1
Two Weeks Later
On a rainy Tuesday evening Daniel Jackson's Ford Focus rolled back into Ealing for the second time that day. As with every day, first came the task of supervising the delivery of the large canvases, for which he usually hired a "man with a van" to help with transportation.
Now quite rebelliously David Axelrod's Holy Thursday rolled with Daniel, like a divine co-pilot. It beat the latest's van driver's gruff ambiance. John Scott wasn't a bad fella. He wasn't as heavy handed as he appeared, but then Daniel's generous pay, and grateful tips at the end of the night, made sure of that.
He just had about as much class as ketchup on a flatiron steak. "Fackin' 'ell, she's a bit of awroight, int she?" he said when he first laid eyes on one of the canvasses. Credit due, the woman in the picture, Crystal Roberts her name was, was a stunning black woman of forty-three.
For some reason, Daniel had John down as a man who might have adverse reactions to an older black woman, whose ample blessings were not as pert and youthful as they used to be. That was on him, and he cursed himself a presumptuous ass. Times, after all, had changed. He himself couldn't afford to think regressively, despite the attitudes that would always remain.
But no, John had taken time to soak in the sight, as Daniel feared grimy fingerprints, because it was always the little things that spoiled an exhibition when your work hung under a spotlight. The perfectionist suffered himself, if anything.
"Yeah... yeah..." John said absently, scratching his bearded double-chin. "I'd take her phone number!"
'I don't think her partner there would let you, but I imagine she'd be flattered,' Daniel humoured the driver, pointing to the man embracing her from behind, almost a shadow himself. He wasn't about to tell John that Terrence was Crystal's son, and that John's jungle fever would have to pass untreated.
Daniel now laughed to himself as he approached the car park, where he called John from behind the wheel, turning the music off. 'It's Dan Jackson, John. Get home safe?'
'Awroight mate, yeah, yeah,' came the familiar jovial bellow. 'Safe and sound.'
'Excellent! Listen, I'll let you know later if I need you back. Otherwise I've wired your pay to your bank already. If not, I may need you in another few weeks, if you're available.
'Oh, yer a star, mate, thank you,' John gnashed excitedly at the phone. 'You take care then and I'll keep me phone handy!'
With that, John was gone, and Daniel was grinning ear to ear. Life was good. And who was he kidding? He liked John. John was a delightfully simple and honest character, but the operate word there was "character". Of course he'd be back!
Dressed to kill and ready for anything, Daniel bounded towards the next exhibition evening. The last two weeks had been such a success that nothing seemed capable of stopping him.
And the next morning Daniel surprised his mother at the front door with champagne and fresh roses, stood there in the lashing rain with a silly grin on his face. Nothing had stopped him. Another successful night done, he was riding too high on life to be bothered by the small things.
'You look like a drowned rat,' she said in a fit of hysterics. 'Will you come out of the rain?!'
'I'm watering your flowers, mum' he said before he had to be dragged indoors.
So Daniel spent that morning with Linda, dressed down to his boxer shorts with a warm towel over his shoulders as his clothes dried on the bathroom radiator.
'I wasn't planning on drinking champagne in the morning, you know,' she said with the faintest devilish gleam in her eyes as she rose the tulip glass to her lips. Again, they were sat at the breakfast bar.
'I didn't buy it for the morning, mum,' Daniel told her with a guilty look as he sipped his own. 'I just thought you might find an occasion.'
'Every moment with you is an occasion, darling,' she complimented freely. 'Oh but I could have saved it for the dinner,' she suddenly remembered.
'Hmm?'
'Mary and Adam are coming to dinner, remember?'
'Oh god I totally forgot,' Daniel said and slapped himself. 'When?'
'Friday evening,' Linda said, now worried. 'I told you Monday.'
'Ohhhh, shit!' Daniel spat those words out so dramatically, eyeing his mother with guilt before resting his head in his hands. And then he smiled at her and throated an impish laugh. 'Yes, she told me earlier this week when she called me. I'll be there, with pants on.'
