Oscar Meyers Chapter 22

Posted: April 23, 2006 - 04:19:38 pm

"You seem nervous," Georgia commented.

"I'm meeting William again," Oscar replied pulling at the sleeve of his

robe. There was something about the young man that bothered him. It

wasn't a negative kind of feeling, just that odd sense that something

had been forgotten.

She took his hand to keep him from fidgeting so much and walked with him

to the front door. It was a much simpler house than what she expected.

True, it was large, but it wasn't ostentatious. The walkway was neatly

edged and the flowerbeds were filled with flowers that were drying in

preparation of winter. There was a large RV parked next to the house.

She noticed several cameras tucked away in locations that weren't

immediately obvious. There was also a small sticker in the window that

announced that the house was protected by a security company.

The door opened before they reached the front door. From just inside the

house, Ken said, "Come in. He's expecting you."

Oscar hesitated at the thought of entering the house. Georgia stepped

through the door and found herself facing a very attractive black woman.

The woman smiled while studying Georgia. After a second, she said, "You

must be Georgia."

"Yes. You are Claire?" Georgia asked. The very feminine looking woman

did not fit the mental image she had constructed of Claire. She had

imagined Claire would be some tough as nails hard driving woman.

Instead, she looked like a moderately wealthy woman about to go out

shopping. She was wearing a nice dress and high heels.

"Yes, I am," Claire answered. She watched Oscar slowly move into the

house with interest. He had the same degree of hesitancy about this

meeting that William had been demonstrating. She thought it was

interesting. Turning to Rock, she said, "Take Oscar into the backyard

where William is waiting. Watch over them."

Rock examined Oscar. The fact that Oscar was wearing a red robe didn't

intimidate him. He was used to dealing with Ling and that little lady

had taken intimidation to a high art form. He didn't like the nervous

way the young man was looking around. He grunted, "Come with me."

Georgia watched Oscar walk beside the large bodyguard through the house.

The bodyguard wasn't going to let Oscar get behind him. He ushered Oscar

through the backdoor before following him out.

Once Oscar had stepped out the backdoor, she turned to Claire and asked,

"What do we do now?"

Claire picked up a pistol case and tossed it to Georgia. The young woman

caught it with ease. She said, "We go to the range and shoot a couple

hundred rounds at paper targets."

Holding the pistol case, Georgia grinned at the opportunity to go

shooting. She said, "Sounds good to me. Paper everywhere will quake in

fear when it sees us."

Oscar stepped out the door in front of Rock. After a few steps, he could

see William seated in a chair next to a patio table. The two young men

studied each other; their eyes seeking out the strengths and weaknesses

of the other. After a minute, William said, "Rock, you can go back in

the house."

"I don't think that would be wise. You two are looking at each other

like prize fighters in the center of a ring," Rock answered shifting

nervously.

"Don't worry. We won't fight," Oscar said. He had been very aware of the

bodyguard's unease.

"I doubt you would be able to stop him even if he was to attack me. He's

the only person who has fought Ling to a tie," William said pointing at

Oscar.

That was a piece of news that visibly shook Rock. He stared at Oscar and

took a step back. Clearing his throat, he said, "I had not heard that."

Oscar said, "It was a most interesting experience."

"For both of you," William said with a smile. Looking over at Rock, he

said, "Go ahead and get in the house. We'll be fine out here."

At a simple gesture from William, Oscar took a seat across the patio

table from his host. He looked at the ashtray and noticed the pair of

cigarette butts in it. His eyes traveled to William's hand where he was

holding a smoking cigarette. He said, "I didn't know you smoked."

"I only do it when I want to get closer to the Great Spirit," William

answered looking at the cigarette in his hand. He also did it when he

was very nervous. He seldom smoked more than five cigarettes in a week.

To be working on his third in one morning suggested a degree of

nervousness about this meeting that he'd never admit to anyone else.

"Why is it that I have been dreading meeting you again?"

