Chapter 3
Judy was on her third glass of Gallo Tawny Port when she first noticed a tall, sandy haired guy staring intently at her. He was well over six feet tall, slim and had a pair of shiny black leather pants on.
Judy avoided his burning gaze at first, trying to look nonchallant, until Bambi wandered by, a fine ring of white—Judy guessed it to be coke— circling the edge of either nostril. Her eyes were like red slits. Judy grinned. Bambi always did know how to party.
"Enjoying yourself, kid?" Bambi wanted to know.
"You bet," Judy replied. "Although I'd enjoy it a lot more if that guy wasn't staring at me."
Bambi swiveled her head around.
"That guy there?" she asked, pointing to the starer in question.
Judy nodded.
"Ain't he cute?" Bambi asked her friend.
"He sure is, "Judy agreed. "Who is he?"
"He's hot for you, that's who," Bambi said. "He already asked me who you were and if you were married or with someone. His name is Dave Zapata, he's the head of the creative department down at the agency, makes upwards of about fifty G's a year and best of all, he's straight, at least, that's what two of the secretaries told me. Wanna meet him?"
"Oh, no, I couldn't, "Judy stammmered."I mean, I wouldn't know what to say to him...we're from two different worlds. He'd probably find me boring or shallow or both..
"Oh, quit shakin' your tamborine, for Chrissakes," Bambi said, taking Judy by the arm and dragging her across the loft to where Dave was standing.
"Dave, this is Judy," Bambi said to the handsome dude.
"I know," Dave said simply, and whisked Judy off to a secluded part of the loft.
"I've been watching you," Dave said with a confidence that made Judy a little uneasy, as though he'd recited the line to a million other girls. "You looked like you felt out of place here."
"A little, I guess,"Judy admitted."Everybody's so different here than the kind of people I'm used to."
"Don't let these plastic people faze you," Dave assured her." They squat when they shit, just like everyone else."
Judy laughed and began to relax a little.
"What's that you're drinking?"
"Some kind of wine. Gallo, I think."
Dave wrinkled his nose in distaste.
"I thought so," he said, sniffing the contents of her glass. "I bet Sid Highsmith brought it, the cheap fink. The man pulls in two hundred G's a year and buys the cheapest wine on the market. Jesus. Your tastebuds will die a slow and painful death from that shit. Let's get you something that'll put hair on your chest."
He lead her over to the bar, stepped behind it and started mixing about six different kinds of booze together in a martini shaker.He shook it up and poured it into a big glass.
"Drink up," he smiled.
"What is it?"
"My own creation," Dave explained."It's called a Viva Zapata. Two sips and you try to invade Mexico."
"With a recommendation like that," Judy giggled,"how can I refuse?"
She downed it in two quick gulps.
Dave was right there with another, which Judy also downed, although not as quickly as the first one.
When she was done, her head was spinning and her inhibitions lowered with each sip, which did not go unnoticed.
"Are you trying to get me drunk?" she asked, her speech thick.
"Do you want an honest answer?"
"Yes."
"I am trying my utmost to get you drunk," he admitted,"in the hope that you'll spend the night with me."
"You don't waste any words, do you?"
"I don't waste any time, either," he said, taking her arm gently and leading her away. "So how about it? Wanna go back to my place for a spot of heavy breathing?"
"I dunno," Judy said nervously."I mean, my husband hasn't even been gone a month yet, and I'd feel,I dunno, kind of funny.
"I can't bring him back," Dave said, his big blue eyes gazing intently into hers,"but I'll try my damndest to help you forget him."
Before Judy could reply, Dave was helping her on with her coat and ushering her toward the door.
"I didn't say goodbye to Bambi and Steve,"Judy said, feeling giddy now.
"Don't worry,"Dave assured her. "Bambi understands these things. Anyway, you'll be seeing her Monday."
"I will?"
"Sure," Dave said."When you start work at the agency."
"When I what?"
"Look," Dave said. "Bambi explained the situation to me, about how you were all alone now and needed a job. So, starting Monday morning, you'll be playing receptionist at the agency, and don't argue, because it's all been arranged."
"But I have no experience," Judy protested as Dave guided her down the stairs and onto the deserted SoHo street. He stuck two fingers in his mouth and emitted a shrill whistle. A yellow Checker cab materialized from nowhere and pulled up in front of them. Dave opened the door for her. Judy climbed inside.
