The Bridge

The Bridge

The light rain started to freeze and glaze the sidewalk. The cars crept by the drivers staring straight ahead, hands tightly gripping the wheel. Cheri scanned their faces, hoping to make eye contact or solicit a promising wave or nod. She stood at the corner and shifted her gaze ninety degrees. The cross street sloped away and eventually seemed to vanish in the sleet and darkness. She knew what was there, the bridge. The bridge over the train tracks and the river. Often, she walked there. Never to the other side, just to the highest spot where the river flowed beneath. Perhaps again this evening. Instead, she pulled the hood of her rain jacket over her head and slowly walked back toward the bus stop. She stood in a doorway and placed the large plastic trash bag between her feet.

Abruptly a white van pulled into the curb lane and stopped at the corner. With the instincts acquired by working the street, she walked quickly, but did not run, to the van. Before she arrived, the light changed. The cars in line behind it blared their horns impatiently. The van turned the corner. Cheri continued slowly to the corner, halfway up the block the van stopped. This time she ran and opened the door.

"Hey", the driver called, "it's Cheri, isn't it?"

"Yeah", she nodded, "and you are", as she rapidly thumbed through her mental index, "Hank."

"Close. I go by Henry. But it's been a long time."

Cheri climbed in, wedged the trash bag between her feet and placed her hands over the heater vent. The hot air made her hands ache. 'Damn, I'm cold', she thought.

"I was about to get some dinner at the Italian place. Would you like to join me?" He hesitated, "my treat, of course."

Cheri pushed back the hood of her rain jacket and unzipped it revealing a grey sweatsuit. I don't think I am dressed for a restaurant." She tugged at the leg of the sweatpants, "and I am all wet down here." She did not want the idea of food to pass however, since, she had not eaten since the pack of cupcakes she nicked from the corner grocer this morning. I would like a little something, however. Can we do takeaway?"

Henry nodded. "There is a fast-food joint on River Road. We can do the drive-thru there." With that he spun the van in. U-turn. Traffic horns blared and drivers yelled. Cheri gripped the dashboard in fright. Henry shrugged and continued to the fast-food joint where the van crept towards the menu kiosk. "What is your poison today?" he asked as he retrieved a money clip from his pocket. "What about you?", she answered.

"I will do the jumbo fish delight."

Cheri mulled her options. Her stomach demanded something, but she didn't want to seem too anxious. "I don't know, maybe a salad." Hank glanced at her. "Really! You look like you are hungry."

"Yeah. How about a jumbo cheeseburger then."

"Is that all?"

"Can I have two?"

"Sure. You can have as many as you want. As I said, it is my treat."

As they approached the 'place your order' kiosk, Henry dug into his pocket and pulled out a money clip, peeled away some bills and set it in the cup holder. Cheri eyed the money clip. There was enough cash there to keep her going for a week at least. Hank paid for the meals, placed the food on the console and dropped the changed onto the cup holder. He didn't put the money clip back in his pocket. Cheri bit her lip and thought.

"Let's find someplace to enjoy our banquet", Henry commented as he nosed the van into the stream of traffic. "If you are hungry, dig in. Don't wait for me", he added.

Cheri unwrapped a burger and started eating and thinking. The van inched towards the intersection and then turned towards the bridge. Cheri stared over the guardrail. Below, was the river, the mill road, the railroad tracks. Only the diffused lights were visible, the rest was obscured by the snow and darkness. As they passed the high point of the bridge, she rolled down the window and tossed her trash over the edge. Mentally, she wondered how long it would take to hit the river.

At the far end of the bridge, the road curved to the left and then wound its way through the city park. A few dark side roads and dead ends provide and perfect spot to service a client. To her surprise, Henry abruptly took a right hand turn onto a side street and continued to a stop sign. The headlights settled on a lighted parking lot and a low office building. Cheri frowned; he can't park there; it is right in the open. Instead, he turned right and drifted slowly down a hill. This was a neighborhood Cheri had never noticed. The houses made from large rough blocks. Her first impression was, they were large houses. But as they crawled past, she realized they were two, three and four houses clustered together.

Henry turned onto an open space directly in front of a two-story house and turned off the engine. Cheri fretted, "You can't park here. Somebody might be home and see us. I don't need to get arrested." She caught herself before adding 'again'.

