*
Friday afternoon, at her ninth-grade daughters' swimming practice, distracted, checking her phone from time to time; then, an update in the group chat "Baking Moms of Pine Springs High":
See u all at 'The Flamingo' room 218 in 2 hours!! No condom tonight. We have a surprise waiting [Heart] [heart] [kiss] [kiss].
A map link. She checked and wondered if she had enough time. Richard would be staying late at work tonight. Need to drop off her darlings at their coastal-view house first. Ten past five. No time for me to take a shower. Sweated a little but shouldn't smell too bad down there.
Mom's got some business to take care of, order pizza for dinner & I'll be back in no time! Naturally they were thrilled to be without her. Don't burn the house down - though secretly was wishing it did. Watched her happy hares leap across the front yard and disappear behind the red door.
Westward: inland, chasing the dying sun.
Interstate: born again in the fast lane. A newfound recklessness.
The edge of the city: entire neighborhoods slowly rotting into nothingness.
Strip clubs: naughty neon-lights of purple blue and pink drifting past the rearview mirror.
Seeing ghosts: lurching, loitering, grey, dream-walking on the barren streets.
She drove on.
Finally arrived. Motel Flamingo: a shabby two-story establishment with walls appropriately painted in the bright color. Its little parking lot was almost full; amidst the taped-up spare-tired junks, a few fancy German cars sandwiched in between. She recognized the plates and knew who they belonged to. They were all here, waiting for the night to come, waiting for the surprise that was her.
She carefully parked her silver Mercedes near the red BMW: Katy's mom's. Her daughters had mentioned Katy as a friend. Proud to think they were so quick at making acquaintances at their new school! Not a bit like their mom. Wouldn't have known a single human being here had she not joined this Baking Moms group. How eagerly they took her onboard, by just eyeing her up, when she knew not a thing about baking!
Up the stairs, room 218, the suite at the end of the corridor, near the ice machine and trash bins. The yellow-brown curtains drawn in. Loud chatters and silly laughters inside, but no other funny noise yet. Saw her own dim reflection on the window: face of a still gorgeous middle-aged woman, but dressed rather plain, rather shabbily. Gave up on her public appearance since having the girls.
Hand raised in midair, suspended: what's stopping her? Afraid now is she? Isn't this what she wanted so badly for so long? But what about the consequences? She stood there, wavering back and forth.
Mrs. Kelly Jennings.
Richard's-loving-wife Jennings.
The fabulous Lucy-and-Grace's-mom Mrs. Jennings.
The 38-year-old redhead who still got the habit of greeting strangers in grocery with an old-fashioned grin not knowing they wanna fuck her sideways Jennings.
The flat-chested but fat-clit, shy-tempered but easy-climaxed, conventional model wife but craving for deviant sex, the newest pet from the Pine Springs School's hottest baking moms Jennings.
Whorish Jennings.
Whore. A whore.
To be or not to be, that's the question.
**
Because she could not open the door, it kindly opened for her. Welcome to the den of rich and depraved white whores like you, Mrs. Jennings.
Once in the room she shall never forget that terrible odor of weed, booze, and old carpet, of men's sweaty armpits and women's expensive fragrance. The air-conditioning was not on or had been broken. In the living room, young black men wearing in only boxers and socks, and among them, being held and groped and kissed at, were a few white women, all of whom members of the Baking Moms.