"Maybe you don't," he said to her. To the driver, a skinny Black guy with an Afro, he said, "Montague Street and Court in the Heights."
"Okay to take the bridge?" the driver asked.
"Take the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel," Dave advised."It's quicker. I'll take care of the toll.
"You're the boss," the driver said agreeably, and sped off.
"So it's all settled, then?" Dave asked her as the taxi careened down the Bowery.
"But I have no experience being a receptionist.!'
"I already told you it's okay," Dave said,putting an arm around her and pulling her close. "You've got a brain that works, and sometimes that's more important than experience. Christ, I only met you an hour ago and already I can tell that you got more on the ball than most of the brainless bimbos we got working down there. You'll do fine.
He leaned in closer to her and kissed her gently on the mouth.
"I like you a lot, Judy," he said sincerely, his hand coming to rest on her left boob. He kissed her again."You're the genuine article, not one of these tough, gum snapping heavily made-up Upper East Side cunts you see all over the city. I like that."
He pressed his lips against hers again, embracing her tightly but gently, totally different from the way Bill had in their better days. To her surprise, Judy found herself kissing him back.
She was slightly uncomfortable smooching in the backseat of a cab though. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the cabbie checking out the action in the rear view mirror, which made her a trifle uneasy.
When Dave snaked his tongue into her mouth, however, her unease trickled away and she surrendered herself to his embrace completely.
Moments later, the cab pulled up in front of a gorgeous brownstone.
Dave's lips never leaving hers, he deftly handed the cabbie a ten-spot and waved his hand, indicating to the cabbie that he could keep the change.
The Checker zoomed away, leaving them standing there, still kissing passionately. Finally, they broke apart, and Dave lead her up the stoop to his spacious apartment.
The furniture was tasteful, but somewhat worn. Clothes — clean and dirty — were strewn all over the apartment. A real bachelor pad.
"Sorry the place is such a mess," he apologized." My maid just got married."
"When?"
"Seven years ago," he replied, "to my cousin Miguel. Care for a nightcap.
"A Tab would be nice,"Judy replied.
Dave disappeared into the tiny kitchenette and opened the fridge. Inside were three rotten eggs, a burned out light bulb and one filthy tennis sneaker, but no Tab, or for that matter, nothing fit for consumption, human or otherwise.
"Urn, I'm all out of Tab," Dave called from the kitchen as Judy settled onto the sofa. "I could run out to the all-night deli if you're really thirsty though. It's only seventeen blocks away."
"Not necessary," Judy called back,and pulled a pair of sheer black panties out from between the cushions. She held them up for inspection as Dave returned.
Dave grinned weakly, gazing at the panties and totally unable to remember who they belonged to.
"Yours?" Judy asked, and Dave was relieved to note that she seemed not the least bit angry.
"Um...I think my grandmother left those here," he stammered.
"She has good taste," Judy commented, and tossed them aside as Dave settled down next to her.
She immediately noticed the huge bulge in his shiny leather pants and tried not to.
Dave's arms were around her before she could say boo.
"I love you," he whispered in her ear. "Love me?" she asked incredulously." You just met me two hours ago."
"Sue me," he replied." I'm an incurable romantic."
And he was.
"Do you wanna make love to me?" he asked softly. "I know you've been through a lot and may not be ready yet."
Judy was impressed. Most of the guys she'd known, her own late husband most notably, never asked. They just grabbed and started pumping away with little regard for her feelings. She liked this Dave Zapata a lot more now.
"I'd like it a lot," Judy admitted. "I...I just hope you won't be disappointed with me. I mean, I've only been with one man other than my husband and I'm not very experienced."
Dave was tempted to say something like, "Don't worry, I've had enough experience for the both of us," but didn't.
Instead, he eased Judy onto her back and smothered her body with his.
"Trust me," he whispered in her ear,nibbling on it.
She trusted him.
"Mummmppphhh," Judy grunted.
Dave was fully atop her now, his hand snaking under her blouse and bra. The tips of his fingers prodded her firm nipples. Taking one between the tips of his fingers, he squeezed it gently.
"Eep," Judy gasped.