"Don't worry so much. I don't want to be arrested either. The house is vacant. Nobody is there." He paused, "if you are concerned, we can get in the back of the van." Cheri glanced towards the back. It was black as a pit. Snow covered the twin rear door windows. Someone could pass within inches, and you would not be noticed. She clambered over the console and lowered herself against the side wall. The floor was covered with a thick mat. Henry sat next to her and passed her food.

"How old is this place?" she asked curiously.

"You mean the houses?" Henry asked rhetorically. "As old as the rest of the area", gesturing in the dark towards the river. "The mills were built in the 1830's and the houses came soon after. The first houses were built on the hillside on other side of the river farther down. These were built after that. If you walk about a half-mile in that direction", he pointed north, "you will see a depression in the hillside. That was the quarry where all the native stone came from." He paused and then added. "Do you realize this river was like a nuclear power plant back then. It provided the energy to power the mills along this stretch but also for miles north. Gris mills, powder mills, clothing looms, sail cloth, all of it driven by waterpower."

Cheri interrupted, "I thought all those row houses on the other side of the river were for the workers?"

"They were but were built later. Steam replaced waterpower. The mills were expanded, they needed more workers than the local neighborhood could provide. So, they built what amounted to company towns. Rented the houses and, in essence, created a class of indentured workers."

Cheri listened raptly. "Are you a history teacher or something?"

"No. It is just an interest.

"To me it sounded like you were teaching a class. Maybe, trying to impress some high-class lady at a charity ball. Yeah! That's it some rich bitch and you want to fuck her." She took a breath and stifled a sob. "Yeah. And here you are in that back of a beat to shit van talking to." Her voice trailed. "Talking to me, a nothing."

Henry started to say something, but Cheri continued. "Don't say I'm wrong. I am a nothing. I am not even a good whore. I don't make enough money to live. I fucked up everything I ever tried to do." She paused and composed herself. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say all that. It just came out."

A silence settled between them. Henry reached out and rubbed the front of her sweatshirt with the back of his hand. His hand gently pressed against her breast. Cheri laughed. "Now I remember you! You looked familiar but now I remember. You like to play with my little tits." She tugged at the hem of her sweatshirt and lifted it over her breasts. She did not wear a bra.

"They are not little tits; they are beautiful breasts. Big tits don't appeal to me."

"Most guys don't agree. They want big jugs."

She felt Henry's palm press against her breast. Cheri sighed and tugged at the hem of her sweatshirt and lifted it over her breasts. She did not wear a bra. He bent over closer, and his warm breath tantalized her breasts as he kissed her nipple. A surge of excitement rippled through her core as she pulled his head closer. At first it was a gentle suck not much more than a kiss, but a thrill coursed through her body. She took a deep breath and with her free hand presented her other tit to his mouth. He accepted eagerly and suckled harder, biting the fleshy peak just beyond the nipple and pulled. Cheri squeaked. The pain only accented the pleasure. Her mind swirled. She never wanted much, and this simple pleasure was more than she expected.

Henry rolled to his side and pulled her onto the floor of the van. Cheri lay on her back and stared into the darkness. A sense of calm came over her. She held his head and ran her fingers through his hair as he continued playing and sucking on her small breasts. She felt his hand deftly slide down her tummy and with a simple tug untied the drawstring. She inhaled deeply as his hand slipped into the sweatpants and rubbed the three day's growth of bristles on her mound.

"You didn't shave today", he commented glibly.

"As I recall", she retorted, "you like it hairy."

"You have a good memory", he replied.

Cheri lifted her ass and pushed the sweatpants down below her hips giving his hand more room to explore. She purred as his finger glided gently between her outer lips. The tension grew as his fingers penetrated her vagina and probed the inner walls of the sheath. She had not enjoyed such foreplay in months. She wanted it to linger.

She closed her eyes felt his tongue glide softly in the small valley between her breast and moisten the base of the fleshy knolls. She twitched as his warm breath drifted down the center of her tummy to her navel. She felt the rough tongue circling and then pressing it into her shallow belly button. Cheri rolled her nipples between her thumbs and forefingers as the excitement increased to arousal.

