too long. Life hadn’t turned out too bad for her after all. Pops was gone now, but they had lived a good life together when he was alive. No complaints…no real regrets.

But she had to get something right. It meant seeing Eli one more time. She got off her rocking chair, went down to the kitchen, and boiled up some chicken soup to take to him. And then she remembered how he always liked egg salad sandwiches. She made him those, too.

E
li woke up that morning happy but much weaker than the day before. Each day he seemed to wake up with less and less energy, like he was melting away. He took a birdbath and changed into clean clothes. He was tired, but still glowing from the concert. He even hummed some of Tarik’s tunes. He giggled at his sick self.

A knock on the door brought him off the “concert stage.” Who could that be? Meals on Wheels wasn’t due until tomorrow. They had left double amounts yesterday. He was still strong enough to use the microwave and make simple meals. But he knew that soon would pass. He figured he’d have to go to the hospice in two months. Probably less. Definitely not more.

He opened the door and almost had a stroke. It was Ophelia. She carried a pot and just ignored him, and pushed her way through the door. “Where’s your kitchen, Eli?”

Speechless, Eli pointed to his small kitchen.

They had a good “brunch,” as Ophelia called it. She cleaned the pots, pans, dishes, and straightened up. “Ophelia, please you don’t have to do that, plus you’re not doing a good job!” They both laughed. It was their private joke back in the day. Ophelia didn’t have a clue how things worked in a kitchen. Eli outshone her in every way. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she was now considered a domestic goddess.

“So, does he know about me?”

“Tarik? Oh, yes. Pops and I told him when he was thirteen.”

“How did he take it?”

“Not well. Called us liars and went on a rampage for two years that found his little butt in a juvenile detention center for six months.”

Eli was distressed at this news. He felt responsible. Ophelia added, “But he came out a changed young man. Never had any trouble from him. He even wanted to meet with you. But we couldn’t find you…”

“I’ve wasted so many years; so many.” The tone of their meeting had turned too gloomy for Ophelia. Wanting to pep things up, she asked, “Do you have any idea why I came by today?”

“I’d thought you just wanted to show off your chicken soup, maybe?”

She laughed. She got up and looked for her pocketbook.

“You leaving, Ophelia?”

“No. I left something in the car.” She rushed out the door and returned a few minutes later, carrying something behind her back. “There’s a project you started, and I think it only right that you…” She pulled the yellow rose painting out for Eli to see. “Finish it!”

Seeing the original painting for the first time in years, Eli laughed through tears. He raised his bony body off the leather recliner, and pulled out an updated version of the same painting.

That made Ophelia chuckle. In fact, the two laughed and talked for the remainder of the afternoon.

“What happened to you, Eli? I never heard from you after that scene at Tarik’s birthday party.”

“That day was a huge turning point in my life; one of the biggest.”

“If you don’t want to talk about it”

“No, no. I want to go down memory lane with you. You see, that night after Tarik’s party, I was in such unbelievable pain. It was the kind of pain substance abusers like me can’t handle. I went to a party with my buddies. Begged them to hook me up with some shit that would take a man’s mind off everything. And oh boy, did they ever hook me up.”

Eli paused as he reflected back to that fateful evening a long time ago. “That night I replaced you with a new mistress; heroin. And she was one demanding, cruel bitch. I stole for her. She pimped me out, Ophelia, stabbed me in the back, and gave me this AIDS. And…” Eli paused to catch his breath.

Thinking he was in trouble, Ophelia rushed to his side. He held up a trembling, bony hand to signal that he was okay. Ophelia hesitantly moved back to her seat. It was obvious to her that revealing his story was taking a toll on him.

She had counseled and held the hands of many AIDS sufferers over the last twenty years. But it was different watching Eli suffer, a man she once loved, and seeing him in such a weakened state. Ophelia couldn’t handle her own grief any more and tried to stop him. “Eli, this might be what the kids call
too much information. T-M-I.
We can talk about this some other…”

“NO! I want to tell you NOW! I need to tell you that if I had taken care of my responsibilities the way I took care of that monkey on my back, you and me would be celebrating our thirtieth wedding anniversary. And that ain’t no lie; no lie at all. Because, Ophelia, I…I…”

He looked away from her. The pain of the truth was cutting him deep, but he had to tell her. “Ophelia, I never really stopped loving you. Not for one day; not for one hour; not for one second.”

T
he voices stopped. As mysteriously as they appeared, they disappeared. Like they never ever happened. Carlos relaxed. He blamed the strange scene in the hotel on the hangover and lack of sleep. He vowed to slow way down on alcohol consumption. In fact, he stopped cold turkey…no beer…no wine…simple tap water did just fine. He never wanted to experience the “voices” again. He never wanted to think about what happened the day his father killed his mother.

All he wanted to do was embrace the good feelings he had about the negotiations with Jeff Moses and the other executives at Mo-Sound records. The meetings moved forward without a hitch. Carlos worked overtime that week with Tarik and their attorney and family friend, Uncle “Link” Powell. They made sure Tarik’s debut ran smoothly. Mo-Sound agreed to distribute Infinity’s CD,
Introducing: Tarik
and to pick up the bill for the international publicity tour. After that they just had to wait until the entire world fell in love with Tarik’s unique sound.