"Did you like that?" he asked in a whisper.
"Oh, yes," she moaned.
Dave repeated the process on the alternate nipple. At the same time, he resumed kissing her passionately.He slid his tongue into her waiting mouth, and she rose to the occasion, throwing her arms around him and pulling him down against her more tightly.
For that moment, she was his.
And Dave Zapata knew it. From past experience.
He started to scramble out of his clothes. He was wearing a leather zip-down shirt that matched his pants.
Down went the zipper on his shirt. Judy marveled at his flat, hard stomach and hairy chest. She brought her hands up and started rubbing, feeling the scratchy hair between her fingers. Something inside of her started to flutter.
"I showed you mine, chickie," Dave said with a grin. "Now show me yours."
With Dave still straddling her on the couch, Judy began to unbutton her blouse slowly, her hands trembling with excitement.
"Don't be nervous," Dave soothed. "Believe me, once we get the ball rolling, it'll be heaven." He didn't disappoint her. He finished unbuttoning her blouse and skillfully reached behind her and unsnapped her bra strap with a deft move of his fingers. He pulled the bra off of her. Her tits spilled out, her nipples erect with excitement.
He lowered his lips down onto them, taking the firm, brown knob gently between his teeth and sucking it into his mouth. He lapped hungrily at the firm nipple and massaged the other breast at the same time.
His hand slid down to her jeans and then under them, his fingers probing for the hairy bush that lied beneath the tight pants.
He found what he was looking for. He began to stroke her hot twat slowly, his fingers searching, searching.
His forefinger found the little man in the boat. Dave tickled his ear and Judy flinched under him as his tongue continued sliding over the ever-swelling nipple.
"Did your husband ever do this to you?" he wanted to know.
"Never...never..." she gasped. He slid his tongue across her chest until his lips found the opposite nipple. He repeated the process on the other nipple, slowly lapping and biting it gently until Judy began to writhe sensuously under him.
She ran her fingers through his jet black hair as he continued sucking her tender nipples.
Judy was still writhing as Dave unsnapped her jeans and started yanking them down her long sleek legs.
He whistled softly. This bitch was hot looking.
She was wearing skimpy panties and nothing else.
His cock was about to rip clear through his pants.
Dave couldn't have that happening. Those pants cost him a bundle, and the last thing he needed were his throbbing ten inches bursting through them. It was enough to send any girl screaming into the night.
He rose from the couch, Judy's arms slipping away from him. He wiggled out of his shirt and tossed it across the room, where it landed on a globe of the world he'd gotten for his tenth birthday.
He hopped around comically on one foot, trying to squirm out of his pants. He wore nothing underneath except a skimpy black jock strap. Judy's heart began to accelerate as she caught her first glimpse of his trim, muscled body and hairy physique.
Dave bent and lifted Judy naked into his arms. He carried her across the room.
"I've always wanted someone to carry me into the bedroom," she said with a grin.
"I don't have a bedroom," he apologized. "I was gonna carry you over to the fold out couch."
Which he did, and which was already folded out. Dave liked to plan ahead, and knew he'd score that night. It was good to be prepared.
He lowered her onto the couch, then lowered her panties down to her ankles, where Judy kicked them off. He ripped off his jock and collapsed on the bed next to her.
"Come to papa," he cooed.
She went.
She rolled into his waiting arms, winding up on top of him.
She immediately felt his hardness against her thigh, which excited her to no end. He was much gentler with her than Bill had ever been, and for the very first time, she found herself looking forward to having sex without being kicked around the house beforehand, which was Bill's version of foreplay.
They began to suck face, rubbing their tongues together, their mouths wide open as they tasted one another.
Dave loved feeling Judy's hard nipples rubbing against him. They were the part of a woman's body that excited him the most.
He debated on whether or not to force her down on him. Most chicks he'd been with who'd been (or were currently) married had not been into oral sex, usually because their husbands had forced them into it, which often turned them off.
He decided on Plan B. Go down on her and see what happened.
He rolled her over onto her back and began to plant hot kisses all over her stomach, working his way down to her navel, and then even further south.
Judy knew what was coming. Bill had gone down on her once and found it, in his words, "like Frenching a kippered herring."
