All characters in this fiction are over eighteen.
by TRISTAN TROTSKY
A 1950s Erotic Memory, In Which All The Characters Are Above The Age Of Consent
Pat Boone was playing on the radio. I never really liked Pat Boone, but now, every time I hear 'Love Letters In The Sand', I find myself thinking of Mrs Davenport. Wondering whatever became of her. Hoping that things worked out fine for her.
It was just Samuel and me back then, hanging out together. Some bigoted folks say that it's just not right for a white boy like me. That Samuel is 'not our kind of person'. But Samuel and me were always tight, sharing comicbooks, arguing about the stories and the fantastic plotlines, the alien monsters with green-suckered tentacles that attack the lone astronaut marooned on the bleak asteroid. We both love that one. When we don't have a dime between us, we sit in the alcove of the soda shop overlooking the town square, listening to the music from the big shiny jukebox when someone else is feeding it coins. That long hot summer smells of hot melting asphalt and gasoline exhaust fumes.
There are other groups of kids from high school. They say 'hi'. But we always kinda stand apart.
But we all knew about Mrs Davenport. Every kid on the block knew. It was a story breathlessly whispered and endlessly repeated in hushed tones. A dirty secret with the legendary lure of erotic myth.
Her husband was a big-time lawyer in the city. You'd see her driving the yellow Cadillac he'd bought her, her hair in a piled-up bouffant and wearing her dark sunglasses, she looks so proud and aloof. How old was she? Difficult to say. Late-forties, early-fifties maybe? But she carried herself with style and class. She had a cleaning lady called Mrs M, so she didn't need to do anything. And I guess she was bored. She had a life of endless 1950s Stepford Wives leisure, with every built-in modern convenience, and the fashion pages of the magazines and a TV in the corner to watch game shows and soap operas. But it was an empty life.
The town had been founded around the mine-works, by the lake. The old quarry site was long abandoned. Most adults work out of town now, or scuff to survive on odd-jobs or welfare. I was always made welcome at Samuel's house, which lay over the railroad tracks on the other side of town. His Mom used to bake blueberry muffins to die for, and his Daddy had a shelf of big old shellac 78rpm records by artists with names like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Peetie Wheatstraw, Bessie Smith and Hound Dog Taylor, Ma Rainey and Big Mama Thornton, which seem so exotic and sound like they're beamed in from some other world.
It was while we were whiling away one long summer day that Samuel suggests we should call off at Mrs Davenport's. We knew the way. It was a big house with wrought-iron gates and a wide driveway set back from the street. He was kicking turf in a nervous kind of way as we stand outside. I ring the bellpush. Mrs M answers the door.
'Two fine young gentlemen to see you, Ma'am.'
I admit I was sweating with nervous apprehension. I hope there were no sweat-aromas that would mar the immaculate perfection of the house as we're led in through the hallway. There's a faint fragrance of polish on the furniture, and an arranged bowl of magnolias on the table. While Pat Boone croons softly on the Bakelite radio. She was waiting for us, sitting in the dining room sipping coffee from a china cup. Us two scruffy urchins, stranded, from a different social class.
'So kind of you two to think of visiting me' purrs Mrs Davenport, and I can't decide if she's mocking us, using her wit and sarcasm to make us feel small.
'I like that you are friends' she continues, putting me a little more at ease. 'Friends are important in this life. The world can be a cruel place. We take our pleasures as we find them. The support of a friend can make the vital difference when things turn around and savage you.'
Mrs M bustles in, bringing a tray of milk and cookies.
'You like girls?' Mrs Davenport continues as we gratefully plunder the cookies. 'I know that girls your age can be capricious. They can tease. But they are going through their own dramas. They have periods, and if you boys are not careful, they get pregnant too, which messes up your life as well as hers'. There are advantages to getting the very natural and healthy release you need in other ways.'