Henry rose to his knees and pulled her sweatpants to her ankles. Cheri bent her knees and placed a hand on her mound and let her finger tantalize her clit. Henry pushed her knees up and wide, exposing her sex to the darkness. His finger displaced Cheri's from her clit. She pushed her hips up to let him play better. First one finger, followed by a second and a third. She sucked in the cool air and sighed. The stimulation soared as he spread her cunt with his fingers and penetrated deep. She gritted her teeth when his hand stretched her and forcefully penetrated. It was his hand, she was sure, his whole hand. The nexus of pleasure and pain reached a crescendo and then he abruptly withdrew his hand.

Cheri sighed and her head swirled. That felt good she thought. She had the desire to finish what he started and moved her hand to the intersection of her thighs. She felt his hand gently push her hand aside. She complied. The next sensation was the warm breath hovering over her mound. She bit her lip, wanting him to continue but at the same time wanting to bask in the current glow. She placed a hand on the back of Henry's head. He complied. He breathed in the fragrant aroma of her sex, extended his tongue, and licked the entire length of her outer labia. She pushed harder. She felt the rough tongue deeper in her slit. Her mind spun with ecstasy. "Harder, harder', she begged, "make me come". On command, Henry forced her legs wide apart and plunged with primitive energy into her sodden vagina. Cheri gasped as her core tightened and tidal wave of an orgasm swelled within her. "Don't stop. I need to come", she pleaded. Her body contorted with pleasure as Henry continued his assault. The pressure increased to the breaking point. She bit her lip to stifle a cry and let out a long whiney moan. The orgasm roiled through her torso and left her limp and satisfied.

She panted softly as her breathing returned to normal. "Start the engine. It has gotten cold in here."

"I have a better idea", Henry retorted. "Get yourself together." With that he opened the sliding side door. The interior was suddenly washed in the reflected light. Cheri straightened her clothes and edged to the door. "Grab your things", Henry ordered. Cheri reached the front seat and pulled her plastic trash bag. As she did, she noticed the money clip. She hesitates and then calls, "Hey, do you want your money clip?"

"Yeah", he responded, "bring it with you."

Henry opened to door to the house, removed his shoes and placed them on a mat by the door. Cheri did the same. "Do you live here?", she asked. "No. I own it. It is a rental. I have been working on it." He walked over to the thermostat. "It will warm up. Just takes a few minutes."

The door opened to a small hallway that led to a kitchen. A staircase to the second floor rose against the wall. To the right was a bare room.

"It looks bigger from the outside."

"Because they are built in clusters. Most are this size, 'two up, two down', as they are called. Look around. Just be careful of the paint. The baseboards might still be a little wet."

The front room was freshly painted white. She strolled through the two rooms, one in front the other in the back. Extending out the back was a small kitchen. She ran her hand across the bare native stone walls. "They are granite", Henry commented before Cheri could ask. The baseboards were marked with small pieces of blue tape. "What's the tape for?"

"My mistakes". Henry walked over to the wall and glanced at an angle. "I missed a spot painting here". He examined a small patch on the wall. "And here I missed sanding the spackle. The tape reminds me what I still must do."

At the top of the stairs was a small landing. A bathroom in the back and an open door to the front room. There was a small futon, a folding chair, and a trunk. "This is where sleep when I spend the night". The door to the back room was closed and a strip of blue tape crossed the doorway. "That one is done and dusted". She entered the front room and looked around.

"What is in the plastic bags, if I may ask?" Henry inquired.

"Clothes. I was going to go to the laundromat."

"You can wash them here. There is a washer and dryer in the kitchen area."

Cheri thought and shrugged, "OK."

"What about those?" He gestured to the sweatsuit.

Cheri hesitated. "It cold."

Henry took a blanket for a closet and tossed it to her. "You can wear this. The heat is on, just takes a few minutes. It's not like you have something to be modest about."

Cheri took small change from her pocket, along with a folding knife and a pack of condoms and placed them on the windowsill. From the other pocket she took Henry's money clip. "Here is the money clip you left in the van."

Henry shrugged. "OK. Just leave it there. I'll get it."

Cheri sat on the chair and stared out of the window across the river. The darkness and the snow distorted the scene. She could make out the shape of the snow-covered van below the window. Beyond that was the street defined by the line of blurred streetlights. The train tracks ran parallel to the street but lost in the darkness. She relied on her memory to complete the panorama. A gentle slope to the narrowest part of the river with broad flat rock and swift currents. The far bank lined with the old mills and factories, most of which are no repurposed for offices, restaurants, and apartments. A few lights penetrated the darkness. The old Mill Road ran along the base of the far slope. A steep embankment rising to the houses along River Road, the shopworn thoroughfare where she plied her trade with little success.

