Chapter 4: Fantasies Met
Junie walked around and around her new, bright yellow, little sports car. She had an ear to ear smile that just seemed to grow each time she made a pass. The dealer was giving her a long speech about the features on her new car and she had an armload of paperwork clutched in her arms.
James Conrad had followed their instructions perfectly. There was a very nice CD player and an extended maintenance package. The little car was the most beautiful sunny yellow and the dealer told her she probably had the only yellow Miata in the state. The whole thing was hers, free and clear.
Junie giggled a long, happy, triumphant laugh. She looked at Bob and Donna, her eyes sparkling. "This makes all this almost worth it. So who wants a ride home?"
It was late in the afternoon. They had gotten everything done and the SUV held several boxes of her belongings salvaged from her vandalized apartment and the papers from her former job. A consignment lot was selling her car for her.
It had not been easy. Several times during the day Junie felt the waves of anxiety and nausea and had to stop and force herself to breathe.
All that was left was to go home. Junie felt like a huge weight was lifting from her shoulders. She was impatient to hit the road. The speech of the dealer was just so much babble that she had no interest in listening to. She turned to the man and abruptly thanked him and demanded he hand her the keys.
Turning to Bob and Donna she spoke up, her voice firm and clear. "Bob, would you please ride with me? I am going home now."
Bob gave her a big smile and made a sweeping bow. "I would be glad to accompany you, sweet Junie."
The air was brisk and cool in the early evening and Junie left the top up. The little car was nimble and surprisingly powerful, the slightest push on the gas forced her back in her seat, forcing a small shriek of glee from her lips. "Oh, Sir, this is wonderful."
Bob looked at her proudly. "I am glad that our Donna thought to extort this from that bastard. She has some of the most delightfully evil impulses. I think it is the lawyer in her." Junie giggled and nodded. "You will have to let me drive part way home."
"Any time you want."
"We will need to build you a carport for this little hotrod."
They were about half way home when Junie pulled over and switched places with Bob. As they jumped from the little yellow sports car and passed each other Bob pulled her to his chest and gave her a huge hug, and then took her mouth in one of his wildly intense kisses.
When he released her Junie swayed for a second and giggled. "My goodness."
As Bob adjusted the seat and reviewed the controls, touching the levers and feeling the accelerator and brake pedal with his foot. He grinned and commented, "I always wanted a little car like this."
Junie looked at him, "It was not that expensive. Why didn't you just get yourself one?"
Bob looked very thoughtful and spoke as he pulled the sports car out onto the highway. "I think Donna had convinced me that it was... um... wasteful for us to have two cars and we needed the SUV because of the dogs and it was the most efficient, environmentally aware choice. And she was right too. There was no reason for us to have two cars with just the two of us. All my life I would look at all the people that had fleets of cars parked around their houses and feel outrage at the waste and the disrespect for our mother."
Junie reached across the console and touched his hand where it gripped the top of the transmission knob. "Well, we have one now, and with the three of us, I think it is not such a disrespectful thing. I am sure that this car will be the vehicle of choice for those quick errands to town. It has great gas mileage, probably as good as the Escape."
Bob was really getting the feel for the handling of the Miata and was starting to push it through the corners of the windy road. He was smiling in satisfaction. He looked over at Junie with his eyes sparkling and he laughed and said, "We should name our new car."
"Name her?"
"Oh yes, I can feel her spirit. She is happy and eager to serve. She will be a wonderful addition to our circle."
Junie could not help but shake her head and laugh. Sometimes she did not completely understand all this talk of spirits and circles and yet it seemed to endear Bob to her all the more. "Okay, I have to definitely agree with you, she is definitely a she. She is yellow, but we already have a Sunny in our family."
"Sunny would have been a good name for her too, she is like the promise of new day." Junie stopped and then smiled broadly, "Aurora, let's name her Aurora. It is a sunbeam and it seems to fit just right in my head."
