"Thanks, Elly," I said when I had finished eating.
"Okay, but you remember what you said."
"Huh? What did I say?"
"You – er – have to do something for me… sometime today."
"Oh… that… Okay… be happy to oblige you, woman."
She giggled. "I wish you'd stop putting on the dog all the time. You're not kidding me any."
"Who's kidding?"
"You know what I mean." She paused and gave me a funny look. "You know what I've been doing, Tommy? For the last month? I've been thinking and even dreaming about what we did… that time."
"Yeah, big deal, that," I said stuffily.
"I liked it," she said simply. "I liked it an awful lot."
"You want some now, baby?"
Again she giggled. "I have to wash the dishes, Tommy."
"Okay," I said, getting up from the chair. "Let the old man know when you're hard up for it. I might condescend to gratify you."
"Oh… quit that… stop talking like that, you louse." But she smiled at me.
I walked into the front room, saw a pack of my dad's cigarettes lying on the table, so I lit one up and stood there, smoking it. I didn't really like it very much, but it was something to do. I went out the front door, tossed the butt into the street and walked around the corner of the house until I was standing on the sidewalk. I played it cool, didn't glance right down at Mrs. Devine's house but stood looking around, watching cars go by and stuff like that. Finally, I shot a quick glance at her rear window and saw that the shade was not drawn. I swore softly, looked again quickly, and yawned, just in case one of the neighbor women might be watching me. Seems like that's about all some of our neighbors have to do – watch a guy through their windows.
I walked back to the front of the house and went up on the porch and sat down on one of the "summer chairs". That's what my mom always call them – don't ask me why. I sat there for a while trying to think up something groovy to do but couldn't, so I got up and went back inside the house just as Elly was finishing with the dishes. I thought this was a really wild time to offer assistance, now that she had it just about all done.
"Want some help with that, Elly?" I asked, yawning again.
"Great time to ask me – when I'm all done. Sounds just like you, Tommy." She rinsed her hands and dried them on a towel that hung nearby. "Tell you what you can do, though."
My old heart skipped a beat. "Yeah," I said, trying to be casual. "What's that, baby?"
"First of all don't call me 'baby'. You might get the habit and if Dad hears you… well, you know how much he likes that kind of stuff."
"What do you want me to do? Stick to the subject, baby."
She grinned. "Well… you know, Tommy. They aren't home… We're here alone…"
"You want a little, is that it, baby?"
She actually blushed. "Be careful how you talk, stupid. First thing you know, you'll be saying something like that in front of someone."
"Will you knock off the preaching? I asked you a question."
"Tommy…" She stopped whatever it was she was going to say, for the phone was ringing. "I'll bet that's Jeanie," she said. "Darn it, she would have to call right now."
"Go ahead and talk to her. I have to go downtown right now anyway."
She had already picked up the receiver and I knew there was no use in saying anything more to her now. When Elly gets on the phone she leaves this world and flies off into space somewhere, as far as making contact with her is concerned. I shrugged and walked out the door again, went down off the porch and turned right and headed for downtown. That's not quite right. We live downtown. I mean I headed for the store part of downtown, which was right next to us. I walked down the street swearing to myself because the shade had been up in Mrs. Devine's rear window and promised myself to keep glancing at it all day, if necessary. Man, how I wanted to get next to that woman again. She was really something else.
I saw a couple of guys I knew across the street, but they were walking with a couple of real kiddish girls, so I didn't even bother to wave at them. Those guys didn't know which way was up, not the way I did. All they had was a couple of giggly, dumb kids and I had me a real grown woman.
I had to stick my hand in my pocket then, for I felt my old pecker getting big. I stopped and looked into the window of a store and pretended I was interested in the house on display. All I was doing was waiting till my dingus got back to normal, which it did, finally.
I walked down a block, taking my time about it. Didn't have any place to go, I was just killing time and thinking about Mrs. Devine, but the trouble with this was that every time I thought about her I had to ram my hand in my pocket and hold it down again. I turned in at a drug store and sat on a stool and ordered a malted milk, which I didn't want, but I had the dough in my pocket, so why not spend it? I never could hang onto money and my dad was always griping about it. Well, not really – he's a pretty good guy.
Leaving the drug store, I ran smack into a tall guy with a short-cropped black beard. He was well-dressed for a guy of thirty-five, which I figured him to be after a moment. I excused myself for bumping into him, but he caught my arm and held onto it.
"Hey," I said angrily, "let go of me, mister."
He released his hold on my arm. "Is your name Gates, kid?" he asked, his black eyes looking into mine fiercely.
"Yes, I'm Tom Gates."
He nodded. "I see. All right, run along, kid." He turned and entered the store and I moved up the street wondering how he had known my name and why he had asked me what it was. I tried to think if I had ever seen him around town before but didn't think I had. He was a stranger – I would have remembered any guy that well-dressed and with a black beard. There weren't any beards like that in town that I knew of.
I returned to our house and entered just in time to see Elly hanging up the phone. "Where you been this time, Tommy?" she asked. She was always wanting to know where I'd been.
"Went downtown," I replied.
"Yes, I know that. I saw you. But where did you go?"
"Drug store."
"Oh…" Elly got to her feet and came over to where I was standing. "I got the work all done, Tommy," she said, a bit of suggestiveness in her eyes and tone.
I glanced down at the top of her head, I'm a lot taller than she is. "What about it?" I teased.
She bit her lips. "I thought… Maybe… You'd…"
"You want me to take you to bed, kid," I said boldly.
She blushed and giggled. "Well, now that you've asked… Yes."
"Aren't you afraid of what Mom and Dad would say if they found out you wanted to diddle your own brother?"
She averted her eyes and I was sorry I had said it. "You don't have to talk so mean to me, Tommy."
I put my hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, Elly. Didn't mean to say that. That smelled. Okay?"
"Okay, Tommy," she said. "I don't think you really meant to be nasty."
I hadn't thought I was nasty, but I just shrugged and said, "Why don't you go up to your room, Elly, and put on all the sexy, hot stuff you conned Mom into letting you buy? You know, that black undergarment stuff you never wear. Put on just a bra, that black, thin one, your black nylons, and no panties. Wear those high-heeled shoes, too. They make a girl look real sexy. Put all the stuff on and I'll come up and take a look at you. Who knows, I might even get aroused?"
She giggled. "You really want me to, Tommy?"
"Sure. Why not? You want to have a session, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Then get going, kid."
"I wish you'd stop calling me that."