I'm composing this, in my head, in church. It's Sunday morning, and I'm in the front row, directly in front of the pastor. He directed me to this particular spot, in much the same way that he commanded me to bend over and accept his heavenly host, not 15 minutes ago. I haven't set foot in church-aside from weddings and funerals-since childhood, and here I am in the front row, with the pastor's seed freshly planted in my womb, my naked lips slick and oozing with his semen. I can see the bulge of my panties where he stuffed them into his pocket. The pastor's wife is sitting placidly at my side, while my own husband, equally oblivious is at work. 3000 miles away.
Two Months Before...
We had just closed on the place and were doing our first walk through as new homeowners. It was my first home, my fortunes improving markedly with my marriage to Roger, my new, slightly used husband. We had both been married before, and both felt that we had really upgraded. Anyway, the day was Tucson Winter warm, and I was scurrying around the property with my phone in hand taking pictures to jog my memory for things I wanted to work on. Someone hailed us from the churchyard to the east of our property line, and Roger walked over to chat with them. He does that. He is super-gregarious, and I am pretty happy to be a hermit. Outside of work, I'm shy, socially awkward, I try to be invisible. I'm here on a post-doc, running a decent-sized optics lab, ridiculously well-funded, and I shepherd shy, socially- awkward grad students, my tribe, though the week...
"Naomi, come meet our new neighbor!"
Mr. Fucking Hail Good Fellow well met. I'm thinking "top of the list is getting rid of this fucking chainlink and putting up a nice block wall..." But I smiled and reached my hand awkwardly over the top rail, and we shook hands. He was handsome, tall, maybe latino but with lighter skin than mine, and it turns out that this was his church. He is the priest. Pastor. Reverend, whatever.
" Reverend Carlos!" Roger says emphatically.
Carlos says:" Carlos. Just Carlos is fine."
Locking eyes with me, and STILL holding onto my hand, he adds, "That is, until I start seeing you in Church, just Carlos is fine."
Later, Roger asks: "What did you think of him?"
I know who he means, but I play dumb for some reason. The fact is, the feel of his hand gripping mine, the weight of his steady, appraising gaze, gave me a little frisson of ...what? Sexual attraction, certainly. Danger, maybe?
"Our Neighbor. Reverend Carlos."
I recall: "Carlos, is just Carlos is fine."
"Oh, him. I decided to be honest. "Honestly, he creeped me out just a teens...It was like that clichΓ©, "undressing me with his eyes."
"Oh, cmon, Naomi, that can't be a novel experience for you..."
"I can think of one other time that I got that vibe since we've been together-in Madrid,..those drunk firemen from Pamplona...at the hotel...They gave me the same look and you remember how that almost went." I shuddered, remembering the fetid garlic, cigarette, and booze breath, the drunken pawing, if one hadn't fallen and broken his nose that could have been gang rape territory. Not one of my fantasies. "Well, at least he has his teeth. Not an obvious meth head."
"He liked you! "Roger said with a leer. "His eyes were locked on your ass when you walked away."
My people are from Veracruz and the shape of my face, the kinkiness of my hair, and my prominent butt, all belie my genetic links to western Africa. The slave trade. Mexico has never publicly acknowledged just how many slaves were imported to work the sugar cane along the coast. But it was a large number, probably as many, if not more, than the US did.
Roger chose to buy me implants for our wedding present, as way to sort of balance my profile, top to bottom. I had agreed to about a C cup. I walk around with double Ds. Apparently the surgeon told him that "they always come back wanting more, so just start off with more..."
"Funny, I think, I got the sense he was taking my top off with his-long eyelashes...those lashes fluttering against my throat... shivers from the warmth of his breath."
Aloud, I say "well, he probably doesn't get out much. Easily distracted by a new civilian. Probably just trying to decide if my soul can be salvaged or if I am just going to burn in hell. With all of the other scientists. Probably has a quota. Must save X souls per quarter or no holy water for next month..."
Roger snorted. "All I'm saying is when we were chatting, He kept track of you."
"Well, fine, and that brings up my punch list. First thing is new 6 ft fence, cement block if we can afford it, or at least redwood... I don't want to ever want to have a conversation with neighbors again!"
But the side fence wasn't what got done first. It turned out that the heat pump was roached, so we dealt with that first. Roger was home a lot for the first 6 weeks after we moved in, and I saw the Reverend, as I came to think of him, most days when Roger and I would be having coffee on the front porch, or cocktails in the evening on the high deck in back. I would acknowledge his wave, but he didn't approach, and neither did I.
Friday night
It was dark when I got to my empty home from the lab and I slipped in, kicking off my clogs at the door thinking: Cocktail hour. Roger had flown out that morning, and planned to be gone for a few weeks, in Canada. I pulled off my top, flicked on the kitchen light, and dressed in bra and jeans, poured a generous measure of tequila over ice, squoze a lime, stirred with my finger. Heaven. A tap at the dark kitchen window almost made me drop my drink. I gave a little shriek and started before I recognized Reverend Carlos.
Quickly donning my top, I opened the kitchen door and looked at him expectantly.
"Uh, sorry to frighten you, Naomi, I just wanted to check on you, see that you were ok..." He trailed off. " With the Mister gone, and all..."
"Oh, you scared the (I caught myself from cursing) DAYLIGHTS out of me, but aside from that...I'm fine. This is our life: Roger often gone, and me left home alone. I'm fine. But its sweet of you to think of me!"
There was a slightly awkward pause. "Um, I was just making myself a drink, would you like a soda or something?" I assumed that he was some sort of evangelical straight edge-no booze, no sex before marriage, but recognized that I actually knew nothing about his beliefs.
"Well if you can keep a secret...I'd like what you're having. I was born in Jalisco, so tequila is sort of in my blood. I just wouldn't, you know, post a picture of it on Instagram..."
"Fair enough. I don't know anything about your church. Or you, for that matter-I confess that I was surprised that you drank, and I'm a little surprised that you're in my kitchen without a chaperone!"
He laughed at that, as I beckoned him inside and set to pouring and squeezing. He had a bag slung over his shoulder which he pulled off and set down. As I faced the counter, my back to him, I watched his face in the mirror of the kitchen window. He gave every appearance of checking me out. The realization was flattering. I took my time making his drink, enjoying the covert attention.
When it was ready, I turned to him and handing him the glass, looked squarely in his eyes. We clinked glasses, saying "Salud!" in unison, and smiling. We each took a big gulp, nervous, I think, and then another, almost draining our glasses.