TABOO TALES(erotica)

Slowly, slowly, I set down the foundations of my plan, and when I was satisfied with it I started to lay the bricks and mortar that would give it form and shape.

I started with the file that I had found on her computer, copying it to a thumb drive and then to my own computer so I could dissect it at my leisure. It made interesting reading: a journal of a double life that neither Mum nor I could possibly have guessed at. Each night, as I worked though it, more brush strokes were added to the picture that I was building of her life, and they were crude and rough and uneven. What we had taken to be a happy, carefree girl was far from that – shrouded in self-doubt, envious of others and uncertain of where she was going. She clung to the flotsam of her life which, in her case, were her two bosom buddies Lorna and Sam, and they dripped poison into her life until she turned to the bitter little rube that she was.

I knew these girls and I had written them off as frivolous bubble-heads, who knew the value of nothing and whose sole aim in life seemed to be to have a good time. Individually, they were like the thousand girls you would see on the sidewalks outside bars and clubs on a Saturday night, wobbling on high heels, nervously pulling down the hems of their short skirts, cigarettes dangling from their crimson lips as they surveyed the passing crowd with minds devoid of intelligent thought and eyes older than the faces that owned them. Lorna and Sam were a nothing but a couple of tarts who were on the hustling treadmill of an easy life, and they had sucked Beth into their lives and she was running alongside of them.

I dissected the thought processes that lay behind each of the sorry pages in her journal. In truth she really didn’t give a fat rat’s dick about anyone except her. She was seeped in selfishness – a self-serving spiral of contempt for anyone or anything that wasn’t to her purpose. Most of us have some sort of balance in life, but Beth did not. It was the root cause of her problem, and it was the one I needed to tackle.

And as my plan took shape I started to buy the things I needed from a variety of stores: the local Mitre10 yielded the hardware I needed; a down-town sex shop supplied the more exotic requirements and a department store furnished the bedding. I also needed some simple electronic gadgets and the Tandy store in the Mall were able to assist. Finally, I consulted a trusted friend at my Pharmaceutical workplace without telling him why I needed the advice, and he proved very helpful.

My growing collection went into the third bedroom room of my flat which, unlike the rest of the place, was unfurnished apart from some boxes of Jim’s junk. It was surprisingly large though, with a stained carpet, and hot water radiator on one wall and a single grimy window set high up on another. I put a small desk in the corner opposite from the radiator and I set up my computer on it with an anglepoise lamp. I went through the arrangements in my mind and I knew that I would be ready soon.

A week or so after I moved into the flat the phone rang.

“Hi David. It’s Susan.”

“Hey!” I was surprised at the sudden lift that the sound of her voice gave me. “You’re back!”

“Yep. Got back on Sunday.”

“How was it?”

“OK, I guess. You can only take so much sand and sea, and the oldies were there – sort of cramps your style, I guess.” She paused for a moment, as if checking to see if her words might have given the wrong impression. “Well, you know what I mean… you have to watch yourself when they are around. Still, I’ve got a tan in places that you can only imagine.”

“Imagine, or dream about?”

She chuckled. “Dream, I guess. Dreams are achievable if you follow them through, but imagination is only ever conceptual.”

“I’ll dream about it then. I rather think it will keep me awake, though.”

“So don’t sleep,” she said. Haven’t you got anything better to do?”

“Not right now, but I’m hoping.”

” My, my. A man who is hoping and dreaming. Sounds like you’re desperate.”

“I am, I am.”

She was quiet for a moment, to let that part of the conversation drift away. “Anyway, I wondered if you were up for another candlelit dinner, seeing as they are on your list. I could tell you all about my holiday.”

“And all about your tan?”

“Maybe. Depends if you are good or bad. We’ll need somewhere quiet, though, and I’m thinking that there’s a new place on President Avenue that’s supposed to be OK”

I thought quickly. I knew it. It was only a five minute walk from my new digs. “OK. I’ll make a deal. Main meal in the restaurant, coffee and dessert at my place.”

“Your place?” She thought I still lived with my Mum.

“Yeah. I’ve branched out since you left. New flat – well, new for me, anyway. Not much to write home about, but clean and handy. I’ll try out my Creme Brule on you.”

“It seems you are a man of many talents, David.”

“Only where they count. Is that a deal?”

“Are you trying to lure me back to your den of inequity? That’s bad behaviour.”

“I thought that’s what you wanted. How can you show me your all-over tan otherwise?”This text is © NôvelDrama/.Org.

She laughed. “I said I’ll tell you about it, not show you. How about Friday?”

“Done deal. I’ll make the booking and I’ll pick you up at seven.”

She looked good, wearing a simple white strapless dress that showed off her golden-brown skin. There was a single strand of pearls around her neck and her hair had been brushed until it shone blue-black in the evening sun. I walked around the car to open the door for her and she leaned up to kiss me on the lips, lingering there for a moment, her hand on my waist and her perfume filling my senses. I climbed in and started the engine.

“I’ve changed the booking,” I said. “We are celebrating more than a Bistro can offer us.”

She looked across at me, her brown eyes shining. “Oh? Celebrating what?”

“Take your pick. Your coming back. Our second date without a single argument. Your all-inclusive tan. Being special….”

“The second date bit sounds good. Where are we going?”

“Surprise.”