Note: Some of the earlier incidents of this story are covered in Ulyssa's version of my story. I wish to thank her for kindly proofreading this story for me and for offering some valuable assistance. Portions of this story are used with Ulyssa's permission. TCD
"Hey, Mrs D," one of the company receptionists buzzed me. "There's a call for you. The lady says she's your neighbor."
It turned out to be Joan from across the street. "Thea! You've got one of
those people
on your front porch. A man this time"
I knew exactly what she meant by "those people."
"Is there anything wrong, Joan?"
"Other than the fact that he's ruining the value of my house, nooo! I was expecting some members of the garden club this afternoon."
"So tell them he's the lawn guy."
"Thea," she whined. "You've got to get rid of him."
"Oh, for Christ's sake, all right," I said. "But it'll take me at least half an hour to get home."
My husband of thirteen years divorced me for a younger woman about seven or eight years ago. I had a pretty good career as a secretary, and my daughter, Shaleen, was in her teens in a good school system, so I figured we'd make it okay. Turns out I was wrong. My daughter fell in with a rough crowd and did a lot of crack cocaine and finally got busted for more than possession as she was dealing on the side at her high school. We all knew she was looking at hard time for dealing drugs. Worse yet, after Shaleen received the manditory sentence as an adult to a minimum of four years in prison, we found out she was pregnant. But the hardest part for me was discovering that her baby's father was a black man nearly twice her age who was also doing time in a major penitentary.
I have to admit I came very close to turning down my daughter's plea to take custody of her mixed-race baby after my granddaughter was born in prison, but I decided to take care of her while her mother was away. So the court awarded custody of baby Darcie to me. This happened about two years ago. I figured this visitor must be one of my granddaughter's relatives from her father's side who'd dropped by unannounced. Every so often they'll stop by to see her. But usually they'll call me first, so they're not left malingering outside the house in full view of the neighborhood.
When I got back, I saw my visitor--a black man possibly thirty years of age. My jaw dropped. This man was Darcie's biological father. Desmond Emmons had been released from prison just that day, and he'd taken a bus into town, and then walked eleven miles to see his baby daughter.
"Hey, Miz Thea," he said softly as I got out of the car. "Would you mind if I see Darcie."
Desmond stood out on the front porch in full view of everyone in the neighborhood. I wasn't sure why that bothered everyone else so much. Sure, it probably was his color. My neighborhood back then was unofficially a whites only suburban area. Of course, it also could have been the fact that almost everyone who knew me would know that he'd just been released from prison. Well I couldn't just let him stand out there in the open, so I pulled Darcie out from her car seat and told him to come in.
For an hour or so, I let him play with his daughter. She was a bit frightened of him as he was a stranger to her, but with a little persistance, my close encouragement, and Desmond's natural charm, Darcie finally warmed up to him. I asked him where he was staying, and Des Emmons said, he didn't know. As it turned out, he had no place to go. That caught me by surprise. I thought there were halfway houses and all that sort of thing for released felons, but it turned out that most of those places were victims of the severe budget cuts that affected our area. Let's face it, none of the people I knew or nobody in my neighborhood ever gave a shit about where a parolee might spend his nights as long as it wasn't around here. So, I told Des he could stay for a day or two--just until he found a real place, of course.
The next morning, Desmond asked me if he could watch his daughter--my daughter's daughter--instead of me running her to the baby sitter. I told him that her schedule was pretty strict for her own good, and that she loved the children in the daycare. Besides, it would allow him some time to himself to go through the want ads to try to find a job and maybe get a line on a place to stay. He nodded. Then he asked me if it would be okay for him to use the computer; so, I shrugged and booted it up. I logged in my personal password and warned him not to shut it down, or he couldn't get on again until I returned home.
The way Desmond said good-bye to Darcie, you'd think he was watching her go off to prison instead of just having his little girl go to daycare for the day. I saw a softening of the eyes that I hadn't expected from him.
Still, I was uncomfortable throughout the day. I wondered how Desmond was getting along back at my place, but I decided that I'd try to tough it out for most of the day. As it was, I left work an hour early and went to pick up Darcie at the sitter's. My granddaughter was pleased to see me, and I could tell that she wanted to get home to see that funny man who was staying with us.
"Hey, Darcie!" A familiar male voice called out, when we arrived. "Hi, there, baby!"
The baby jumped into his arms and nuzzled against him, coating his face with jelly bean stickies that she'd been stuffing in and out of her mouth for the whole trip home. I left the two of them to go see what we had for dinner, when I came across a letter which had been printed out on my computer.
The first part of the print-out read:
Hello, Miss. This note was left for you to read by someone who is very concerned about your happiness. The person leaving it probably wishes to remain anonymous, but is nevertheless concerned about your sexual satisfaction...
What the fuck? Where did this come from?
Even though I didn't want to read the whole thing, I continued reading until I finished it. Then I looked back into the living room where Des was playing with Darcie. I noted the address at the end of the letter and then started to throw it away. But at the last moment, I changed my mind and slipped it into the desk drawer instead.
I said nothing to him. We three had dinner and he asked me if I'd show him how to bathe the baby, so little Darcie got her bath and Des got a lesson in how to keep your cool while being splashed. I almost brought the letter up twice, but I chickened out each time.
Later as Desmond played with Darcie some more, I went to the designated website. I read, and, I continued to read, and then I read some more:
"I see you found my note," Desmond said.
"Shit!" I almost jumped out of my skin as I saw him looking over my shoulder at the screen. One by one I'd been clicking on the gangbang thumbs. I felt like a teenager who was caught passing notes by her homeroom teacher. "You scared me."
"Sorry. But I think there's a little girl who's ready to go down now."
I got up and checked Darcie's diaper. Desmond hovered close to me the entire time.
"You're a beautiful woman, Thea," he said rather matter of factly. "There's something intriguing about the great job you've done raising kids and keeping your household going, but you've devoted your entire life to Shaleen and now to Darcie. What do you do for you?"
"I'm doing just fine, thank you very much," I answered. But we both could see my hands shake as I poured baby powder on my granddaughter's sweet butter-brown bottom.