"Probably for the same reason that I have been dreading this meeting,"

William answered. He licked his lips and said, "There are three things

that I have known with great confidence. The first is that I would meet

my one true love. The second was that I am to serve the Two-Sided One.

The third was that there would be peace in the Middle East. Once I met

you, I knew that you were the agent who would bring that peace."

"That doesn't explain why I feel so uncomfortable meeting you," Oscar

said. His mind went back to the first meeting when William had predicted

the horrible evening when Debbie's father had his heart attack.

William didn't answer immediately. He was struggling to understand his

own unease. After a moment, he said, "My future is entwined with yours.

I don't know the how or the why of it, but I know it."

"We are both to serve the Two-Sided One," Oscar said wondering if that

was the connection.

"You are in your third year of school. You'll finish your fourth year

studying Islam. Then you'll have a year of studying Buddhism, Hinduism,

and Shamanism. After you finish your fifth year, you'll visit the glade

and become the servant of the Two- Sided One," William said.

"You are probably right," Oscar said. William's thoughts on the matter

matched his quite closely. He asked, "When will your service begin?"

"I don't know," William answered looking across the yard with a hint of

anger in his expression. He said, "That is probably a reason for my

tension. Your future seems clear while mine is murky."

"Oh," Oscar said. There wasn't much to say in response.

"My grandfather will be joining you in your travels. I fear that he

won't survive them," William said trying to restart the conversation.

"Why do you say that he won't survive?"

"Great magic requires a great price," William answered.

"I've heard that before." It was a phrase that he'd been hearing all too

often. It was beginning to make him nervous.

"Yes, I'm sure that you have," William said wondering if Oscar really

understood what it meant. His father had paid that price to create the

Carter Glade at the Druid College. That was just a glade. He couldn't

help wonder what world peace would cost.

The conversation was awkward with many little starts and stops to it.

Both William and Oscar seemed uncomfortable. Both found themselves

staring at the yard. Oscar said, "Maybe I ought to check up on Georgia."

"She's gone to the pistol range with Momma Claire."

Settling into his chair, Oscar said, "She'll enjoy that."

The conversation died. Both of them stared at the lawn with occasional

glances at the other. They would have stayed that way all day except

Lucy came out into the backyard. Pointing into the house, she asked,

"What's wrong with Rock?"

"No idea," William said with a laugh. He imagined that Rock was trying

to figure out how Oscar could have fought Ling to a tie.

She took a look at the two men sitting around the table and said,

"William! You're a rotten host. Did you even offer him something to drink?"

"Uh, no," William answered shifting in his seat. He had forgotten all

about that in his nervousness about meeting with Oscar. He shrugged

feeling slightly embarrassed and said, "We were, um, talking."

"Would you care for something to drink? We've got iced tea, lemonade,

and a variety of soft drinks," Lucy offered looking at Oscar with a smile.

"Lemonade would be fine," Oscar answered.

Going about the business of being a hostess, Lucy poured Oscar a glass

of lemonade from a pitcher that was stored in the mini-fridge of the

patio bar. She also got out the large can of pretzels and threw a couple

handfuls into a bowl. When she brought the stuff to the table, she said,

"Here you go, a little lemonade and some pretzels."

"Thanks," Oscar replied. He took a sip of the lemonade and found that

whoever had made it had achieved the proper balance between sour and

sweet. Nodding, he said, "This is very good."

"Thank you."

Lucy sat down and watched the pair of men staring at the grass. William

lit up another cigarette while Oscar ate a couple pretzels. After about

ten minutes, she said, "This is horrible. You too look about as relaxed

as a gazelle in the middle of a pride of lions. What's the matter?"

Oscar shrugged; a gesture that was repeated by William. Frustrated, Lucy

asked, "Can't either of you talk?"

"Did you have a chance to meet Georgia?" Oscar asked Lucy.

"No. Claire left with her before I got back from school," she answered.

