Charles was jealous of me since I took the reins of becoming a circuit court judge. I did it in less time than him. I wasn't originally from Portsmouth, Virginia, or anywhere within 200 miles of the city.. I was in local circles that he, a Portsmouth native, should've been a part of, but just couldn't cut in. The issue with him seeing a short, Italian boy from the dirt poor part of Philadelphia was internal, and I wasn't the least bothered simply because I was genuine in all I'd done.
"Steven, there's no way you've accomplished all you could in such a short amount of time. What dick you sucking," he asked one afternoon.
I snickered when I wanted to burst into flames, for his envy showed even in the slightest joke. I changed the subject while we were sitting at Baron's Pub having a cold one, just unwinding a bit from our busy dockets.
"Charles, you have to know I busted my ass to get where I am," I told him.
"But what's your secret," he asked.
"Doing what's right, staying the course, and not kissing any ass," I told him before I sipped from my mug.
Charles was maybe in his mid to late 50s, approximately 10 years older than me. He wanted to put the blame on the color factor, but the more established judges and magistrates within the court system at the time were black, too, and I mean with more clout than myself. I listened to him ramble as the beer put him in a pity party, then I asked this one question:
"When's the last time you got laid?"
He took his last gulp of brew before putting down the mug, looked straight, then turned his gray haired skull to look at me before ordering another round.
"I asked you a question," I said.
"15 years," he answered.
"Fifteen?! One and five years," I blurted out.
For me, it hadn't been 15 days since Chris, one of the bailiffs, put his five inch cock down my throat. 15 years amounted to a sentence of desperation for Charles, and I attested to his wondering of how I made it where I was, to him not having the life balance to include a good nut.
"I haven't been with a woman since my dear Chelsea decided to call it quits," he said of his ex-wife.
Charles, a slightly taller, and slightly heavier black bear, could be a conversationalist, and deep down was a good natured guy, but was so career driven that he didn't allow for a real personal life. I could tell by how he hung onto me, trying to figure out how the "outsider" got ahead quicker than he did and why was unbothered.
"This is the time you need to let go," I told him. "You're retiring soon. You got any kids?"
"Two. A daughter Bethany, who lives in New York, and a son, Kevin, who's in Los Angeles," he answered.
I started to discuss them and a smile washed across his face, but he couldn't say much past their birthdays, and the little nuances he knew of them, for they had it in common with him.