Jackie

Antoine bothered her whenever possible; and as he was by nature quite lazy, meant he had lots of free time to bother her.

"Shouldn't you be washing dishes or something?" she finally snapped at him and he grumbled under his breath as Jim, the manager of the diner glared at him.

Antoine did not understand that stuck up bitch; they were the only black people at the diner that right there should have made her his girl. He had a super fine cornrow style, and a big gold tooth right in front, letting her know he had the ways and the means to keep her satisfied. Yet, she didn't want to know nothing about it.

----

Melanie tired of leaving messages with the coolly efficient Katherine; the way that yellow bitch smugly told her that 'Mr. McCall is not available, would you like to leave a message?' let Melanie know that no matter how loud she demanded, Katherine wasn't going to pass her through to him.

Charles looked through the twelve messages, shook his head no, and tossed them into the garbage. He walked out of his office and waited for the elevator. Katherine made a couple of notes to herself and shut down the telephones. She was still at her desk when Charles pulled out into the maddening crawl that was Rush Hour traffic in New Orleans.

----

Darkness approached and Jackie bustled about, taking care of the small dinner rush they had. The clock approached nine o'clock and she had finally quit looking for that big car and started looking to the three stragglers to leave so that she could catch the bus before they stopped running.

"Jackie, telephone," Jim called out.

Antoine wanted to hang up the telephone; why was anyone calling for her? He hovered nearby, hoping to overhear the conversation.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hey, it's me, Charles, I mean, Charlie," a deep voice said on the other end.

"Um, okay," Jackie, said, unsure of whom Charles or Charlie was. The name was familiar though.

"I was in there last night, the one with the big old Mercedes-Benz," he reminded her.

"Oh yeah, yeah, yeah!" she laughed. "What's happening, Charlie?"

"What time you get off?" he asked her.

"Um, in about twenty five minutes," she said.

"How would you like to go get a couple of drinks, nothing fancy, oh, hang on, are you old enough to drink?" he said, suddenly aware that she might not be old enough.

"Yeah, I'm old enough," she laughed merrily. "I'm twenty!"

Charles couldn't help but smile; she was twenty-four years younger then he.

"Yeah, that sounds good," she was saying into the phone. "When?"

"I'll be there in about twenty five minutes," he cheerfully said and hung up.

"Who the fuck's Charlie?" Antoine demanded.

"None of your fucking business," she snapped back at him and went out to the dining floor. The last of her customers waved good-bye to her and she smiled and waved back.

"Y'all come back now, here?" she cheerfully said and went to clear off their table. If she waited for Antoine to do it, the dishes would still be there until closing time, when Jim would make him go get them.

"Who the fuck's Charlie?" Antoine demanded again and she ignored him.

----

Charles laughed at himself; he'd started to put his suit back on, and then realized he wasn't going on a date with Melanie; he could dress comfortably. He slipped on a polo shirt, a pair of khakis, and his penny loafers. He checked his hair, and his breath, then grabbed the keys for his car and cheerfully loped down the stairs.

----

"Aw, look at this fucking shit!" Antoine stamped his foot in disbelief.

She was getting into a big bad Mercedes-Benz. There was no way he'd be able to stack up against that kind of ride.

"Yeah, nice car," Jim said.

"Aw, man, this is just too much!" Antoine said and half-heartedly slapped the mop on the floor.

"Hi," Jackie said nervously as she slid into the car.

"Hey," Charles said nervously as well.

The civil rights movement may have culminated in equal rights for all, no matter what color their skin, but this was still Louisiana, the Deep South. He knew where he and Melanie would go to have a few cocktails, to unwind (as much as Melanie could unwind while making disparaging remarks about her co-workers, her clients, the staff at the bar, the patrons at the bar.) but he knew that The Lark would be less than warm and receptive to Jackie.

He saw a small bar; it's sign only half-lighted and decided to brave it. He playfully slapped Jackie's hand away from the stereo controls.

"You listening to elevator music," she lightly complained. "I want some tunes."

"Chopin is not 'elevator music,' he laughed, but switched it from cassette to radio and found a rhythm and blues station for her.

----

The bartender did not even look up when they entered, just continued checking the shelf stock.

"What you like?" Charlie asked her as they found a booth.

"Um, whatever you're having, I guess," Jackie answered.

"Yeah?" Frank asked.

He wasn't friendly, but he wasn't unfriendly either. He had seen so many people come and go that the color of their skin didn't matter to him, just the color of their money.

