"Aunt Jessie needs you."
"Now what?" I asked, half-annoyed.
She was Mom's younger sister, and I loved her, but she was always getting in trouble.
"Honey, she's crying. Bill's over there again, and she's locked in her room! If I call the cops, who knows what they'll find in her place! She could wind up in jail, too!"
Wouldn't be the first time, I thought, but didn't say. "Okay, Mom, I'm right near there anyway, with work."
I hung up and kicked the Honda to life. So much for that beer, I thought, thirstily. I released the clutch, and my little bike kicked up gravel as I pulled out of the bar parking lot.
Big Bill meant trouble, he always did. Why was Jessie always attracted to losers like him?
In five minutes, I was outside, the front door was open, and I could hear them screaming. Once inside, I saw him, dragging her through the door.
He was drunk, luckily. Or I might as well call the cops. He had her by her blond hair, and she was screaming, cursing. All she had on was the tiniest bra and panties I had ever seen. They both turned when I said, "Hi, Kids, what's up?"
Bill's eyes were red and mean, and he snarled, "Ain't none of your business, Rory."
I pushed back my baseball cap and shrugged. "Probably right, Bill, but she's blood, and you know you got to stand up for blood."
"Oh, Rory, Baby, I'm so glad to see you!" she hollered.
"Shut up, Jessie. I'm sure Bill has a damn good reason to be dragging you around by your hair, but two men are speaking, so you keep your peace."
Back to Bill, I said, "Man to man, Bill, what ever it is, we can work it out, be it money, or property."
Bill glared at me. "Man to man! Why, you're just a boy! I used to whip your big brother Charlie just for fun! Now, I can do the same to you!"
So much for diplomacy.
"Bill, you know Charlie is over fighting for our freedom, even as we speak. A marine! Now, when he gets home on leave, I'd be willing to pay to see you do that to him now! He's filled out some."
I circled away from him, widening the gap, hoping he'd let Jessie go, and he did, having forgotten all about her. I kept talking.
"As for me, I'm 18 now, been working out. Now, don't let my height and weight fool you. Inside is locked a tiger!" I smiled when I said that, and he grunted.
"Yeah? Well, I always wanted to skin a tiger!" He charged me and I stepped back in the doorway and swung the big oak door, he hit it, hard, stumbled to one side, and I grabbed the pitcher with the dead tulips and swung it.
I caught him across the skull and everything crashed, including Bill into the foyer. I grabbed an old cane by the front door and cracked into his exposed ribs, and he hunched over. I shoved him through the front door, just as the patrol car pulled up, and Bill, all bloody and drunk, stumbled right into the fender.
After half an hour explaining to the officers how he had been asked politely to leave, and had refused, they left with a smile, Bill in tow. Jess declined to press charges, and they said they would hold old Bill until he sobered up, then they'd have to release him.
Through the rear window I said, "No hard feelings, Bill. Blood, you know?" He just groaned.
Jess hadn't sobered up any. As a matter of fact, she was pounding down the gin, when I came back in.
"You alright?" I asked.
"Don't talk me, You! I'm mad at you!"
"Me? I saved you!"
"You said hurtful things back there. Telling me to hush. Like women got no right to speak just like a man!"
I had to chuckle as I got myself a beer. I was feeling pretty good about how things worked out. Sober, Bill would probably calm down so we were safe until he got to drinking or she got to fussing, again.
"Don't you laugh at me, Rory, I'll give you a spanking!"
"Aunt Jessie, why can't you date normal guys, guys who don't get drunk and feel like beating you up?"
"Like who, you? Bet you'd like to get me in the sack, right?"
I shook my head. "You got a good heart. And you know men go crazy for you! You're still the prettiest girl in town, despite how you abuse yourself!"
She was thinking now. "All the nice guys are married or with a woman. Except the young ones, your friends are always hitting on me at the bar."
"Because you're always flirting, rubbing up against them playing pool, dancing. Hell, half the men in town would be privileged to be with you! But you pick..."
"You too?"
"Huh?"
She was playing again, toying with a man. She circled to where I sat on the couch, and curled up next to me, her bare feet under her, blue eyes, hidden behind that blond hair.
"I see how you look at me, Rory. Would you? Would you ball me?"
I smirked. "Don't play that game with me, Jess. You're Mom's sister, and I got no desire whatsoever to hit the sack with you."
Her fingers played with my hair. And she whispered, "I know, Rory, I seen you watching and I may not know a lot school wise, but I know men, and the way you look me over, you want me."
She blew hot air, and before I could swat her, I felt her wet tongue slide into my ear.
"Jess! Stop that!"
She giggle, clearly enjoying my discomfort, and deep down, I knew she was right. Since I was old enough to get an erection, I was hard for Jess. She was more like my friend than my aunt, only 15 years older than me, and I was like her play doll as a kid, always sitting for me, taking me around, holding me tight.
She whispered again, still close. "You don't remember but when you were young, you said you loved me and would marry me. I said we couldn't, and you cried and cried! It was so cute! You were maybe 9 or 10!"