PART I
SPEAKING IN TONGUES
2
MISS DOROTHY ALBRIGHT was going to be a pain in Trey’s ass, he thought darkly as Marina dove into the next few problems with glee. He could barely keep himself from returning the girl’s glare. He wondered how subtle he could be in backing her off without Marina getting his point.
“Miss Albright,” Trey began respectfully, hating that he had to show such deference to a sixteen-year-old girl. “I appreciate your concern for Marina. It’s not often people have friends as trustworthy and protective as you.”
Dot looked at him suspiciously. She knew he was going to take this somewhere, and, Trey thought, she might even know where he was going to take it.
“I imagine it’s difficult to watch out for someone not as experienced as you.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Marina was half paying attention, but too happy whenever she got a problem right, with a little nudge from Trey here and there, to care.
“Or perhaps you’re not used to having to watch out for her?” he asked slyly.
Her lip curled.
Then he mouthed, Jealous?
That made her face flush and her nostrils flare, but she couldn’t very well throw a drink in his face or accuse him of using Marina without in turn being accused of begrudging Marina some male attention.
Trey didn’t think she was. He’d observed her flirt and she was as walled off in her dress as Marina was in her trousers. She simply handled men differently because while she liked the attention, she knew men and what they wanted. She’d known Trey for what he was the second she laid eyes on him and he wasn’t sure she didn’t know Boss Tom on sight if he and her father were acquainted.
He looked her up and down with a sneer because Trey was surrounded by pretty women, some of whom wanted his attention. Dot wasn’t special.
If he accused Dot of being jealous, that could never be taken back and he’d put her on notice that he had no problem doing it. So if Dot cared for Marina at all, she’d keep her mouth shut.
But, as Trey had hoped, Dot got the message loud and clear and casually took a sip of her drink, flipped open a book, and began to read as if that was what she intended to do all along.
Marina, on the other hand, was zipping through her problems. It was simple if one didn’t overthink it, but Trey had had to be taught this way too. He had been as hopelessly lost as Marina and getting all the terms and concepts out of the way had been a revelation to him. He understood exactly how Marina was feeling at the moment and it was the first inkling that, in addition to the fact that he didn’t want to stop staring at this girl, he might actually be able to stand talking to her for more than half an hour.
Then she looked up at him with a delighted smile, her brown eyes sparkling. “Thank you!” she breathed.
Trey just stared at her, shellshocked and speechless. No, she was never going to be pretty and at first glance, she was interesting, but now she was arresting. “Um … you’re welcome,” he muttered, feeling like the uncoolest cat in the world. Then he shook himself because if he didn’t pay attention, his speech would start slipping. “Don’t let your math teacher confuse you tomorrow. It’s just matching up your numbers and letters—you’ll always be one number shy—”
“Sometimes two,” Dot said airily.
“Yes, and there’s a way to figure that,” Trey said, tamping down his irritation, “but you probably won’t have to do that for a while. Then you just work the problem around until you have a letter on one side and a number on the other and that’s your answer.”
“Thank you so much!” she breathed again, her genuine gratitude so disconcerting Trey didn’t quite know what to do or say. His girls threw him a thanks, daddy-o for this, that, or some other thing just because he was the boss, but girls like his knew kindness always came with a price and nobody was grateful for a “gift” they’d have to pay for eventually.
Marina wouldn’t know that, of course, but Trey didn’t know what unconditional gratitude felt like. He didn’t like it at all.
“You’re welcome,” he repeated softly. So he taught her how to do a math problem. So what. What he did like was that she thought he’d given her something valuable.
“What do you do for a living?” she asked out of the blue.
“I sell insurance,” he said by rote.
“Oh,” she said, a bit bewildered. Maybe she didn’t know what that was, but high school girls wouldn’t need to, he supposed. “The only thing I know about insurance is that the offices are boring when you’re waiting on somebody to finish their business.”
He smiled. “Say something bad happened to your house,” he began. “If you had bought insurance, the insurance company would pay to rebuild your house and replace all the stuff you lost. You buy an insurance policy and then you make payments. Then when the bad thing happens, you get that back and a lot more.”
Her brow wrinkled. “Well, what if nothing ever happens to your house? Do you get that money back?”
“No. You’re making a bet. You’re betting that it will happen. The insurance company is betting that it won’t happen. Nobody who loses a bet gets their money back.”
“But neither of you want it to happen, not like horse racing, where you’re betting for the thing you want.”
Trey risked a peek at Dot, who seemed interested in the conversation in spite of herself.
“True. So what I do,” he continued, “is get people to bet me that something bad will happen to them. They throw their money in the pot. They never see that money again unless something bad does happen, in which case, I have to pay whatever the terms of the bet were.”
“And you still have money left over because there are so many other people betting, but nothing happens to them,” she said.