"I'm going to have a gin and tonic with a twist, and um, how about a Tom Collins for the woman?" Charles said.

"Yeah," Frank said and quickly, deliberately made the drinks. Charlie noticed that no movement was wasted, Frank was a true professional.

"Been doing this long?" Charles asked him.

"Most of my life," Frank agreed and let a rare smile crease his face.

Jackie was bent over, reading the song titles on the jukebox and Charles couldn't help but admire her full, round ass, especially when she unwittingly was swaying it back and forth in time to some unheard melody.

"Charlie, give me a quarter?" she begged when she found a song she liked.

"Here you go, Charlie," Frank said and put his change on the bar.

Charlie laughed; no one called him 'Charlie,' but he was getting used to it.

"Here you go, sweetheart, he said and handed her a quarter.

'Me and Mrs. Jones; belted out and Jackie playfully grabbed him and squeezed him hard.

"Ooh, I love this song!" she cried out.

"It's very quickly becoming a favorite of mine too," he said and they swayed to the music until it finished.

"You get three songs to a quarter," Frank called out and Jackie again gent to the task of selecting another song.

Both Charlie and Frank watched her ass and smiled.

"Ooh, I like this, what's this called?" Jackie asked as she took a sip of the sweet concoction.

"It's a Tom Collins," Charlie said and she drank it quickly.

She sipped the second drink a little slower and hummed along with Aretha Franklin's 'Chain of Fools.' She caught Charlie's eyes looking down the front of her blouse and shrieked in laughter when he blushed. He noticed that she did not button the blouse to cover the very pleasant sight though.

----

"I had a really nice time," she murmured as they stood outside of her apartment door. She held him tightly, her large breasts mashed into his belly.

"Me too, I hope we can do it again," he said and kissed her lightly.

She returned his kiss and it soon became an open mouthed kiss.

"Damn," he said when they parted.

"Yeah, you need to go, before I do something I don't want to do," she said and lightly pushed him away.

"Okay," he agreed and slowly walked toward the stairs.

"Good night Charlie," she called out and opened the door to her apartment.

----

The message light on his answering machine blinked eight times paused, then blinked eight times.

"She liked everything," he said to the answering machine. "She liked the bar, even though it was a dump, she liked the songs on the jukebox, she liked the drinks, she liked the kiss. When's the last fucking time you liked any fucking thing, Melanie?"

Sure enough, seven of the eight messages were from Melanie, ranging in emotions from dripping with sweetness as she 'apologized' in a little girl voice, to tense to screeching in rage.

The other message was from Robin, complaining about the repair bill to her Corvette and the accident wasn't even her fault; she'd dropped a tape on the floor and when she bent over to pick it up...

Charlie suspected that Robin was drinking, and drinking quite heavily, but every time he tried to talk to Loretta about it, or every time he brought it up to Robin, he was given any number of excuses.

"Hi Loretta," he said. "Is Robin there?"

She wasn't happy to hear that Daddy wasn't going to pay the bill. Whether she dropped a tape on the floor or not, the accident was indeed her fault and she would have to figure out some way to pay for it.

Chapter 5

Katherine had no smile on her face as she handed him the stack of messages from Melanie the following morning.

"I'll call her," he promised her and she dourly nodded her head in agreement.

----

Katherine burst into laughter when the florist delivered a bouquet of dead, withered roses. Charlie didn't have to read the card to know whom it was from.

"Want me to have a skunk cabbage sent to her, or how about a Venus flytrap?" she asked him in amusement.

"No, but flowers are a good idea," he smiled and took the phone number from her as she wrote it out for him.

"On the card?" Charlie asked. "Um, I guess just put, 'Thinking of you, Charlie.'"

The clerk wrote out the message, but put 'Love, Charlie.'

----

Jackie screamed aloud when the vase of red and white roses was delivered. Gary let her put it on the counter and smiled and shook his head; she kept returning to the vase to read the card and smell the roses.

Antoine thought very seriously about 'accidentally' knocking over the vase but a dead-eyed stare from Gary let him know that he'd be in a pile of trouble if he did that.

"What kind of mother fucker be giving that bitch flowers anyway," he groused to himself.

----

The message light blinked twice. He listened to Loretta's shrill complaint about Robin and her car trouble and... He deleted the message. The second one was nothing but dead silence and he assumed it was from Melanie.