Bob nodded solemnly, "That sounds like a good name. I like the 'au' at the beginning for the golden color she is, and the 'roar' in the middle is how she talks to me." He pushed down on the accelerator and they flew home.
Junie was not surprised to see that Donna was not home yet. She felt a little flush of guilt that Donna had to drive all the way home by herself. They parked the little car beside the garage and took the dogs out for a long walk, letting them get some much needed exercise. Junie noticed that Honey seemed to be moving slower and staying closer.
"Is Honey doing all right? She looks tired."
"The puppies inside her are growing very fast right now. She probably is feeling tired or more accurately, a little drained, low energy."
Junie nodded, "I remember that when I was pregnant; there were times when all I wanted to do was sleep. That was difficult with the other kids always needing something."
"I kind of envy your experiences. To be able to hold the creation of a new life in your body must be the most beautiful of things."
"There are no words to describe it, Sir. It was the most important, most rewarding thing I have ever done." Junie sighed, "And the hardest was letting it go. Having them grow up and become independent, leave my nest, was painful." Junie slipped her hand into his. "Donna once wrote me she could not have children. Why?"
"We were busy with our corporate pirate lifestyle. We always spoke about having time for family, for children later, after we got the brass ring, after we made the big killing. We were young and we felt invincible. Then she got sick, her lab results were botched and they caught it late. She probably would have had to have had the hysterectomy no matter what, but we had to fight the doctors so she could keep her ovaries, or at least one ovary. She refused to be 'castrated' as she so indelicately put it."
Junie squeezed his hand, "I am so sorry, Sir."
"I nearly lost her. At first I was afraid she would die and then she was so angry. She kept trying to push me away, to drive me off. She had some idea that she failed me, that I had to go find another woman who could give me children."
"What did you do?"
"I just wouldn't leave. I let her fight with me and I fought back, but I refused to leave. She was not at all rational. She was insanely cruel and sarcastic, harping on me continually for anything and everything. I finally got fed up and something snapped. I took her and tied her up and beat the crap out of her with my belt and told her that she was going to stop this bullshit and start treating me with the respect and obedience I deserved. The strangest thing happened after that. We were both so wildly turned on we ended up fucking like wild animals all night. After that night, it seemed like all of a sudden everything was simpler and Donna began to act completely different. She was still sharp and edgy, but underneath was the gentleness and lovingness that had gone missing for so long."
"It's funny, but that gentleness and lovingness is all I see when I am with her, Sir."
"I have seen her try to get you, but you are a genius at not fighting with her. I love to watch her try to tease you and you just open yourself to her and absorb her little jabs. Your loving acceptance of her is beautiful to watch. I learn from watching you."
"I do see it when she does it to you."
"Junie, remember she is the one still balancing in the middle. When she pushes against me it is as much to check that I am still there to keep her in check, as to test me or struggle against me. You must also remember that Donna does not have your natural submissive nature. You instinctively know your role. Donna has had to learn each step of the way. She has a duality to her spirit. She could have easily been a dominant in a relationship. It was her fate to be bonded with someone who could never have let that happen."
As they made their way back toward the house, they could see the lights of the SUV driving up the driveway. Junie slipped her arm around Bob's waist, "Thank you for talking with me about this. I see how much you love her."
"She is an amazing woman, smarter than anyone I have ever met, except perhaps you."
"Oh, Sir, I am not all that smart. I barely went to college for a couple years studying secretarial stuff."
"You keep up with her verbally. I see you play those pun games with her. You are amazingly talented at making things; cooking, sewing, even the simple act of giving of yourself, for you, is an art form. There are dozens of kinds of intelligence and yours compliment hers. Let's go unload your stuff from the car and then you should cook her something nice."
Donna had the back of the SUV open and was just starting to unload the boxes out of the back when Bob and Junie walked into the garage. "I see that you guys made good time." Her voice had that familiar crisp bitter edge to it.
