Satyr n.:
1) hairy one. Mentioned in Greek mythology as a demigod composed of a man and a goat.
2) A man whose licentious behavior mostly resembles that of the Sylvan deity (
see
Tim Crane Jr.).
* * * * *
At the divorce hearing my future ex-wife Maria said through her Zsa Zsa Gabor accent and thick blood red lips, "heez built like a cardboard box on veelz." And she was right. I am short from pygmy genetics, square from an attempt at division three college football, and brown because my White momma liked Black men. My ex also didn't fail to tell the judge that I possess the hypersexuality of Don Juan tweeking on Viagra and yohimbe milkshakes in a Bangkok bordello. And though she couldn't give me what I needed, she thought it wasn't quite right that I "fuck Ana (her twin sister), Teresa (the older sister with the mastectomy), Katerina (I loved mom), and Rosaria (the plump Mexican housekeeper) like common whorz." She took everything including my job as a junior partner in her father's law firm. I wasn't bitter, but I was 31, newly poor, homeless,
and
Mercedes-less. I was now exiled from the cabal of downtown lawyers. All that could change had to change. Especially the car part, Timothy Julius Crane Jr. does not travel by bus. But I had to that Friday when I went to Royal Chevrolet-Cadillac to pick out a new ride.
I wanted a new Corvette, but I got a used Cavalier. It's all I could get with the cash I wrestled from my ex-wife in the agreement. It was a convertible though, so the world could see what a block shaped loser I am. In the waiting room of the finance office my eyes caught hold of a young blonde, 20 at most, with short shorts and a yellow Hello Kitty top. I wanted her. I could imagine taking her in the backseat of my new / used Cavalier. Making her suck my cock until I blew so much effluence in her shiny strawberry hair that she'd swear it was shampoo. That is...until her husband or uncle Chester or whatever sat down real close in the next scoop fiberglass seat and whispered something that tickled in her ear. She smiled and clinched her tiny Powerpuff Girls backpack-purse. I shrank into my seat. Other than Britney and Chester the waiting room was empty until a large woman dressed in a long-sleeve black crinkle velvet dress walked in.
Her black bunned Victorian countenance darkened the room. Her antique dress fastened tight at the neck, spread smoothly over an ample bosom, cinched at the waist and nearly dusted the floor over the tops of her spiked lace-up boots. She was big and tall, maybe fifty, matronly attractive--like Jane Seymour as a size 16; milky alabaster skinned, and rich. The ridiculous ring on her right hand gave away her status.
"Colombian emerald, five carats, marquis cut, white gold setting," I said. She looked at me in a way I haven't seen since I was 13 and caught masturbating to a padded bra ad in a Sears catalog. She pursed her lips to say something but declined. The gray polyester clad finance guy interrupted, "Ms. Morgan, we got you all ready, come on in."
Ms. Morgan stood and strode majestically toward the finance office. I hadn't noticed it before she sat down, but her ass was enormous! I imagined her harboring a nest of blue birds in the bush between her cheeks and never knowing that they were there. Before she entered the office I caught her sharply beaming over her shoulder, countering my obvious stare, establishing what I would later come to understand as her dominance.
Britney and uncle Chester were pissed. How could the old lady have gone ahead of them? It didn't matter for long because no sooner had she entered than she left, finance manager in tow. He was begging her to have a seat, that he'd lose the warranty or change the rate or some other shit. Ms. Morgan wasn't having any of it. She shouted the magical words that forever engendered my servitude: "You'll see my lawyer!"
I settled the dispute for her. Right then, right there, with the efficiency and decorum that normally had alluded me in my short law career. Alexandra Morgan, distant, distant descendant of 19
th
century robber baron J. Pierpont Morgan and queen of retail dry cleaning in the tri-state area, made me her lieutenant. But life was not easy as the assistant to someone with the power and suspicions and appetites of Alexandra Morgan.
I moved into the guest floor of her suite atop the Morgan Commons Hotel on the third day. The first week consisted of simple matters like drawing up eviction notices for the slack dwellers of her rental properties. All of the tenants paid up or moved out but one, this trio of chemistry students I dubbed the Gorgon Girls. They refused to answer the door yet always pressed their faces against the glass of the far bedroom window. As I backed out of the driveway their distorted faces and unkempt hair reminded me of the sisters of Medusa.
In the end, I staked out their cars, following them to work just to speak with one. I caught up with the chubby, Goth Korean girl, Natalie, at an S&M club where she worked as a bartender. Natalie cited state law chapter and verse that 'a written notice of eviction must be served at the tenant's home in person.' She stated that she didn't care who the evil witch sent, they'd pay when they were goddamn ready. I retreated, figuring that she and her friends must be veteran rent squatters.
After work I normally swam or lifted weights then ate dinner with Alexandra and her regional managers in the hotel restaurant at night. These were middle-aged men who feared their master's shadow. I shared no such dread. I, Tim Crane Jr., had successfully bounded from rich bitch to even richer bitch without touching ground. I did not sense the reason for their fear, although I did find it strange she wore a version of that full-length black dress everyday.
I asked around the hotel about the dress and roots of Alexandra Morgan. I got conflicting stories from everyone it seemed. The Guatemalan gardeners said she was an ex-communicated
monja
, a nun, who had left the order for a man who died and left her a rich widow. The Puerto Rican laundress swore Alexandra had never married but was raised in a New Orleans convent run by the strict Ursuline order. She claimed that the money initially came from the inheritance of a rich uncle but had flowered into an empire built upon the sweat of immigrant labor. I got the whole truth from a private investigator who owed me a favor: Alexandra Taylor Morgan was sent to live with the Ursuline order at the tender age of 13 after awarding blowjobs to her father's board of directors like handshakes. She later attended college at Loyola of New Orleans but was expelled for running an escort service specializing in discipline. Alexandra Morgan finally took a degree in business from down the street at Tulane. A sizable portion of her estate was inherited ten years later after a plane crash killed both her parents. She had worn black ever since.
On the second day of the second week Alexandra invited me to her office in the hotel basement. She asked if I was enjoying my new job.
"Yeah," I said. "It's a little slow compared to my regular corporate practice but I'm sure you have more in mind."
"I do. But I noticed you didn't take care of my house in Oak Village with the college girls. I know it may seem minor but I suspect they sell drugs. Do you happen to know the seizure laws regarding property engaged in the illicit sale of drugs? I expect complete accounting for the pretty sum I'm paying you. Is that clear?" Before I could answer she ordered me to strip.