----

"Jackie, telephone!" Gary called out and Antoine wanted to grab the phone and tell this 'Charlie' guy to go to hell.

"I got your flowers, thank you so much," she said into the phone.

"You're quite welcome," he smiled.

Her gratitude was evident, and it was real.

"Can I see you tonight?" he asked and smiled when she excitedly reminded him that she got off in about forty-five minutes.

"Good, see you then," he said and hung up.

----

"Nice flowers, man," Gary smiled as Charlie walked in. "She's in the back, getting all decked out for you."

"Thanks," Charlie smiled and looked at the vase. He did a double take when he saw the card and saw that the clerk had written 'Love.'

Jackie came out from the back and wrapped her arms tightly around Charlie. Over her head, he saw Gary smile and shake his head. He couldn't help but smile as well.

"Good night," Gary called out as Charlie held the door open for Jackie, who was carrying the vase of flowers.

----

"Forgot behind the counter," Gary coldly reminded Antoine who was pushing the mop bucket down the hall.

Antoine was highly irritated; if he didn't hurry up he was going to miss the last bus. He reminded Gary of that fact and Gary shrugged his shoulders.

"Well if you had been doing your job, instead of fucking around, you'd be done by now," Gary reminded him.

"Aw, man! What about that bitch, Jackie? Huh? You let her out of here early and shit," Antoine demanded.

"She was all caught up, and besides that, she's a lot cuter than you," Gary said easily. "Oops, looks like the bus is running early, don't it?"

Antoine looked out the front window as the last bus whizzed past the diner.

----

Frank let another rare smile crease his face as Charlie and Jackie came in. Jackie clutched the quarter that Charlie gave her and skipped over to the jukebox.

"Usual?" Frank asked and Charlie nodded.

'Me and Mrs. Jones' belted out and Jackie's smile was wide as she waited for Charlie to come dance with her.

Two drinks later, Charlie asked her about where she grew up. Her good mood faded and he looked at her, surprised.

"I grew up in the projects. Fisher Street, ever heard of it?" she said harshly.

"Um, yeah, right when you cross over the Mississippi River Bridge, right?" Charlie asked.

"Uh huh, and that's where all us n*ggers come from, right? The Projects, right?" she said angrily.

Hey, hey, who called you an n*gger, huh?" he asked, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Ain't no good mother fucker ever come out of that place," she spat, unmindful of his statement.

"My momma bought a radio once. A radio. They kicked in our door just to steal it," she said bitterly. "Ain't anybody nobody wanting a mother fucker to get ahead, have no nice stuff, nothing!"?

Charlie let her talk; it was obviously something she needed to talk about.

"You know my cousin tried to quit smoking weed, it was getting to be a real problem, you know? Them mother fuckers said he was turning narc, fucked him all up and stuff, just 'cause he wasn't buying," she said and slammed her drink glass down.

"When I was moving, I couldn't tell no one, not even my best friend, we was like sisters, but they hear you moving, they know you got money. They kill you just to get at some money," she said and glared at him.

"I'm sorry you had to live like that," he quietly said.

"Yeah? Well, ain't shit you can do about it now, is there?" she said.

"Nope," he agreed and lightly kissed her forehead.

A moment later she leaned against him.

"Sorry I dumped all that shit on you," she murmured.

"It's all right," he said and kissed her forehead again.

"I got to go," she said. "I work the early shift tomorrow."

"Okay," he said and slid out of the booth.

"Good night," Frank called out.

----

"So, how about I pick you up, say about seven, and we go get something to eat?" Charlie asked her, but before she could answer, was sliding his tongue into her mouth again.

"Charlie, you see what I got on?" she answered him when she was able to pull away from his kisses.

"Mm-hmm," he said and lightly stroked her back, just above the waistband of her jeans.

"Charlie, this is the nicest stuff I got," she said. "I ain't got no clothes be going to the kind of places you like to go."

"How you know?" he lightly asked her. "I could be a big fan of McDonald's."

"You are not," she laughed and kissed him again.

"I'll pick you up at work, you get off at five, right?" he asked her.

"Uh huh," she agreed and finally pushed him away.

Chapter 6

"Got a hot date tonight?" Katherine asked as she handed her boss his dossier for the day.

: Uh, yeah," Charlie agreed and looked at her. "How'd you know that?"

"Green tie," she said. "You always wear the green tie when you have a date."