Which had been just as well. On that one occasion that he'd tried it, Judy found it a turn-off, though it had been due mostly to her late husband's sloppy technique.
She opened one eye and saw Dave's head disappear between her legs. A second later she felt something cold and wet lapping at her twat.
She gripped the side of the mattress and licked her parched lips as she felt his talented tongue slobbering eagerly at her enflamed pussy.
He started dabbing at her clitoris with the tip of his tongue.
She moaned deeply, still not sure whether she liked it or not.
Dave continued to lick eagerly at her little red clit. The hairs on the back of her neck began to flutter as every nerve ending in her body came to life.
She found herself pushing his face down deeper into her furry snatch.
"Oh, yes...yes..." she moaned. "It feels so good."
Dave hoped so. His jaw was beginning to ache.
Nonetheless, he kept at it, making broad strokes with his tongue, lapping at her clit. He parted the swollen lips of her vagina with his fingers and darted his tongue deeper into her bottomless cunt.
She tasted sweet, like honey and pepper and several other spices whose names he could not remember.
Judy ran her hands over his firm backside as he continued making oral love to her. She was oblivious to the honking horns and wailing sirens from the street below, the blood pounding in her ears.
Her heart thumped wildly in her chest. A trickle of sweat rolled down her face as Dave's oral caress became more intense, each stroke of his tongue sending her into ecstasy.
Dave had had enough. He lifted his face from her snatch and started climbing on top of her.
Once more, Judy could feel his throbbing erection against her, sliding along her legs and thighs as he mounted her.
When he was fully atop her, she instinctively wrapped her long legs around his and threw her arms around his neck, drawing him down tightly against her.
Their lips met again and they began to kiss passionately.
Judy could never remember feeling so turned on, so sexually stimulated. With Bill it had been a few random bumps, grinds and gyrations and then good night, Gracie. Dave was opening up a whole other world for her now, and she wanted to savor every last moment of it.
She felt the tip of his huge penis prodding her pussy lips and automatically parted her legs to allow him entry.
Dave hoisted himself up and entered her slowly. A low pitched moan escaped from Judy's lips as she felt his pulsating rod slide neatly and gently into her waiting snatch.
He slid all the way into her, his cock deep inside of her all the way up to the base.
Judy sank her sharp fingernails into the firm flesh on Dave's back as she felt his hard tool fill her completely. Her breath came in quick gulps as Dave started pumping away, sliding his cock in and out of her with even strokes.
"Oh, baby, you're so nice and tight," he commented as he felt the fiery friction of his cock scraping against her.
He increased the speed of his strokes, pumping her quickly now. Judy's hands slid down to his ass. She pushed his groin down into hers and at the same time, Dave slid his hands under her rump and pushed her torso up so that his cock was slamming deep into her.
They continued thumping and gyrating all over the bed, their bodies in perfect rhythm and glistening with sweat despite the chilly air in the apartment. The landlord, who lived two flights up, was a cheap bastard who killed the heat promptly at ten P.M. No matter. They made their own heat, the kind that Con Ed could never bill for.
Dave's gyrations continued with ever growing intensity, his swollen balls slamming against Judy's asscheeks as he rammed his throbbing love hammer in and out of her.
His fingers dug into the tender flesh of her buttocks as he felt himself approaching climax. He had no way of telling what Judy was getting out of this, as she made nary a peep thus far. He suspected that she was one of those silent types who was too shy to respond vocally to his lovemak-ing. He'd had them before.
At any rate, he was too wrapped up in his own pleasure to care much about hers. Still, he would have appreciated some sort of reaction from her, as he had had many girls in his lifetime and never sent one away hungry. His pride was on the line.
At that particular moment though, it was his swollen nuts that mattered the most. He could feel the tingling in his groin and knew that his climax was not far behind.
He slammed his cock into her one last time and stopped pumping abruptly. A huge load of jism barreled through his pulsing rod and jet-
tisoned out the tip of his pecker, gushing freely deep into Judy's oral cavity.
"Arughhhhhhh," he groaned gutterally as he came.
Judy's entire body seemed to quake as she felt his violent eruption inside of her. She gripped him as tightly as she could and held on for dear life.
He came in buckets, spewing his hot, milky seed into her. Sweat dripped off of his forehead and splattered onto her breasts as he continued coming.
