Thursday, November 11, 2010

Chapter 12. Jam Doughnut.


And here's another, earlier chapter.

***

At 5 in the morning she rolled over and draped her leg against his stomach, startling him from his sleep. Never before had he been with a girl who had hit him so many times in the balls.
“I’m going to end up like Heath Ledger,” she sighed into his ear.
“What do you mean?”
He wasn’t really awake. 
“Have you seen the Black Curtain?” she whispered conspiratorially. There was urgency to her voice.
“What’s the black curtain?”
She squirmed and turned away.
“I AM going to end up like Heath Ledger!”
“No you’re not, don’t say that.”
He had woken up a little but still felt asleep.
“Have you ever seen the Black Curtain?”
“What’s the black curtain?”
“The Black Curtain is death!” she cried. “Have you… ever… seen the Black Curtain open?”
He thought about death. From the dark recesses of his memory he thought about when his Grandmother was dying from lung cancer. He paused for a long time.
“I think so.”
“Where have you seen it open?” her hands clung to his chest. “WHERE?”
He didn’t answer and wished for her to fall asleep or to change tack and talk about something else. He turned away from her and her body shifted closer to his.
“I think security cameras are watching me.”
“Of course they are,” he blurted out. “There’s at least one camera on every street. And a camera in front of every hotel and pub,” he added matter-of-fact.
“Oh,” she replied in surprise.
They lay in silence.
“I’m going to smash the next camera I see,” she said, completely earnest.

“Come on, get up. It’s 8.20.”
She stirred slowly. The sheets were stained with menstrual blood. He grimaced, as he thought about the security deposit on the apartment – excessive cleaning was a deduction on the bond.
“Can I borrow some underpants?”
“What?”
“I need underpants so I can wear pads.”
“Right.”
He looked through his collection of clean clothes.
“I don’t know if I have anything that would fit you.”
She yawned. He brought her a pair of dark blue, Bonds ‘action briefs.’
“Here, try these.”
“What day is it?” she mumbled.
“Thursday.”
She sat straight up in bed and rubbed her hands together in glee, grinning in excitement.
“I’m going shopping for jewellery!”
She pulled up the action briefs as high as possible, they hung loose around her hips, and then sat on the edge of the mattress, searching for her black, pipe cleaner jeans. She hooked a foot in its respective leg and, in one motion, jumped onto her feet as she pulled on the jeans. The jeans slid up and over thighs, and she bounced around the bed yanking on the fly to try and make the last inch. Sean remembered when he too once wore tight pants.
“Can I borrow your phone to ring a friend?”
“We have to go?”
“I’ll make it quick?”
He pointed at the mobile on the bedside table. She dialled a number from memory. He filled a water bottle in the kitchen sink.
“Hi Dylan! Are you doing anything today? Do you want to take me shopping? I’m going to get jewellery!”
Her voice was akin to fizzy bubbles, caught in the breeze and floating away in the air.
“I can meet you there. Um, eleven o’clock, I think! Bye Dylan.”
Sean checked the list. David he knew. Daniel was familiar. Dylan was a new name. Maybe they were all the same person? No, David and Daniel had different mobile numbers.
She rubbed her hands again.
“Can I borrow one hundred and twenty dollars?”
“Huh?”
She arched her eyebrows and flashed a smile, her eyes shining bright.
His face was a study in irritation.
“I need it for my heart medication.”
“Yeah right.”
“I have high blood pressure, I need my blood thinners.”
“I’m not going to give you money for your meds, that’s not my responsibility.”
She shrugged, indifferent. He agonised over whether to wear the Doc Martins or Ecco shoes. Rachel looked at his Nile ‘Annihilation of the Wicked’ t-shirt, hanging over the back of one of the chairs, as if noticing it for the first time. She pulled the shirt over her head. 
“Don’t wear my shirt.”
She stood in front of the wardrobe mirror, smiling at herself. She did not wear a bra and her breasts were small and pert underneath the fabric.
“I’m serious, don’t wear that shirt. I have no clothes as it is.”
“But I have nothing to wear.”
“What’s that?”
He pointed at her long sleeved, green shirt, with gecko print, rolled into a ball next to the couch.
She grudgingly swapped his shirt for her own. He held open the door.
“Are we ready?”

