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January 06, 2009
Batesville Installment Twenty Seven
She wants to click ‘Send’, but she’s really nervous about it. What if he doesn’t respond back? Even worse, what if he does? What will he say? Ah, hell with it, she clicks the mouse and the email’s been sent. Now to get back to unpacking her apartment.
Of course, Peggy Sue moved in two weeks ago, but unpacking’s such a drag. She’s also still feeling down about what happened with her sister. Whatever happened with her sister, more like it. Her boy cat Bogie nuzzes on her bare leg and mews a little and jumps up on the couch next to her. She looks at the monitor of her computer and sees the little mail icon is flagged. He responded already!
“Hey, it’s great to hear from you! I’ve been wondering for awhile how you’ve been. As I can tell from the email address you got me at, you’ve seen I finally got my Private Eye business up and going. Well, up at least! Anyway, send me your phone number. I’d enjoy talking with you! Henry.” She catches herself instinctively rubbing her shaven self while reading the email, but doesn’t stop until she’s finished. Then she responds back with her phone number and goes to the bathroom to wash her hand off.
Peggy Sue and Henry had seen each other steadily back in high school until immaturity came between them, mostly on Henry’s part. Still, they had lost their virginities to each other and she’s always wondered what became of him. She looks at her naked body in the mirror, turning from side to side to examine her figure. She’s always been overweight, and some days it upsets her more than others. Today it does, but she’s sure that’s due to wondering where this email exchange is leading. Her cell phone rings and she walks down the hall to her living room, maneuvering around the moving boxes.
It’s him. “Hello?” she says in a less-than-assured voice.
“Hey, Peggy Sue. It’s Henry.” They talk for a little bit about this and that. He tells her he’s mostly been busy since high school with getting his business up and going after several missteps but things seem to be going well. She lets him know she didn’t quite finish college but is doing well now working as an editor at the comic strip syndicate. They make a date to meet up that night for dinner. She ends the call, touches herself again, and goes to take a shower. This is moving fast, she thinks, but it’s moving fast to where she wants it to move.
She picks out an outfit, casual, but one that still looks good, and drives over to meet him. She’s seen his picture on his website, but yeah, Henry Ingalls still looks good. He’s wearing a plain black t-shirt and dark khaki pants. He’s in good shape. Not great, but not fat either. She clasps her hands in front of her, suddenly self-conscious, but Henry’s warm smile as she nears him melts that feeling right away. They have an easy-going dinner talking about little things, catching up on the last eight years since they last saw one another. Henry’s just out of a long-term relationship, but glad that it’s ended. She’s recently out of one as well, but doesn’t go into a lot of detail about it. There’s not a lot of detail to go into, really. It was four years of obscurity capped off by a mutual decision that they just weren’t right for each other. Henry keeps meeting her eyes but doesn’t shy away. He’s really looking at her.
“Looks like it’s filling up in here,” he says to her, waving his hand in the direction of the general seating of the restaurant.
“Yeah, that happens at seven on a Saturday night.”
He lets out a brief but genuine laugh. He takes a drink from his second Boulevard Wheat beer of the night and says, “You said you live near here?”
“Just a couple of blocks, yeah.”
“Listen, I’m having a good time catching up with you, Peggy Sue. How about you?”
She can’t help but smile a teenager’s smile at him, “Yeah, yeah I am.”
“I’d like to see your new place, meet your cats, maybe.” He leans forward slightly with a questioning but reassuring look, “If you’re okay with that, of course.”
“That’d be nice.”
He follows her over to her apartment and up the steps to her unit. “Looks nice,” he comments.
“It looks like shit, but that’s because I haven’t unpacked yet.” They take a seat on the couch, with not a lot of space between them, half a cushion or so. “Listen, I uh, had a bit of a motive in emailing you.” She looks down at a box of papers with her sister’s name on it sitting on the ottoman.
“Yeah?” he says, a rye smile coming across his face, but still comforting.
“Yeah. Do you remember my sister?”
“Emily?”
“Mm-hm. She disappeared a couple of weeks ago, and…”
“Of course.”
“Huh?”
“Of course I’ll help you find her. That’s what you were going to ask, right?”
“Oh, Henry! Thank you so much!” She instinctively leans in to hug him, and he reciprocates warmly. He slowly rubs his hand up and down her back, and she leans in closer to him without thinking about it, breathing heavier.
“I’m really glad you emailed me.”
“I am, too.”
“I missed you, Peggy Sue,” he softly says into the top of her head, the warm breath sending pulses down her nervous system.
“I missed you, too,” she whispers back. She looks up at him, meeting his eyes, seeing in them what she’s sure he sees, too, and after a pause, he leans in and deeply kisses her, causing her body to melt against his. She feels his hands beginning to slowly make their way down her back, to her hip, pulling her in closer to him. She feels his hard growth against her, initiating a more passionate kiss from her. She takes hold of his hand and leads it up to her left breast and he readily accepts. “Come back to my room with me,” she beckons.
Peggy Sue leads him back to the darkened room. He takes her shirt off and unbuttons her pants, then matches her in the state of undress. She lays down on the bed and he lays next to her, slowly and deeply kissing her while groping her breast. It’s carnal, but he stays a gentleman, not forcing himself in any way, at times to her excruciating exasperation. They hold one another for a few hours, hardly talking and slowly fall asleep without consummating.
The next morning, she awakens to Henry already in the living room, going through the box of information about Emily. “I’ll find your sister,” he says to her.
Posted by Schamberger at January 6, 2009 06:11 AM