William said, "It's a shame, really."

"What's a shame?" Lucy asked.

"We could have been friends, I think."

Lucy looked at William and then realized that he was talking to Oscar.

She turned to look at Oscar. He was nodding his head in agreement.

Curious, she asked, "Why can't you be friends?"

Oscar answered, "Not enough time."

"Right," William said. He took another drag off his cigarette and

exhaled to the sky.

Lucy waited for more of an explanation, but none was forthcoming.

Frustrated, she stood up and went back into the house. At the door, she

said, "Come in when you feel like talking."

Each of the men felt a burning curiosity about the other. Neither one

was willing to give voice to it. Oscar asked, "Is this typical weather

for this time of year?"

"Yes," William said. It was the last thing either of them said until

dinner time.

Massaging her wrist, Georgia looked at the woman seated across the table

from her. Claire pushed a cup of coffee across the table and said,

"It'll be better in a little while. I guess you don't have much of a

chance to shoot at the school."

"Actually, I don't get an opportunity to shoot a real weapon all that

often. Usually I'm shooting a paintball gun, but even that has become a

rare event," Georgia said. The last time had been on her birthday.

"I'm sorry. I had assumed that you were a frequent visitor to the gun

range. You did help Oscar train Special Forces in Afghanistan, didn't you?"

"Yes, but we used paintball guns. They were mocked up to fire just like

the real thing though."

"You're a good shot. You averaged over ninety for each ten round target.

That's not bad. With some practice you could be competitive," Claire

said. She hadn't been surprised on the range, but the news that Georgia

didn't practice all that often made her score even more impressive.

"I don't understand. You seem so feminine," Georgia said finally giving

voice to the thought that had been bothering her ever since meeting Claire.

The comment struck Claire as humorous. She had to put her coffee down so

that she wouldn't spill while laughing. When she recovered, she asked,

"What did you mean by that?"

"Well, you have a reputation as being a pretty strong and aggressive

woman, but you don't seem to act that way," Georgia said.

"You've seen me when I'm relaxed. I can get pretty aggressive when the

situation calls for it. Right now, the situation doesn't call for it.

We're having coffee in a nice little coffee house. What's there to be

aggressive about?"

"I don't know. I just don't understand how to balance being strong and

being soft," Georgia answered. She picked up her coffee and took a sip

of it trying to hide her discomfort.

Claire studied the young woman for a minute and then asked, "Suppose you

are going to feed a nut to a squirrel. Are you going to get all

aggressive and try to force that nut down the squirrel's throat?"

"No," Georgia answered while giggling at the idea of intimidating a

squirrel into eating a nut.

"If you were trying to get your dog to the vet, would you be a little

more forceful?"

"Yes."

"So you know the difference between situations in which you need to be

soft and those in which you need to be strong. What's the problem?"

Claire asked with a twinkle in her eye. She knew that she had barely

scratched the surface of Georgia's issues.

"How about in bed?" Georgia asked, blurting out the question. She held

her breath wondering how Claire would respond.

Surprised at how quickly the conversation had gotten around to intimate

matters, Claire asked, "In bed with whom? Each of my husbands and wives

are different in bed. I'm different in bed with each of them. It really

gets interesting when there are more than two of us in bed."

"Well, I tend to be very aggressive in bed," Georgia admitted.

Leaning forward, Claire took Georgia's hand in hers. She said, "When I'm

in bed with Leroy, you'd swear that two cats are fighting. Each one of

us is trying to be on top. I'm not so aggressive with Dan. He's shy and

too much aggression will chase him off. I'm very passive with Ed. That

man is such a rock that it makes my knees weak. Ling and I are passive

with each other. We go at it nice and easy; usually for hours at a time.

I'm a different woman with each of my lovers."

"Oh," Georgia said. She thought about Debbie and their lack of a sexual

relationship. She said, "I don't know if you know this, but Oscar has

two girlfriends. Debbie is his other girlfriend. We don't do anything

with each other, but we'll both be with Oscar at the same time."