“Yes,” he said, sort of surprised she came to that so quickly. “Good.”
“How old are you?” Dot asked abruptly.
“Twenty-four.”
“You’ve got some nice duds.”
“I make a good living,” he replied patiently, still trying to hold his tongue. He looked back at Marina. “Enough to support a wife and family.”
Both girls stilled. “You already have a wife and a family?” Dot asked carefully, not in challenge, but to verify what she thought he said.
“No,” he replied with as unthreatening an expression as he could muster.
“Oh,” she said softly, relaxing. Her permanent scowl faded a little and she gave him a tight smile. She began fussing with her napkin and her drink, wiping off the table, the base of the glass. Marina, flushed, worried the pages of her math book.
No, he wasn’t going to marry her, but the only way to get in any preacher’s daughter’s trousers was to let her think he was seriously courting her.
Except right now it was time for a strategic retreat. He slid out of the booth. “Miss Scarritt,” he said soberly. “Miss Albright.”
Dot wouldn’t look at him, but Marina gave him a very shy glance and smile. “Thank you again,” she said softly. “I can’t stop saying it, I guess.”
The corner of Trey’s mouth turned up a little. “You’re welcome. May I … Will you be here tomorrow?”
“We come here every day after school,” she said shyly. “Until our homework’s done. We have to be home by six.”
“Mm hm. Well, ladies, I’ll see you around.”
2
If you don’t want to wait 2 years to get to the end, you can buy it here.
Trey didn’t think she was.
She was jealous.
Trey is one sly dog. I could have used him as a mentor many years back.
Thanks, Mojeaux.
/In my best Marina voice
I dunno, he’s sounding like bad news.
Watch out, Marina.
In order for the genre to make sense, the purity of her love has to tame his animal lust and civilize him into a loving mate and father. It’s a microcosm of the heterosexual human condition before the Pill was invented. Once sex and reproduction were decoupled, all bets were off.
Agreed. I dunno how you people deal with it.
Aren’t sex and reproduction decoupled for you?
[ducking]
Quite well, thank you.
It does seem to have caused a dangerous dynamic in society. We’re dying out, albeit slowly.
Spoiler: She almost kinda doesn’t succeed. She changes more than he does,
I will never be that smooth or understanding of the female perspective.
Thank you so much for your writing.
On Topic.
https://thumb-p7.xhcdn.com/a/ZJEzua_CadcIQ0Agjt4sVw/000/155/524/707_1000.jpg
NSFW.
https://thumb-p6.xhcdn.com/a/S8tWiwzUD1XCMtMeMvKNuA/000/155/524/706_1000.jpg
NSFW.
https://thumb-p0.xhcdn.com/a/IoT_mi6cYRM_1ehMmxXXOg/000/160/635/780_450.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.ph/5FgRL/5e9a9cce01fc574144a078b653357c6e814085d0.jpg
NSFW.
She has a pretty face.
She did not mention tattoo’s.
You should try an algebra theme or maybe a dinner?
Glad she’s keeping warm.
Ugh. Now I’m digging a romance novel.
*shakes fist towards Missouri.
*Buys a Steely Dan album to smash.
Gay.
You ain’t lyin’, sister.
Hey, Mike-teen!
I’ve reeled in too many years to be a teen.
I’ve realled in, in too many years, to be a teen. Life before the Pill was scary and Le Petite Morte was non-existent, for the most part
Try Black as Knight.
Some handsome young man named Dale Saran on Bret Weinstein talking about vaccines and the military. I feel like I ‘know’ him from somewhere else…
You “know” him in a biblical way?
If they parted the Red Sea and drowned an army together he’d likely be remembered.
He looks weirdly familiar, but my bac isn’t high enough to be sure.
From the comments:
“In any military institution, you are chattel. Forced vaccinations were being perpetuated as early as the Vietnam war. Many vets from that era have testimony to that fact.”
Didn’t Washington force his troops to get smallpox inoculation?
Variolation. Edward Jenner hadn’t developed the smallpox vaccine yet.
That’s why I said inoculation, not vaccination…
“as early as the Vietnam war”
And before…
Downloaded; thanks for the alert. NB that he is the last guest of 3.
Sorry I was out, everyone, like literally, I’ve been sleeping all day. And now I’m going to go to bed.
Jelly.
I would love to just sleep for more than five hours or so anymore.
Hi, Mojeaux, I liked the first installment so much I bought the book. Someday I will have the time to just sit down and read a book.
Oh thank you so much! ❤️
MikeS tries to act like he’s First. He’s the sort of guy who just secretly craves a First up his ass. He’s a deviant. An Anti-Firster who has to be put down, and I’m just the guy to do it.
The time is coming. Repent of your seconds, Glibertariat.