Her gaze moved to the left. It was just dead reckoning but she focused on a point on the false horizon. That should be the house with the basement room she once called home. She pivoted to the right to view the bridge. The roadbed passed about ten-feet higher than the roof of the house. She could not see the traffic but recognized passing cars by the reflection of the headlights on the guardrail. The oncoming lights emerged from the darkness, increased in diffused brightness, and disappeared behind her. A chain link fence at the far end prevented walkers from stumbling off the sidewalk down the steep slope. A gap allowed Cheri, and others, to scamper under the bridge out of the elements. Many times, she and others spent nights under there, huddled together and sharing blankets.

Her eyes followed the car headlights to the highest point above the river. She always did her own calculation; the roadbed was ten feet above the rooftop, the height of the house maybe twenty feet, a five-foot drop to the road and another five feet to the river. All in all, she estimated a forty-foot drop. Occasionally she would walk to this spot and drop a rock into the water. How long did it take to hit the surface? She asked one client, who was driving her across the bridge to the side street off the park, if he knew how long it would take for the rock to hit the water. He said ten seconds. She knew that wasn't right and it was too long. Too much time to feel regret.

Another guy, who looked real smart, thought about it. "You know it falls at a constant rate". He talked about a formula and added, "forty feet would take about one and a half, give or take." He frowned, "of course air resistance might affect it too. I'll will stay with my 1.5 or 1.6 seconds". Cheri absorbed this information. She didn't have a watch to check his calculations, so she just believed it. "How fast was it going when it hit the river?", another question that puzzled her. He smiled. "Oh, that is basically a different application of the same formula". His conversation speeded up as he talked about rates of change and derivatives. "Forty feet. My bet estimate is between 30 and 35 miles per hour".

"Wow! That is like being hit by a car".

"Oh yes. And water doesn't compress, so it would be quite an impact."

A second and a half. She would repeat that number over and over. It seemed reasonable. Not so long to be afraid or even a scream, just take a breath and wait a second and a half. Walk to the spot on the bridge, stand with your back to the abyss, boost your ass onto the top of the guard rail, and lean backwards. One Mississippi... Two Mississippi...over.

Cheri looked up at the reflection in the glass and gasped. She turned to look at Henry. "You startled me."

"You seemed to be concentrating and I didn't want to disturb me. What were you thinking?"

"Nothing really. Just daydreaming." She looked up at Henry and pondered, I may as well give him what he wanted when he picked me up. She tugged at his belt and unbuckled it. She then worked his pants down to his knees and then did the same with his boxers. His flaccid organ dangled just below her eye level. She caressed the shaft and coaxed it to an erection. She then squeezed the shaft and a drop of clear precum wept from the tiny eye. With a flick of her tongue, she smeared it over the smooth head before taking it full in her mouth. Before she could work her mouth music, Henry grasped her shoulders and eased her to her feet. And directed her slowly to the bed.

A sudden wave of passion welled up in Cheri. She wanted this man. Not the way she wanted typical clients for their money but in an emotional way. Her legs bumped the edge of the bed. She lowered her body while pulling Henry on her. He pressed his knee between her thighs. Willingly she pulled her knees up and spread wide and guided his rigid cock to the intersection of her legs. For a moment she thought of the condoms on the windowsill. It won't matter anyway, she thought. Henry looped his arms under her legs and forced them higher and farther apart. As Cheri guided his prick, he slowly entered her sodden cave.

The penetration inflamed her desire. All the men, all the fucks, and she never felt this way. She didn't just want him, she needed him. Cheri wrapped her legs around Henry and locked her ankles. She met every thrust with an equally hard and fast pump of her hips. The excitement swelled in her core as she feverishly worked to coax an orgasm. Sweat seeped from her pores and the aroma of feral sex filled the room. In an instant, her effort was reward with a roiling, exhausting orgasm. An orgasm that spread from her loins to her extremities. Never had she experienced such a brutal pleasure. She entered another world, and out of body pleasure. Her muscles went limp.