'Tease!' she scorned. Daniel shrugged, didn't argue. That he was, after all.
'She called to tell me something else,' he then hinted, testing to see if his mother might know anything, or if she was holding any other expectations.
'Oh?' was his mother's muted response, and then a pregnant pause. 'Say anything interesting?'
Daniel regarded his mother seriously for a moment and then warmed to her, knowing that he couldn't keep a secret, even if he wanted to. At least not for long - being that the nature of Daniel and Mary's phone conversation that same Monday night proposed a very interesting opportunity.
'She told me that the two of you had a long chat Sunday night,' he said carefully. Even just at that his mother seemed to become slave to anticipation.
'Yes?' she inquired.
'Shall I make it easy on you?' Daniel suggested, trying not to be cruel.
'Please.'
'You really want me to photograph you naked?' he asked. 'Is it really something you'd like to do?'
'Oh god,' Linda blushed, the champagne having stealthily taken her guard down. 'That sneaky cow,' she gushed, but in no way maliciously. Daniel baited his breath. It was the only way not to laugh, or to say too much. 'I'm obsessed aren't I?'
'So?'
'So I've probably terrified you in the act of making a fool of myself,' Linda cursed. Daniel shook his head as a way of assuring her, and then curled one corner of his mouth into a forgiving smile. He had nothing to forgive her for at all, of course, but if it made her feel okay about it...
'You doing anything else today?'
'No, darling,' she said once over herself. 'Why?'
'Let's do it,' Daniel said. That caused her heart to take a leap out of line. 'We could go now.'
'Oh I don't know,' she said, flushing and fidgeting all at once. Then another pause and she clamped her lips together, thinking hard and fast. 'Really?'
'If it would make you happy, if it's something you really want to do,' Daniel nodded, 'I didn't have to think too long. It'd be an honour.'
'Naked, though?' his mother tested, whether her son or herself, she wasn't sure.
'You said it,' he humoured, recalling Mary's words. 'We have Dutch courage for the occasion,' he demonstrated, picking up the champagne bottle and waving it heavily before her. 'If you really want to do something daring, then usually the best way is to jump right in before you think too much.'
And there was no denying that his mother was warming to the idea, not just of the prospect of investigating her own fascination, but also of daring herself to do something out of the ordinary. It'd been a long time since she flaunted her body.
When that long period of consideration finally came to an end, Linda found herself staring blankly at her son, but then after that she couldn't contain the schoolgirl within. Now she was giggling and flushing red all at once.
'You're beautiful from head to toe, mother,' Daniel said freely. 'You'll make a fine work of art!'
2
The taxi dropped them off at Daniel's private studio, Daniel, his mum, and the bottle of half-drank champagne. Daniel's clothes finally dried after the previous downpour, another one had started by the time they were on the street. Now both had taken a soaking. Inside, lights on, the studio alive once again, the heaters went on to warm the room.
This was not Linda's first time here, though her eyes scanned the room as though it were different since the last time. Of course, the bed at the far end was a new addition, and when her eyes fell upon it, her mind was again filled with the lewd images left by Daniel, Mary and Adam.
That's where the magic happened, she wanted to say, but thought better not to. The bed was bare, the sheets removed, but a small pile of them lay neatly at the fourth wall. Daniel might have repeated his themes, but he was at least consistent in how he dressed them.
'The room will warm up in no time,' he said with a slight shudder as he felt his own clothes stick to him. 'I'll get set up with the lights and you can get, err... undressed,' now grinning, 'in the wardrobe back there...'
His mother didn't say a word. She was half-smiling, but anxiety, and/or uncertainty, were now beginning to show.
'It'll be dark when you come back in,' he tried to be helpful of her nerves. 'Just the spotlight and a reflector and a couple of mirrors to bounce the light back and forth.'
'Okay,' was all she said, and when he was finished setting up fifteen minutes later, camera in hand and ready to start, she was nowhere to be seen. Daniel approached the changing room door carefully, not to rush, and rapped lightly.