“Can we get something to eat?”
“Yep, but make it quick.”
Rachel picked a jam doughnut, an Up N Go, and an Apple Slurpy. Sean selected the largest can of Red Bull he had ever seen. As an afterthought she remembered the Maxi-pads. She nibbled on her doughnut as he looked for his wallet. The attendant asked him if he wanted gum and then told him the price. He handed over a twenty-dollar note.
The doughnut slipped from her grip and hit Sean’s shoe, rolling under the counter.
“My doughnut!”
Sean stared dumbly at the ankle of his trouser leg. Jam was everywhere.
“Can I get another?”
“No, I haven’t got enough money for it.”
“I want my doughnut.”
She reached under the counter and felt around on the floor. He grabbed a handful of serviettes and tried to wipe up the jam. A line of people waited impatiently behind them.
“I think I can see it!”
The attendant looked over Sean’s shoulder at the next customer. Sean looked at Rachel.
“Mate, that doughnut’s long gone. I have to go.”
“Mate,” she repeated the word in disgust.
“I’m late!”
She gave up fossicking for the sweet. He stopped outside the sliding doors and looked down at his foot again, pulling at his trouser leg to get a better angle of view. He had done a good enough effort cleaning the shoe, but his leg was sticky and red and the jam was not going anywhere.
“It’s not good, I have to get changed.”
He checked the time on his phone. She squeezed the last remaining dregs of Up n Go from its box and binned the drink.
“Can I have some change for the bus?”
He distractedly gave her the last of the money from the twenty. “Ok, I’ll see you later?”
“Yep, bye.”
She stuck out her lips and he kissed her. She turned away and slinked off down the street, sipping her Slurpy, walking slowly, in no hurry to get to where she was headed. He rushed across the street and back up to the apartment. He removed his shoes, changed into the cleanest pair of pants he could find, swapped over his accoutrements, double checked that he had everything he needed, put his shoes back on and ran downstairs. He was disappointed that she wasn’t on the street when exited the foyer and walked double time to Oxford Street, with fifteen minutes left before he ‘officially’ started work. He drew a blank as he thought about the name Dylan.



Extract from chapter 15. A strong woman/his name was not david.

So, hi again. I'm writing a book. Over the coming weeks and months, I'm hoping to post extracts from this book. Right now, the extracts are first and second and third drafts, if that. This is the most recent section that I have written. The story is about Rachel Neutron and Sean O'Dea. Regarding this small section, all you need to know for the purposes of context is that Rhonda is Rachel's mother. 


Please note, the following writing contains sexual content. Censor yourself accordingly. 