Claire sat back and removed her hand from Georgia's. She picked up her

coffee and took a sip of it while studying the young woman over the rim

of the cup. It seemed to her that keeping a sexual distance between the

two women would ultimately lead to trouble. She suspected that it was

already creating problems. Shaking her head, she said, "I don't think

that is going to work out. I'm sorry, but you don't get in a loving

relationship with others without expressing it physically at some time."

Georgia leaned forward and said, "I'm afraid that because I'm so

aggressive in bed that I might be a Lesbian. If I do anything with

Debbie, I'm liable to drop Oscar. I love the little guy too much to hurt

him like that."

Laughing, Claire rocked back in her seat with her left hand over her

heart and made a shooing motion with her right hand. When she finally

calmed down, she said, "You are too much. Strength, aggression,

passiveness, and softness are all attitudes in how you approach doing

things. They aren't the emotions that you have towards other people.

Being strong and aggressive doesn't have anything to do with loving.

Being strong and aggressive doesn't make you a Lesbian."

Despite her initial hurt at Claire's laughter, Georgia did pay attention

to what the other woman said. It made sense in a way, but she wasn't

sure. Expressing her doubts, she said, "If you say so."

"Do you enjoy sex with Oscar? Do you come? Do you look forward to the

next time?"

"Yes, very much."

Claire smiled and said, "That's great. No matter what happens as a

result of being with a woman, those feelings aren't going to change. If

you're really lucky, you'll have those same feelings for the woman too."

"If you say so," Georgia said without much confidence.

"I not only say so, I know so," Claire said. "You can love gourmet food

and junk food. Loving one doesn't keep you from loving the other."

"I guess so," Georgia said. She was going to have to think about it for

a while. She still hadn't seen any evidence that Claire was the kind of

strong driven woman that she had expected to meet. She drained her

coffee and wondered if the Reverend Leroy Jones had selected the right

Carter wife for her to meet.

Claire smiled and said, "Let's go shopping."

The shopping excursion was fun, but they didn't buy anything. Most of

the time was spent window shopping. It wasn't until they were leaving

the mall that things got interesting. Four black kids were hanging

around the exit making extremely rude comments to all of the women going

in and out of the mall. When one of the boys saw Claire and Georgia

together, he grabbed his crotch and said, "Oh, yeah. I'd love to have a

little salt and pepper in my bed tonight. You two up with that?"

Georgia saw the look that Claire gave the young man. It was cold enough

to freeze water and hard enough to chip ice. The man said, "Hey momma,

don't go looking at me like that."

A very strong looking Claire stepped up to the young man and, in a voice

that suggested great control, said, "I'm not your mother. If I was, I'd

slap you up side the head so hard your teeth would rattle. Didn't your

mother teach you that you are supposed to treat women with respect?"

The young man took a step back and said, "Hey, don't be so bitchy."

Taking a step forward, Claire remained in his face. She growled, "Do you

want to see bitchy? I'll be more than happy to show you bitchy."

"Fuck off, woman," the kid said with an expression on his face like he

was dealing with a crazy woman.

Hand moving faster than a snake strike, Claire grabbed him by an ear and

twisted. The kid bent over to relieve the pressure on his ear. She

pulled him down the mall with him protesting the entire trip. Georgia

watched as the other three blacks followed along, noting that they kept

their distance from Claire. She followed them to see what was going to

happen next and to step in if necessary.

Claire pulled the kid into a bath and body shop. The shelves were filled

with soaps, shampoos, and body washes of all kinds. She marched up to

the counter where there were some unwrapped soaps and grabbed one with

her free hand. Turning to the boy, she said, "Open your mouth."

When he didn't, she twisted his ear. His yell was cut off by the

insertion of a bar of soap in his mouth. She released his ear and,

shaking her finger in his face, said, "Leave that in there until I tell

you to take it out."