Judy lay silently under him, feeling his pecker lurch uncontrollably inside of her.
His sphincter muscle contracted and relaxed, contracted and relaxed with each new wave of come.
Dave's orgasm dwindled down to a few lonely drops of jizz.
His penis remained erect even after he'd finished coming, but he knew it wasn't for long. He withdrew from her, slowly, and rolled over onto his back, wiping the sweat from his brow.
"Whew," he commented. "That was intense. Did you come?"
Judy wasn't sure.
"I...I think so," she said, uncertain. "I'm not sure."
"Not sure?" he asked, his eyebrows raising up an inch. He looked like a pussy-whipped Groucho Marx. "How can you not be sure? Either you come or you don't."
"I think I did," she replied, the warm post-coital afterglow fading away like rain down a drainpipe.
"Look, dear," he said, a growing edge to his voice. "When a chick has an orgasm, she knows it. It's like getting a left hook to the jaw, only it doesn't hurt. Did you feel anything along those lines?"
"It felt nice," she said weakly.
"It felt NICE?" he asked, astonished. "It's supposed to feel great, like fireworks exploding in your head or Han Solo kicking the Milenium Falcon into hyperspace."
"I don't know anything about firecrackers in hyperspace," Judy said defensively. "All I know is that it felt nice, like pleasant sort of. I liked it a lot, I really did."
"Humph," Dave grunted, jumping off the bed and padding into the bathroom, not bothering to close the door behind him.
Judy could hear the sounds of piss hitting water as he urinated. Bill had never closed the door either.
"Jesus," he muttered, stepping out of the John and killing the light as he left. "I bring you home, fuck your brains out, and mine too, for that matter, and all you can say is it felt nice?"
"I'm sorry," Judy stammered."Do you want me to lie?"
"Sure, why the hell not?"
"I was taught not to," Judy said, suddenly aware of her nakedness. She folded her arms over her breasts.
"Look, Dollface," Dave said, hopping back onto the bed. "There ain't a chick alive who wouldn't have an orgasm with me at the helm. There must be something wrong with you, cause it sure as shit ain't my fault if you didn't come."
"Did I say it was?" Judy asked, growing angry. "My husband never had any complaints."
"Did he ever make you come?"
"I dunno," Judy replied. "Maybe. I don't remember."
"Lets try again," Dave offered, climbing back on top of her. "Maybe this time..."
Judy pushed him away.
"I don't think so," she said, sliding out from under him. "I think I wanna go home now."
"Sure, whatever you say," Dave said, fuming now. "There's some subway tokens on the kitchen table. Help yourself."
"You want me to take the train at this time of night?"
"You can hitch your left tit to the tailpipe of a Mercedes for all I care," Dave said brusquely.
"I thought you were a nice guy," Judy sniffed, gathering up her clothes from the floor, all except her panties, which were nowhere to be found. "I thought you were different, so different from the kinds of guys I'd known all my life. But you're not. You're just another macho dickhead, just like my husband and every other asshole in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx."
"Hey, chill out, bitch," Dave spat."Or else I'll loosen a few of your teeth."
"Sure, that's right," Judy shot back, deciding to chalk up the panties to experience and dress without them. "Belt me a couple, knock me around, make me eat a knuckle sandwich. You and my husband. Violence. That's the only word you understand."
She struggled into her jeans and reached for her blouse.
Dave grabbed a pair of dirty boxer shorts from a nearby chair and slid them on.
"Sure, and maybe a few upper cuts is what you needed, ever think of that?" Dave wanted to know. "I ain't never hit a broad in my life, and it's a miracle I don't. I may look like hot shit to you now, baby, but I'm just a Puerto Rican shitkicker from East Harlem who made good. I seen plenty of dudes beat their old lady's's asses, my old man included, and a hell of a lot worse, too."
"Spare me your sob stories," Judy told him.
"You know what your problem is?" Dave asked sharply.
"No, and I don't give a shit, either, especially if it's your opinion!"
"You little cunt," Dave seethed, and grabbed her by the arm. He threw her down on the lacquer covered wood floor. Her shins scraped bloody against the splintered wood and made her cry out loud.