***


Rhonda had left Rachel a care package in the form of two green canvass bags filled with food and essential supplies, placed just inside the front door of her apartment. Rachel was taken aback when she entered the room and squatted down by the bags, next to her tiny bar fridge, and inspected the contents. She ignored the cans of tinned food, roll of kitchen paper, and tube of toothpaste. The packet of pizza bases she gave a dead look to as she made a farting sound with her mouth and threw the plastic bag over her shoulder.   There was a six-pack of Yakult and she cracked open one of the bottles and took a tiny sip.
He could see his grey business shirt in the corner of the room, on top of a large pile of crumbled clothes. From this he knew she had been home, after talking to Dave and before meeting him at the Gaslight Inn. How she had walked to her bed-sit and back again to Oxford Street in such a short time, he could not say. Across the floor were more clothes – he could spot the grey belt that he had bought her that came with the FCUK dress, now broken – ripped sheets of writing paper, a pink towel, her laptop, a Venetian blind from the window, a spilt vial of black paint, gooey and stuck to the ersatz wooden floor that was in fact linoleum, a half-empty can of Heinz baked beans and the “Hs & Hrs Sexxx Games” box of sex toys. The box was open. The cardboard was dusty and battered. The dildos and strap-on remained in their plastic tray, untouched. The cock pump looked faded and overused and grotty. He stood awkwardly in the room and made a slow scan along the walls. In her bookshelf there were several books. Selected spines read: “How to win friends and influence people” and, “The joy of the female orgasm”. Over the sink there was a wall-mounted cupboard and sitting on top was a small canvass. In dripping black paint, written over the fabric, it read:
“I might be a strong woman... but sometimes I'm weak for you.”
Next to the bed, on the floor, was another roll of kitchen paper. Sean looked at the roll and wondered whether that too was from Rhonda. Beside the roll were two shrivelled condoms, filled with dry yellow come.
Rachel plugged her mobile phone into its charger. She sighed and stepped over the collected mess and to her bed.
“Tell me what to wear?”
“What do you have?”
He dumbly looked at the mountain of clothes, too ignorant to know what she owned and not quite willing enough to dive in and search. He had the impression that she felt he was an authority on such matters.
She stripped off her clothes until she stood in her white, see-through, Calvin Klein French knickers. She lay in a foetal position on her single bed. The afternoon light shining in through the open window made her lustrous white skin look golden. Her nipples were pink and soft. The cars driving along on the highway outside made a roaring sound that floated into the room and pervaded their every thought. She stared at the wall. He sat on the edge of the bed, not willing to make physical contact with her.
“If I asked you to pick a word that described me, what would it be?”
“You want me to choose a word that describes you?”
“Yeah.”
“Kinetic.”
“Kinetic?”
“Yeah, you’re kinetic. It’s to do with energy and movement.”
They sat and lay there in the stillness of her room. The traffic noise roared unchecked through the balcony’s French window. It had been open when they arrived and he wondered if she ever closed it.
What about me?”
She stared at him and thought long and hard. “You remind me of… Rome.”
She hadn't expected him to ask her the same question back. She located her phone and made a call. Sean scratched his nose and affected his very best look of one trying not to listen.
“Hi Leena! How are you? Yeah, I’m still coming! What time are you going to be there?”
She looked at him. “Nine o’clock. Is that Ok?”
Sean shrugged and showed her his open palms.
“Ok, nine then. What should I wear? Oh, that’s good. I’ll see you tonight!”
It appeared as though Leena did exist and that they were going to a party this evening after all.
“What’s something you can trust?”
“What?”
“What’s a colour you can trust? That’s what I need to wear.”
He pretended to think. “I’m not too sure?”
“Green… green is a trustworthy colour.”
She rummaged around the rubbish and clothes and bags on the floor and found a magazine, long discontinued. On the front cover was a man dressed in a cream safari suit. A lush tropical rainforest was framed in backdrop behind him.
“Would you trust him?”
“I don’t know him.”
“No! Do you trust him, because of the green?”
“I cannot say.”
She groaned at him.
He untangled her long sleeved green shirt from the pile.
“You want to wear this?”
“Yeah!”
“Are you… sure?”
“What’s wrong with it?” she asked, the sound of hurt pride forming in her voice.
“Nothing! Just… don’t you want to wear something else?”
“Like what?” She groaned a second time.
“What about the dress I bought you?”
“You didn’t buy me that dress.”
“No, the dress we got at the Quay.”
“Oh yeah!”
She leapt off the bed and kicked aside the mountain of clothes, rummaging through a wild, assorted collection of vintage velvet jackets, designer t-shirts, non-descript singlets, items that surely were made for men, mismatched socks, belts and scarfs that belonged to clothes long lost, and the odd shoe, before finally finding her pink Elle MacPherson brassiere. The bra had loosened since she first bought it and was now a size too big for her. As she fitted the bra he disinterestedly viewed the clothes pile.
“Wow, what are these?”
A pair of hot pink Levis had caught his eye.
“I didn’t know they made jeans in this colour?”
The pants reminded him of when he was last in Perth.
“I was once walking in Fremantle with my friend. Fremantle is where I was living in Perth, it’s a city but more like a big suburb.”
She pulled on the straps of her brassiere.
“Anyway, I was walking around Fremantle with my friend, Natalie – ”
“Who’s Natalie?”
“Natalie. A friend of mine.”
She frowned at him. He ignored her.
“So, I had on a shirt that said Pig Destroyer.”
She turned back to the clothes.
“Nat has on these magenta jeans.”
He paused at the thought. He remembered how tight and skinny the jeans looked on her legs.
“And as we were walking, a random guy in the street stopped us and said to me: ‘I like your shirt!