----

Jim smiled and shook his head in amusement; Jackie was a bundle of nervous energy. As it was a Federal holiday, Chad had the day off of school and was working the day shift as well, so Jim agreed that Jackie could take a slightly longer lunch break.

"It ain't like I'm getting any work out of you anyway," he joked.

----

Loretta McCall bristled inside as the young black girl looked around at the bras. She eyed the girl's large purse with real suspicion and decided to keep a close eye on the girl.

"May I help you?" she asked the girl.

"Uh, yeah, I got a real nice date tonight," Jackie smiled, blushing slightly. "This pink one, you got it in a thirty eight Double D?"

"And have the matching panties, you like briefs or bikini?" Loretta agreed.

Dislike was dislike, but commission was commission, money in her pocket.

"Ooh!" Jackie laughed. "Give me the bikini ones!"

Loretta quickly found the matching panties and also helped Jackie pick out lavender set.

"Do you prefer pantyhose, or stockings?" Loretta asked.

It was a very slow day in the lingerie department.

"I bet Charlie would like them stockings," Jackie mused.

"Especially if Charlie likes big Asses," Loretta thought to herself, but helped Jackie pick out three pair of stockings and a simple cream-colored garter belt.

"See, it goes with the pink, or the lavender, or almost anything else you own," Loretta smiled.

"Thank you so much," Jackie bubbled and clutched her precious purchase to her chest as she ran out of the store to catch the bus back to the diner.

Loretta turned on her friendliest smile for a white matron that was looking for a girdle.

----

Melanie was finding it hard to concentrate on her client; she had wanted to quit selling Real Estate long ago. Marriage to Charles McCall would have made that possible, but for whatever reason, Charles had dropped her.

The dead and withered roses were a nice touch, though; she had to smile at that. The client was finding yet another objection to the condominium and she forced a smile on her face.

"But if you don't like the wallpaper, you can change it," she said cheerfully. "Did you see the swimming pool? Boy, I tell you, there's nothing like being able to jump into the pool after a long day at the office."

"I just don't know," Thomas mused, looking again at the offensive wallpaper.

"At sixty one five, these are going pretty quick," Melanie said and turned to leave the unit.

"I just don't know," Thomas said again and looked at the small kitchen.

----

"Go, go, damn it," Jim said and Jackie dashed into the back to change into her new undergarments.

"Got a date with Charlie," Jackie excitedly told Chad as she raced past him.

"Lucky bastard," Jim muttered as he scraped the grill clean.

"Hi, Mr. McCall," Chad said as he put the rack of glasses behind the counter.

"Hey Chad!" Charlie said.

He remembered the young man from when Chad had dated Robin. He liked Chad; the boy seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, and seemed as if hard work wasn't something he was afraid of.

"I didn't know you worked here," Charlie said.

"Depends on how you define 'work,'" Jim teased.

"Yes sir," Chad said and rolled his eyes at Jim. "Can I help you?"

"No, just here to pick up my girlfriend," Charlie smiled.

"Oh?" Chad said, keeping his face bland. He had not liked Melanie Richards at all, but didn't see any reason to let Mr. McCall know that. "And how is Miss Richards?"

"Beats the hell out of me," Charlie laughed and turned to smile as Jackie came rushing out from the back.

"Hi Charlie!" Jackie said and hugged him tightly.

"Hi Sweetheart," Charlie said and kissed her on her lips.

"Good seeing you, Chad," He said and arm in arm, Charlie and Jackie left the diner.

"That?" Jim said to Chad. "That's what she's all tied up in knots about? Some old guy?"

"Well, you know what they say, 'love is blind,'" Chad said.

"Color blind too," Jim agreed.

"Yeah, maybe one day even you might find someone," Chad teased Jim.

----

"What we doing here?" Jackie asked when Charlie pulled into the Shopping Mall's parking lot.

"Last night, you said you didn't have any clothes for going out," he said.

"And you said we was going to McDonald's," she said.

"We were, but I changed my mind," he smiled and held her hand as they walked through the parking lot.

----

Robin sat and laughed with Angela; they were sipping their Orange Julius drinks and making fun of other shoppers.

She didn't really like Angela, but Angela did drive a really nice Pontiac Grand Prix.

"Look at this," Angela leaned over and pointed to a white man and a black woman. "N*gger lover."

Robin turned to smirk and felt the blood rush from her face. It was her father and some black girl, holding hands.

"Some people, huh? Must watch 'The Jeffersons' a lot," Angela sneered and looked over at a really fat woman and her two really fat kids.