Dave was upon her instantly, grabbing her around the waist so that she was sitting doggie style. He entered her from behind, his cock fully erect and ready for action. He heaved his groin at her, ramming his dripping tool back into her.
"I'll make you come, bitch," he muttered, and started slapping her supple asscheeks with each thrust. "I'll make you come good!"
He thrusted, withdrew, and thrusted again, each time giving her tush a healthy slap and then some.
Judy pressed her forehead against the cool smooth floor as she felt his cock, which seemed another six inches longer from this position, plowing deeper and deeper into her.
She moaned in pain as she felt his calloused hands striking her buttocks from either side. That, plus the sensual intensity of his cock ramming into her brought a strange but not unpleasant feeling over her.
"Oh, God!" she bellowed as the force of his blows against her ass grew stronger.
"Great book, flawed movie," Dave muttered.
"Slap me harder!" Judy said without realizing it.
Dave happily complied.
He gave her asscheeks something to sting about.
Without withdrawing from her, he reached over and grabbed a paddle ball racket from under the sofa. It was covered with dust, but he didn't think Judy would mind too much.
He smacked her with it on the butt.
She wailed.
And asked for another.
He gave it to her with gusto.
FWAAAAPPP went the paddle against her bare, rosy asscheeks.
OOOHHHHH! went Judy.
"You love it," Dave muttered. "You love being abused."
Judy was too wrapped up in pain-pleasure to comment on Dave's observations. She lowered herself down even closer to the floor, her pert, stimulated nipples rubbing against the smoothly sanded wood as Dave continued his fucking and slapping.
His cock felt enormous inside of her, longer than a stickball bat. Her asscheeks with ruby red as Dave delivered one blow after another that left her breathless.
And aroused. She could never remember being turned on when Bill slapped her ass like Dave was doing now. Probably, she reasoned, because of the anger and hatred that was behind it. Dave was doing it for fun, if it could be called that, and it seemed to make a difference.
These thoughts however, were the furthest thing from Judy's mind as Dave continued his tirade. "Ooooohhhh," she groaned, the cries of pain slowly turning into cries of pleasure.
"Yeeeeehhhaaaaaa!" Dave wailed at the top of his lungs as he approached his second and infinitely more pleasurable orgasm of the evening. He continued to thwack her with the hard wooden paddle, faster now, keeping time with his cascading orgasmic waves.
Judy cried out like a banshee in heat, her breasts heaving as her entire body was filled with the sweet sensations of an overwhelming orgasm.
"Let me hear you bellow, bitch!" Dave gurgled happily as his orgasm record remained unbroken. The way to a woman's heart was through her pussy.
"Ohyeahohyeahohyeahohyeah!" Judy cried, her entire body a raging torrent of orgasmic sensations.
Dave shot his wad quickly this time, enough to choke Mr. Ed. He crumpled to the floor and panted.
Judy crumpled right alongside him, spent both physically and emotionally, her body still tingling.
"I told you I'd make you come," Dave said, and they both started to laugh.
"It was wonderful," Judy told Bambi on the phone the following day.
Nearby in the kitchen, hunched over a pot of peeled potatoes, Mrs. McPugh listened to her daughter talk and clucked her tongue disapprovingly.
"So what happened then?" Bambi asked, loving every minute of it.
"So then," Judy said, reaching for a carrot stick, "he took me home in a taxi, and..."
"He took you home? You mean he actually rode in a cab with you all the way to Flatbush?"
"Sure, why not?" Judy asked.
"He NEVER does that," Bambi said incredulously. "Most of his dates aren't even lucky enough to get subway fare."
Judy had to grin.
"He's wonderful," Judy sighed. "I think I'm in love."
"That's nice," Bambi said, although not at enthusiastically as Judy would have liked. "I'm really happy for you, Jude, I really am. Just keep one thing in mind, okay?"
"Like what?"
"Like he's a cunthound, a real pussy chaser," Bambi said darkly. "I know he's gorgeous and all, and really great in the sack, but...try not to get too hung up on him, okay? I can name you ten girls who did and ended up with nothing to show for it."
"Maybe it'll be different this time," Judy said somewhat tightly. "He told me he loved me."
"Maybe he does, maybe he does, and I'm not saying he might not, but all the same, watch your ass."
Judy was suddenly furious with her friend for bursting her happy balloon. She assumed Bambi was jealous.