He hadn’t seen Nicola since the fiasco in the hotel. The few times he could reach her by phone, they never really discussed their last encounter. She brushed it off as an innocent occurrence and swore up and down it would make their first love-
making session all the sweeter. His ego and pride couldn’t buy that. He wanted to make it up to her.

Waiting for Nicola made him hornier than he’d been all his young life. He masturbated; something he hadn’t done since he got out of junior high school. There were always nasty girls around who took care of business for him. The thought of cheating on Nicola never entered his mind. She had changed him. He was a faithful man.

On Friday evening, after they sent the contract back to the company, with all of their amendments, Nicola was the first one that he called.

“Hey, beautiful. Good news! The contract is all but signed!”

“Hi, Carlos. I’m real happy for you. Look, I’m a little busy and…”

“Hey, how’s ’bout I slide on up to Harlem and we can finish what we tried to start the other evening. I can be there in…”

Nicola looked down between her legs at Miles, the red-headed midget. His head bobbed up and down as he tongue-whipped her clit. His younger, fraternal twin brothers, Tony and Ernie, also vertically challenged, each held a breast in their mouth as they performed phenomenal sucking maneuvers on her engorged responsive nipples.

“Uh…uh…ruh…Carlos…I’m a little busy, baby. I’m not even in the city. I’m at my beach house in the Hamptons. Wait a second.” She muted the phone to give out “instructions.” “Ernie…now, baby…that’s too hard…little easier…my left tit is just a wee bit more sensitive than my right…”

The handsome, chocolate-colored, four-foot-five dwarf, who looked divine with his platinum-colored locks, looked at her with brown, twinkling eyes, winked, and said in a deep, Barry White voice, “Sorry, sweetness.”

He obeyed her command and resumed suckling her breast; just the way she ordered.

“That’s it. Good, Ernie.” She looked down on her right side at his mirror image, Tony. At twenty-three years old, and two minutes younger than Ernie…he was the baby of the group. He also had the biggest surprise between his legs…a nine-inch dick! A tool that size on a small man felt much bigger up close. And the little sucker knew how to work it, too!

Wanting to give him all the encouragement that he deserved, she patted his head and said, “Tony, superb job, baby.” In response he flitted his tongue back and forth across her nipple. It was the nicest sensation. She growled, “OOOOH…Tony, BABY, that feels good…all of you…OOOOOWOOO!”

Her body writhed in response to the simultaneous action. Who knew a trip to the All-Soul Circus the previous evening would prove so profitable or that three little men could satisfy her so well? They had licked, screwed and taken turns fucking her body all day long.

Oh damn…I forgot about Carlos
. “Carlos? Carlos, you still there? Oh good! Look, why don’t we hook up tomorrow evening.”

Miles, who looked like a light-brown leprechaun with a red mustache and beard to match, lifted his head. The most aggressive member of the trio, he was obviously pissed that she was on the phone and whispered loudly, “Nicola, what’s up? Are we gonna do this or what?”

She blew him a kiss. Not liking her inattentiveness one bit, Miles shook his head, but remembering how she had generously sucked his little wee-wee bone dry earlier that afternoon, he gratefully resumed his position between her legs.

“I hear people. Nicola, is someone there with you?”

“Of course, there is, Carlos. I… uh… have a
little
crowd of
folks over. We’re having a circus of a good time here.” All three of the brothers looked up with a big smile on their faces and gave Nicola a thumbs-up sign of agreement.

She smiled back at them and whispered into the phone, “Look, Carlos. I’m back in the city tomorrow afternoon. Stop by in the evening and we’ll stay together as long as you like. Okay? See you then. Bye, baby.”

Nicola turned off the phone. She didn’t want any more interruptions. “I’m all yours now; let’s get this party rolling!”

Lying back on her California-sized bed and facing a glorious view of the Atlantic Ocean, Nicola primed herself for an explosive orgasm. The Williams Brothers, famous for their juggling act, had worked tirelessly to please her.

She tightly held on to Tony and Ernie. They sucked her breasts as she had advised. Miles spread her legs wide open and put his fingers inside her pleasure vault. Plunging them in and out, like a jackhammer on hot concrete, he stimulated her G-spot.

Just when Nicola thought she couldn’t feel any better “down there,” his wet muscular tongue returned to duty and whipped her clit backwards and forwards. Miles knew only one speed, the right one, the one that sent her hurling down a path that would surely lead to an enormous release.

Feeling “it” only nano-seconds away, her body tensed up tighter than a drum. Nicola commanded the Williams brothers, “Okay, guys…bring me home…you know the way. OOO-WAHSHAY! OOO-WAH-SHAY….THANK GOD FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE…OH SHIT!!!”

The Hamptons? What the hell was she doing there? Carlos wanted to ride out there and surprise her, but he didn’t know where. He had tried to get all of her addresses the other day on the phone, but she had refused to give him the information.

He called back to see if she would let him slide by there tonight. The call went straight to her voicemail. He tried several times that night. No luck.

He felt rejected that she was not willing to make space for him that night. Wasn’t she as eager as he was to get things moving in a more intimate direction? Hadn’t she dreamt of him every night since they’d met?