No part of my First will ever enter anyone. It is pure. Sacred. I shall, however, eat the placenta after its birth as a celebration, and to recoup some of the massive amounts of energy I have given to grow it.
You been tellin’ me you’re a Firster,
Since you were here first seen.
In all the time I’ve known you,
I still don’t know what you mean.
Your weak attempt at Firsting,
Didn’t turn out like you planned,
Why you call yourself a Firster,
I can’t understand.
You finally submitted a post? Either a paragraph of the in character firsting or a serious work which you occasionally let slip through would be welcome.
ditto
I made a thing.
Is this the First time you made a thing?
The First of many First things.
Your thing is nice.
*courtsies
Relevant
You done good, MikeS. I take back some of the things I may or may not have said.
Heck of a week, needs music around here. Sms since MikeS has already nixed the William S Burroughs strapon, it’s Friday Night Cantopop!
https://youtu.be/M_Pp66g8nKw
Background
https://sites.google.com/site/cmhubertchen/html/queens_road_east
That’s interesting and now I feel sad for Hong Kong. A place I used to want to visit.
From the same era, “Made in Hong Kong”
https://youtu.be/3llxy2Ocb78
Same. I didn’t make to mainland either before the iron fist reasserted itself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Road_East_(song)
https://youtu.be/av5LvGLAqRw
I wish I had half the mustache power of George.
Gay.
What is with all the sweaty torsos.
Few coyotes out tonight. Guess the dogs will not be getting their late night walk
Tundra maybe posted this last afternoon:
https://twitter.com/iowahawkblog/status/1580990869502832640
‘My own personal observation is Midwesterners are friendly drunks, while Southerners are belligerent drunks. In the Midwest 30 beers is a nice afternoon ice fishing, in the South 3 beers is an excuse to start a fistfight’
Midwesterners never say ‘hold my beer’ because they’re too busy drinking it. Happy to see my home county on the drink list as well. As they say, a drinking town with a football problem. Happy Saturday y’all.
Growing up there was a bar on every corner, there are a lot fewer here in Florida as far as I can tell.
Mojeaux won’t see this: ‘Aspiring odalisque.’
Don’t tell me you wrote that blog? Or just a fan?
And now I can’t find it again… Drat.
Half baths are the greatest invention of mankind.
They’re the handjobs of bathrooms.
Serviceable, but not great.
Until you really really need to go and for some reason both full baths are busy. I miss my old house.
Go pee on your shrubs.
I guess they could use some fertilizer too… Not sure the neighbors will appreciate it though, I’m not in SF after all.
suh’ fam
whats goody yo
TALL CANS!
Covfefe and work!
Tall cans later,
Sup Tres?
I just got home from working all night. Its 5 pm for me.
Dunno how you second/this shift people do it. Terrible for you.
Its not horrible. The upside is that I can do things in the morning w/o taking time off from work.
Stores are rarely crowded. The tough part is trying to maintain a “normal” (not fractured) sleep routine. For me, I tend to come home, knock back a few beers, eat, then sleep for 4 or 5 hours. Then get up for a couple hours, then back to bed. It cant be healthy.
I used to volunteer for straight nights during summertime and I enjoyed it. It’s swing shift that stinks.
I did “split shift” for a year (the entire time I lived in SF) – 3 evenings + 2 overnights every week.
It sucked ass and it was union so there was nothing I could do about it but find another job.
Good morning, homey, Yu, Lack, Stinky, Sean, 4(20), and TO’G!
Our neighborhood seems to have acquired a nocturnal barky dog. Now, a barky dog isn’t necessarily a bad thing if they bark at suspicious interlopers. This barky dog, unfortunately, didn’t seem so discriminate in his vocalizations….😒
(Good morning to you, too, rhy!)
The only thing Liesl barks at is The Dozer. She’s completely useless at strangers, DoorDash, FedEX, or people walking down the street. She just sits and looks.
The other morning I let her out when Ghetto Bunny was in her yard….she ran past him to take a piss.
People in Wisconsin take pranks seriously:
“It was scary.” Athletes, parents call for firing of Baraboo athletic director, criminal charges for others in vigilante incident
https://nypost.com/2022/10/14/biden-prolongs-covid-emergency-to-act-like-a-dictator/
Maybe we can have another dark winter!
He approves whatever they put in front of him. I’m not exactly sure who the they is but they suck.
At this point he has become the Court Jester. He’s a funny guy…
The other day, while listening to talk radio, I learned that bacon wasnt always a “breakfast” food. It was Edward Bernays that changed things.
Freud’s Nephew and the Origins of Public Relations
Now I feel compelled to fry some bacon.
If someone was to serve me a big platter of bacon at dinner I wouldn’t be upset.
There’s no such thing as a bad time for bacon.
It’s baaaacon!! 🐕 🥓
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vnit_xL1hE