Then dismissed the thought. She had a neat guy who loved her, and that made her a little angrier.
Bambi, sensing she'd gone a little farther than was necessary at that juncture, quickly changed the subject. Judy would find out soon enough.
"So you excited about starting at the agency tomorrow?" Bambi asked.
"You better believe it," Judy replied. "I'm so excited I could shit!"
"Judith!" her mother snapped. "Don't be fouling the language in this apartment.
"Oh, Ma!" Judy said, exasperated.
"Well, Steve's calling," Bambi said. "I think he's got his fingers stuck in the garbage disposal again, so let me get going here. When you get to the office tomorrow, ask for Leo Nocedo. He's the personnel director or something like that. He'll get you all set up at a desk and fill you in on all the happy horseshit that is advertising. See ya'."
"Bye," Judy said, "and thanks."
She hung up.
"In love she says," Mrs. McPugh snorted. "Her husband ain't even cold yet and she's out gallavan-tin' around like strumpet."
"Oh, Ma," Judy said.
"'Oh Ma' nothing," Mrs. McPugh said. "I suppose this Prince Charmin' is anything but Irish."
"You suppose right," Judy replied. "He's Puerto Rican."
"Puerto Rican," Mrs. McPugh moaned, shaking her head. "I'm only glad your father's at work and can't hear what I'm hearin' now. Puerto Rican! Even a Jew would have been better! At least he'd let you have a maid. With a Puerto Rican, you'll be the maid. He'll probably steal the money right out of your purse when yer ain't lookin'."
"Ma," Judy said calmly, "he makes something like fifty thou a year."
"You have my permission to marry him," Mrs. McPugh said in a tiny voice, and shuffled out.
Sunday evening.
After subwaying home to the Flatbush apartment she'd shared with Bill, Judy had never felt so alone in her life.
She'd spent the last weeks since the funeral with her folks and was now faced with an eerily silent apartment. Growing up with all those sisters, plus two parents and an endless assortment of relatives who stayed on from time to time, Judy had never known the meaning of the word privacy.
Even turning on the cracked radio in the kitchen and the TV simultaneously did not help. She decided that an activity, keeping busy was the key. She went into the bedroom and opened the closet door. Bill's clothes were hanging there, although he wouldn't need them where he was headed, if he wasn't there already.
She decided to do her Spring cleaning a little early.
She scooped up all of Bill's clothes from the closet and tossed them on the bed. They consisted mostly of bits and pieces of uniforms that were too small, a lot of work pants and some faded flannel shirts. His one suit was buried along with him.
Judy dragged a big brown box from the kitchen,
one she'd been saving for returnable bottles, and tossed the clothes into it.
Then she did the same in his underwear and sock drawer. Next went the shoes, though there weren't many. Bill would never have gotten any best dressed awards.
She went into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. She tossed his toothbrush and shaving gear into the garbage, poured his stinky after shave down the drain and generally erased Bill McGruff's memory from the apartment in the space of an hour.
She felt better.
She felt free for the first time in her life.
Monday morning.
The day had broken dark, rainy and cold.
To make matters worse, Judy was traveling a rush hour subway for the very first time, which in itself was enough to make her long for the bland security of Flatbush.
Now, wedged in between a smelly Arab who was reading a newspaper with some oddball scribbling on it and a young Black dude who looked to be a potential ass-pincher, Judy struggled to breathe. She felt hot breath on her neck and fifty pounds worth of Tom McCann'd feet on her big toe.
The train lurched along slowly, often stopping in the middle of the damned tunnel, which made Judy nervous but seemed to have little effect on her co-riders.
Somewhere in the deepest depths of the subway car, a shopping bag lady went into a bizarre monologue.
"Anybody who wears a long sleeved shirt is a dope addict," the bag lady declared in a shrill voice that sounded like chalk on a blackboard. "Gimme a break, what the hell do I care? Gimme a break, see if I give a tin shit. Tomorrow, when Ray Milland comes by for tea and Danish, we'll see who's right, ain't that so, Ida?"
"Shuddup, you old cunt," someone called out. "You're ALL dope addicts!" the bag lady screamed. "You should all get a cancer where the sun don't shine! And that goes double for you, Marvin, so there!"