He pointed at an imaginary version of himself. He pointed at an imaginary Natalie.
“Then he looked at her and went: ‘And I love your pants!
She blinked once.
“You should wear these!”
She re-entered the conversation as it now involved herself. “Really?”
“Yeah, they will go with your hair.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
“With the green shirt?”
“I don’t know about green and pink matching.”
He inspected the disturbed clothes mountain for something that would suit.
“What about this?”
She held up a black and white striped, long sleeve top.
“Yeah, that could work.”
He sat on the edge of the bed. She inspected the jeans suspiciously, stepped into each leg in turn and zipped up the fly. She pulled the top over her head.
“Is this cultured?”
He smiled. “You look like a raver! All you need now are some white sneakers.”
“Should I wear this? Or a dress?”
She wore the FCUK dress over her raver ensemble.
He gave her a proper appraisal, feeling more comfortable in his role as fashion advisor.
“The dress is good… but I like the raver look.”
“Is it cultured?”
“You wear that dress all the time. Why not try something different?”
She pulled savagely on the hem, irritated that she didn’t have a mirror. She tore open the butcher paper that contained the alpaca scarf and slung the scarf around her neck. The ends hung low down by her knees. She looked at him, searching for a response. He didn’t reply, deep in thought. 
She sighed and flopped back down on the bed, staring into the corners of the ceiling. She absent-mindedly removed the scarf.
He looked over his shoulder at the disturbed clothes mountain.
“I’m going to masturbate.”
“Ok then.”
“Is that ok? I never get to be home by myself.”
“Like you said, it’s your home.”
She stuck her right hand down the front of her jeans and started to rub furiously. They exchanged stares. She didn’t blink. She could feel her pussy getting wet. Perched on the corner of the bed, her tiny bed-sit felt like a cage to him. As she orgasmed she threw her head against her pillow and moaned loudly with her eyes squeezed shut. He idly considered if it was real or fake. He guessed the latter. He smirked at her. He located his mobile and switched open the lens. He pushed record.
“I’m going to film you!”
“Are you really shooting?”
“No.”
He framed the camera so that the image was of her head and body and hand down her pants.
“Go for it, come on.”
An inquisitive look came over her face. He smiled at her and waited for her to begin.
“I want to see your face though, I don’t want to see your hand.”
She looked at him and broke into a methodical rub. He narrated the film.
“This young lady has a terrible itch in her crotch. There is nothing sexual in this activity. Rest assured dear viewer! There is nothing sexual in this activity. This is a medical procedure.”
She grinned and laughed along with him. He didn’t smile. The task at hand took over her attention and she shut her eyes.
“Keep going, keep going.”
Her mouth formed into a soundless moan. She sleepily blinked her eyes.
“You done?”
She nodded, her hand at pause and still down her pants. “Yeah.”
“You sure? That was quicker than the last time.”
She grinned. He kept the camera pointed at her. She pulled a face, convinced that the red light meant that the mobile was filming video, and annoyed because she really wanted to wank.
“That was purely a medical technique…”
She raised her free arm so that her hand blocked the picture of her face. He moved the camera left, then right, her hand following his every move, him doing so as to turn it into a game.
“There was nothing sexual involved.”
She wrapped her arm around her head, hiding her face with the crook of her elbow. She started furiously rubbing inside the front of her jeans. Knowing that she couldn’t see, he held the camera over her hips and filmed her masturbation in close-up. He could hear the friction of her right hand as it rubbed against the denim, along with the sound of her bracelets rattling together. He filmed the open French door and framed her in a hidden, pink crotch, two-shot.  She suddenly dropped her arm and frowned at him, before hiding her face again.
“It’s off! I’m not filming. I’m just playing with it.”
She continued to wank. He admired her flat, white stomach, from what he could see of it as her dress rode up. She started to moan. Her left arm dropped and she felt for her left breast, finding and squeezing it hard. Her bracelets caught against the love hearts necklace. Her mouth dropped open. Her eyes squeezed tight. She sucked in several deep gasps as her hand came to a complete stop.
Rachel removed her hand from her jeans and looked at him, waiting to see his reaction.
“Like I said, dear viewer, that was purely a medical procedure.”
She frowned and broke out into a smile. She sat up and took off the dress as she coughed abruptly. She had forgotten about the long sleeved top she was wearing underneath and removed that too accidentally. He went silent as he stared at her in her pink jeans and pink bra. He didn’t want to stare and, against his better instincts, Sean returned his attention back to the condoms on the floor.
“Ok, are we going to go?”
She fiddled with the entangled dress and top, trying to decide which handbag would match what she was wearing.
Sean tried not to step on anything on the floor. She stood over the kitchen sink that was half-filled with stagnant water and dishes long since clean. She squeezed some toothpaste onto her toothbrush and slowly and surely brushed all of five front teeth, making sure not to brush more than four times for each. He looked out the window at nothing in particular. He was full of loathing for her box of a room. She opened up the cupboard under the sink. The two shelves were entirely devoted to packets upon packets of prescription drugs. She proceeded to gobble three anti-histamines, one after the other without delay. She considered the packet and popped two more pills. She knew this would place her in good stead for meeting Leena. She crouched on the floor and tied the laces on a pair of white sneakers.
“We should get coffee.”
“Don’t forget my grey shirt, you’re not keeping that.”
She wiped her mouth on a pink towel and reached for him, wanting him to help her up.

Monday, November 1, 2010

anonymous posts fixed

Anonymous posting has been enabled. Go wild. I'm not the IT support, I'm the writer.