He started to reach for the bar of soap. The finger she was shaking

changed into a fist. She said, "Don't make me tell you twice. Next time,

it goes in a different hole!"

The kid's eyes opened wide as he considered what she meant. He dropped

his hands and stared at her deciding that she was crazy enough to follow

through on her threat. Convinced that she had his attention, she said,

"When you talk to a lady, you say 'yes ma'am' and 'no ma'am'. Don't

forget to use those other words, 'please' and 'thank you.' Ladies

appreciate being treated with respect. Nod your head if you understand

what I'm saying."

Mall security arrived in time to hear Claire read the riot act to the

young man. They were wise enough not to interfere. Georgia looked over

at them and noticed they were grinning at the spectacle. It was hard not

to laugh. The poor kid was standing there, wide eyed, with a bar of soap

in his mouth afraid to move.

The young man nodded his head. She continued, "You are never to say

dirty words to a lady. You don't call them bitches, whores, ho's, cunts,

or any other derogatory names. Ladies do not appreciate having to listen

to that kind of language. Nod your head if you understand me."

After he nodded his head, she said, "You can take the soap out of your

mouth."

The young man removed the bar of soap from his mouth. For a full ten

seconds he worked his tongue trying to get the foul taste out of his

mouth. Georgia had to struggle to keep from laughing at the poor kid.

Claire said, "I think you are forgetting your manners. You should thank

me for the lesson in etiquette."

"Thank you, ma'am," he said backing off out of fear of having the bar of

soap shoved back in his mouth.

"You're welcome, young man," Claire said. She turned to the other three

kids and asked, "Would any of you like etiquette lessons?"

"No ma'am," they said as one while backing out of the store. The young

man backed out just as fast. Within seconds they disappeared into the

mall trying to put as much distance between them and Claire.

One of the security guards watched the kids take off and knew that there

would be no more trouble from them for the rest of the day. Amused by

what he had seen, he said, "We had a report of a disturbance."

Turning on a brilliant smile, Claire held up her thumb and forefinger

with just a little space between them. She said, "It was just a little

one; too small to notice, really."

"I tend to agree with you, ma'am," the guard said. He nudged his partner

and gestured to the door with his head. They both left the two women in

the store with the shop keeper.

The elderly woman behind the counter was chuckling. She had memories of

her brothers standing in front of her mother with bars of soap in their

mouths when they talked back. When Claire turned to her, she said, "I

really enjoyed that. It's nice to watch young people learn manners."

In total agreement, Claire replied, "I dislike how some young people

treat women. I doubt he'll be doing that again any time soon."

Georgia said, "Wow. That was something else."

"There are times to be strong and times to be soft," Claire said with a

wink. In normal circumstances she would have just let the insult given

to her by the young man pass, but she had an audience of five.

"I see what you mean," Georgia answered.

Claire asked, "How much for the soap?"

"Don't worry about it. You gave me a story to tell around the entire

mall. I'll be getting free coffees out of that for a week," the woman

answered.

"Let's get back to the house. Lucy should be home by now," Claire said.

Looking over at Georgia, she said, "We are going to have so much fun

this week. You remind me of me when I was younger, except you aren't

nearly as angry as I was."

"Really," Georgia said wondering what such a confident woman had to be

angry about. She said, "I hope we'll be back before Oscar leaves,

although I really doubt it. He wasn't looking forward to seeing William

again."

"Interesting," Claire said, "William was not looking forward to seeing

Oscar. It's odd, though."

"Why?"

"William asks about Oscar every chance he has," Claire said looking over

at Georgia with a curious expression.

"Oscar does the same," Georgia said looking at Claire with the same

expression of curiosity.

When they reached the house, they were met by a very puzzled and

frustrated Lucy. Shaking her head, she said, "I don't get it. They are

just staring at the grass."

/I'd like to thank Drahkan for editing this story/