The softball game was over and I returned to my Aunt's home, hopping their sex bout would be over by then. It was, thank God. Aunt Marie was tending to her flower pots in front of her porch, wearing jeans shorts and a summer shirt tied to her mid-rib with her hair tied in a ponytail, looking like something out of a Cosmo mag. She turned to look at me when I came up on the driveway.
"Hiya Jer," she grinned at me as I came over and gave her a hug. "How're things with your folks back home?"
"Everything's fine, Aunt. You're looking good yourself," I admired her.
"I'm trying my best, honey. Did you go to check on your friend, David?"
"Yeah, I did. Though didn't meet him at home. How's Curtis doing, by the way?"
She indicated her head upstairs. "You'll have to go in and find out."
She resumed tending to her flowers. If I'd thought she was going to give out any outward signal regarding her relationship with him, I was mistaken. I went into the house and up the stairs to knock on Curtis's door. He told me to come in. I opened the door and there he was putting on a jacket and checking himself out in a wall mirror. He turned to me and smiled.
"Jerry, my man! How're you doing?" he leaned forward and shook my hand. "Never knew you were coming around today."
"I know. I should have called. You look like you're about stepping out."
"Just going for a little walk, that's all. I need to clear my head on some things."
There was a solemn coolness about him that my sixth sense told me wasn't right. Curtis always was a jovial type of person. The kind of guy who'd break out a laugh no matter how gloomy the day has been. Right now I just wasn't feeling his vibe; I sensed that something was eating at his mind.
His hands slapped his jeans' pockets till he found what he was looking for—his wallet. He went about the room opening and closing his desk drawers, searching through the scattered papers on top of it beside his laptop. Not knowing whatever he was looking for, I stood there watching him. He swore to himself as he went on searching but soon found it and dropped it into his jean's back pocket.
"I need to get out of here for a moment," he muttered to himself while his eyes scanned the room.
"Want me to come join you?"
It was a spur of the moment question. He stopped roaming his eyes around and looked at me. He seemed indecisive about the question and in the end shook his head. I moved aside for him to step out the room and close the door, turning in the lock. He walked down the stairs while I followed a couple of steps behind. We got down to the landing and there was my Aunt seated in the living room watching a TV program, though her eyes weren't actually on the program but rather at Curtis. He looked at her pensively then turned in the direction of the front door. He murmured something behind his back about seeing me later seconds before he opened the door then walked out. My Aunt turned her face away from me and went back to watching the program on TV, though not for long.
"Aunt Marie, what's up?"
She made like she didn't hear me. Instead she switched off the TV and walked past me towards the kitchen. I thought of following her but reckoned she wouldn't have wanted that. Something was wrong here, I said to myself. I couldn't believe that within the space of the hour and some minutes since I stopped spying on them that they'd gone from making love to now being distant to each other.
"I'll be back, Aunt," I said to her before rushing for the door.
9.
Evening was fast approaching.
Curtis had a hand stuck in his jacket pocket and had walked halfway down the block when he turned and went into a bar. I stopped across the street, baffled by everything that was happening, not knowing if I should stick my nose into their business or not. The wise decision would have been not to. They were both adults, and whatever issues they've got I reckoned would be best solves between them. That would have been the preferred decision ... except this was my Aunt I was talking about. She'd been through enough hell in her life. Seeing her happy was something I've very much love to see progress.
I crossed the street and went into the bar.
The bar's name was the Rolling Vine, and though I hadn't yet drunk there, David and I had sneaked off drinks and bought pot from one of the bartenders numerous times. The interior of the place was dark and gloomy; the lights inside were a mixture of purple and blue. Jazz music came out of hidden wall speakers. There were few patrons in the bar, most of them seated on tables farther from the counter which was where Curtis was at. He had a beer in his hand, sipping from it nonchalantly. I approached him and drew the stool beside his. He turned to look at me, unsurprised that I was there.
"Hey there, Jerry. What gives?"
"You know what gives, Curtis. What's up with you and my Aunt?"
"Whatever made you think whatever's on my mind has got anything to do with me and her?"
"For one thing I've never seen her with a long face with you around except a few minutes ago. She's in love with you, that's what," I blurted, not wanting to hide my feelings. "She's in love with you, and you just don't want to handle it."
"Your Aunt's my landlady, Jerry," he said stubbornly. "This isn't exactly something someone of your age would understand."
"That still doesn't hide the fact that you and her are sleeping with each other." These words seemed to sting him. He turned from his beer to look at me seriously. "I came by the house earlier on. I saw the two of you making out in the living room."
I thought he was going to explode on me: turn to face me and then maybe throw a sock at me. I would have understood if he did. Really I was expecting it, now that I'd let the cat out of the bag. But instead of that he held me with those sharp eyes of his, then he broke into laughter.
"Congratulations, kid. Always thought we'd make enough noise to interest the neighbours. How well did we perform?"
"Don't bother asking me that."
"Come on, humour me just this once."
"Alright. On a scale of one to ten, I'd give you both an even ten."
His next burst of laughter reverberated around the room, making some of the patron's heads turn towards our direction, ogling us quizzically before returning to whatever state of mind they were before. Curtis was still fighting back his laughs while he guzzled his beer.
"That's pretty good of you, Jerry. Though I hope you're going to keep that detail of what you saw under your hat and not share it around."
"I wouldn't even dream of it," I replied. "But there's something going on between the both of you right now. I don't know what it is as neither her nor you have clued me in. I know one thing though, my Aunt's never been this alive prior to your being with her. I just don't want you to make her return to her former self. I'll leave you alone now." I was about climbing off the stool when his hand caught mine and he told me to remain.
"Something did happen, but it wasn't like what you think." He struggled with his next couple of words. He looked around, making sure no one was within hearing range before leaning closer to me and whispering: "Your Aunt wants to get pregnant."
And just like that it issued off his lips. The one pressing thought I'd had earlier on. It was kind of like Déjà vu, and instead of me looking surprised, all that echoed in my thoughts was a knowing premonition of inevitability about to happen. Still I wanted to know how the topic came about.
"Did she... bring it up with you?"
He nodded. "After we'd finished making love. She said it's something that she'd been wanting to speak with me about but was kind of afraid, thinking it might freak me out, sort of. She'd told me a lot about her late husband, but... when we were done, before she brought up the subject, she told me an even personal secret. She said he shot blanks."
My brow knotted in a frown. "Pardon me?"
"Blanks, kid," he said with near irritation. "Means that your late uncle's seed couldn't do anything inside her. You get it now?"
"Yeah, I get you. And that's what she wants from you, right?"
"You're smarter than I thought you were," he smirked. "Of course that's what she wants. All this time I never came..." he stopped to look around again, lowering his voice once more. "I never ejaculated inside her all this time. But now she wants me to. Apparently she's about stepping into her heat period."
Either he was afraid, or I wasn't getting his reason for being so tightly wound up. "So what?"
He looked at me as if I were senile. "So what?" he asked incredulously. "So what, you say? Kid, haven't you been listening to all what I've just said."
"I have been, yes. It's what she wants, to have a baby, and seems she wants you to seed her. I get that part."
"Apparently you're not looking at it all the way. I'm not ready to become a father, Jerry. No way am I doing that."
I took a moment to analyse things before speaking: "Is that what you think she's asking of you?"
