The following morning came unnoticed to me. I slept nearly through it all and didn't blink an eye awake till it was past ten. Mom and I had stayed up for more than an hour talking and relieving raunchy details of the previous day back and forth, giggling like we were teens sharing secrets. But we as well went even further than the previous day. By the time we'd talked and my eyes were starting to grow heavy again with sleep, we'd unloaded our private fantasies to each other.
Mom talk about how she'd always had an urge to want to fuck a black man but never really got the courage to. She even let me on about a guy she couldn't stop fantasising about at her place of work.
"His name's Darryl, and he's black," she said, smiling. "He got transferred down to my office a couple of months ago, and when he came he didn't know much about how we worked, so my boss assigned me to show him the ropes. And I did ... just that sometimes whenever I'm standing close to him, and I get a whiff of his cologne ... Uhhh! I just wish I have the nerve to ask him out one day, if only for a drink, and then maybe we can get the ball rolling from there. Who knows."
"What's he look like?" I asked.
Mom ticked him off with three fingers. "Tall, dark, and extremely handsome. Not as handsome as, say Denzel, but more like a Wesley Snipes kind of handsome. And he's got this cool, masculine voice. I tell you, all he has to do is tell me to come over, and Jessie I tell you this, I would go to him. Without a doubt I would."
"Sounds nice if you go up and talk to him," I commented.
"Yeah, it really would. You probably don't know of this, and neither does your father, but one time a guy wanted to hook up with me at a parking lot. Your Dad and I were at this fund-raiser dinner we attended three years ago I think, and all the time while we were talking to one or two of the guests, I notice there was this man who just wouldn't take his eyes off me. Everywhere in the room we went, there he was looking me all over like I was some portrait or whatever. One time I excused myself and went into the rest room and when I came out he was standing close by and then he came to me, told me how he'd been watching me. Said I was beautiful and stuff like that, then he asked straight out if I'd like to have sex with him. Can you believe that? I was so shocked I almost thought of smacking him. But then I politely turned him down and went in search of your father."
"And you never saw him again? I mean you never saw him around to see if he was still eying you?"
Mom shook her head. "Didn't bother to look out for him anymore so I wouldn't know. But later that night -- after your Dad and I had finished making love -- I kind of asked myself what would have happened if I'd taken up his offer."
"Fast-forward to now. You think if he'd been black, you would accept?"
"If he had been black, I don't know if I would have. But if you ask me right now, if the guy was black and it was happening right now, I'd follow him to the nearest motel if he asked me to."
We both exploded with laughter.
The sun's rays were streaming down my face from my window curtains. I wanted to remain in bed for another bout of sleep but knew that would be hard; once my eyes come awake, they hardly go back to sleep again. I went into the bathroom and was brushing my teeth when I heard a knock on the door followed by my Dad's voice asking if he may come in. I mumbled for him to.
He came into my bedroom tentatively; his face looked worn and tired. "How're you doing, Jess?"
"I'm doing alright."
"Good ... that's good to know. My Mom's downstairs; we're having breakfast. I wanted to know if you were ready to have some."
"Alright, I'll be there in a minute or two."
"Okay, sure." He hovered there for a moment, too scared to look me in the face, before turning around and leaving me. I knew he wanted to say something but just didn't know how. Oh well, nothing against me I'll bet. I finished brushing my teeth and cleaned up my face before hurrying down to see what was up; I wondered how he and Mom were getting along.
It was just as I'd expected when I stepped into the kitchen -- they were both acting cold towards each other. Mom was dressed up for work just like Dad. Mom had a cup of coffee before her while Dad had his buried behind the newspaper. I came to the table, said 'good morning' to both of them and went ahead scrapping my bacons and scrambled eggs. Neither bothered glancing at the other. Later on Mom would tell me about the bout of yelling they'd hard that morning while I was still dozing.
I was about done with breakfast when our doorbell rang. Dad's newspaper dropped instantly from his face and I could tell he too was wondering who it might be.
"I'll get it," Mom said and got up and rushed out of the kitchen. Dad was a couple of steps behind her; I too couldn't help but stand up and inch towards the kitchen door to see who it might be.
Mom's back obscured who it was when she opened the door, but then she made way for the man to step inside, and right away I felt a quicken beat of excitement in my heart. It was one of Morris' guys from yesterday. He wore a tee shirt that showed off his hidden muscles and black jeans. I came closer as he heard him talking to Mom; he ignored Dad totally.
"Morris wanted to know if you both will be ready later on," he said.