The train pulled sluggishly into another station. Forty-five minutes on this smelly old train and they still weren't out of Brooklyn. Judy began to curse the Transit Authority under her breath. How the hell did they expect her to get to work on time? How did anyone who took the fuckin' subway get to work on time?
The bag lady droned on, which at least broke the monotony.
"Don't be such a horse's ass, Ida," the bag lady continued, lost in her little world. The old broad, Judy decided, was really whacko. She'd never seen anything like this in Flatbush. Sure, there were crazies and all, but this lady was really out to lunch. Listening to a few more of the bag lady's incoherent ramblings made Judy realize how sheltered her life had really been. "I seen the way things work alright, you bet I have. So gimme a fuckin' break already and leave me alone. You don't know nothin', Ida, and Mayor LaGuardia, he don't know nothin'. President Truman, he don't know nothin', either. Me, I don't know shit, but at least I got the good taste to keep my mouth shut about it. So there."
The bag lady fell mercifully silent. Judy remembered reading somewhere that crazy people— this bag lady was a prime example — never got mugged or anything like that. The article said that muggers and stuff were afraid of crazies and usually left them alone.
Twenty minutes later, the rickety D train lumbered into the Fiftieth Street station. Judy was swept out the doors, like it or not, along with what seemed like twenty million other people, all of whom ate garlic for breakfast.
She walked the several blocks across town until she hit Madison Avenue. Half a block ahead was her destination, a sixty story office building that housed the Dewey, Cheatham and Howe advertising agency, with billings in the zillions, or so Bambi had claimed.
She crowded into an elevator up to the forty-ninth floor. D, C & H was on almost ten floors alone.
She was greeted by huge glass doors that sported the agency's logo and name. Inside were a bunch of desks staffed by some of the most beautiful women Judy had ever seen. One in particular was especially striking, tall with long jet black hair down to her ass and perfect uplifted boobs. She was easily six feet tall and wore three inch black spiked heels, sort of a cross between Vampira and a Playboy bunny.
Judy strode up to one of the desks, where a bosomy blonde with the bluest eyes east of St. Louis was chatting into a phone. She hung up and smiled pleasantly at Judy.
"Can I help you?" she asked, batting the baby blues. Judy wondered why.
"Um...my name's Judy McGruff, and I'm here to see Mr. Leo Nerdcedo..."
"You mean Mr. Nocedo?" the blonde asked. "Yes, that's him," Judy stammered, fumbling in her purse for the paper with the names Bambi had given her. "Bambi Lipshitz referred me, and..."
"So you're Judy," Blondie exclaimed, offering a perfectly manicured hand. "I'm Suzie Whitbred. Bambi told us to go easy on you because you're a personal friend. You're six minutes late but don't worry; Leo's late, too. That's one thing you got to keep track of, who's late and who's not. That way, you lie to the ones who aren't late and tell them the people that are late aren't late."
Judy nodded.
"Let me introduce you to the others," Suzie offered, leading Judy to the other desks. Behind it sat a cute trick of a redhead with a slim waist, slim thighs and zeppelins for breasts. She was filing her nails, reading the POST.
"Laurie McLarry, this is Judy McGruff. She'll be working with us."
"Does that mean Cecily isn't coming back?" Laurie asked, her eyes never leaving her fingers.
"No, Cecily won't be back," Suzie said. "She's in Boston."
"They can have her," Laurie said.
"Over here we have Millie Gomez De La Rosa Rodriguez Mendoza," Suzie said, leading Judy over to a stunning raven haired Latin bombshell. "This is Judy McGruff."
"I beddy pleezed to meetchu," Millie chirped.
"Over here we have Anita Queen," Suzie said, indicating a foxy Black chick who looked like Diana Ross.
"Hi," Anita said cheerfully, and returned to talking with one of her numerous boyfriends on the phone.
"And last but not least," Suzie said, leading Judy over to the striking brunette, "we have Ga Ga LePew."
"Hi, darling," Ga Ga said in a deep voice. "Ga Ga's just ga ga about meeting you. Don't be a stranger, sweetheart."
"Ga Ga sounds like a man," Judy said as they walked away.
"Ga Ga IS a man," Suzie explained. "When they say 'equal opportunity employer,' they mean it."