Chapter 13
The scandal lasted over a period of several weeks. Although the newspapers soft-pedaled the actual happenings, everybody in the trailer park knew that Connie Minor had been arrested during an "orgy" with a lot of teenaged boys.
There had even been rumors of "alcohol" and "pot."
"Imagine, a woman of her age," Mrs. Delancy had remarked to Mrs. Spears one day, while the two residents of the trailer park were hanging out clothes and talking.
"A real tramp, I'd say!" Mrs. Spears clucked back. "Trailer parks attract them sometimes. Trailer Tramps, I call them!"
Shelby had doggedly supported Connie during the trial and the subsequent interviews with counselors and psychiatrists. He had all the facts in, and he didn't figure as any shining knight in the long run.
One counselor had found his neglect of his wife "shocking." Another, upon learning that he had refused to let her have his child, said, "you could hardly have expected to go on forever until something snapped in her."
And so Shelby had spent weeks trying to understand what had happened, and realize his own blame in the matter. But it was difficult. He had a raging hatred for his wife deep inside him, mingled and encompassed with love.
But goddamn her! he groaned silently to himself.
It was finally decided that the problems which had come up were insurmountable. Shelby apologized for his lack of forgiveness, and Connie accepted his decision calmly. They would separate. At that, she felt lucky, if not happy. She had gotten off scott-free at the trial. A psychiatrist had stated under oath that in his opinion the woman had undergone great emotional trauma and had not been responsible for her actions, especially as they were evidences of deep-rooted sexual frustration and frustrated motherhood. But she had been severely reprimanded by the judge, and she was in tears when she left the courtroom. Now she packed.
The Potters hadn't been around, and Connie was just as glad. Audrey might be the kind of woman you could share your confidences with, Connie decided, but she was definitely not the type to keep her mouth shut.
Connie felt sorriest for Shelby. She blamed him for much of what had happened, but still his bad behavior had been of a more conventional kind, and she knew the scandal in the park had embarrassed him more than her.
She was realistic about what her situation had become, and she refused to think beyond the next few hours. She had lived her days this way.
Ever since that awful night when she looked up and saw the policemen over her, and while she clutched a boy's entire fist in her womb!
That, she decided, was a little too much for any man!
So she mourned the loss of Shelby, but she didn't hate him.
She glanced at her watch. There was over an hour before the taxi came. She had decided to stay with her mother for a while, until she had time to think over what her life would be.
They had decided to wait a long time before they discussed divorce, but Connie could see the final connection being severed shortly after they got used to the feeling of waking up alone. But she doubted that she would ever fully adjust to that feeling.
Marriage to Shelby had given her a lot of practice in being alone!
She finished her packing, left the suitcases on the bed, and walked into the little living room. She decided that now was the perfect time for a drink!
Connie had never looked more girlish or lovely as today. She wore a pair of denim-colored toreador pants, that hugged her hips low, and a simple cotton halter that tied in back. Her hair was combed straight down and long, and she had clipped it at the back in a pony tail. Her face was scrubbed clean, free of makeup. Her coloring was too good most of the time to bother.
She had decided to slip into a sort of raincoat, a white thing that looked quite high-style, when she went to the airport. Personally, she couldn't have cared less what she looked like underneath.
The ice cubes jangled merrily in the glass that she swirled. She carried the drink to the sofa, lit a cigarette, and sat down. Just as she was taking her first sip, the door opened and Shelby walked in. He seemed a little surprised to see her. They had not been in close-enough communication that he would know the exact time she was expected to be gone.
"Oh, sorry, Connie. I thought you were leaving this morning."
Connie sipped leisurely at her drink, surprised that his sudden presence should cause her so little anxiety. She was sure she had told him that she would be out of the trailer by early evening.
"Shelby," she said, taking a long sip from her bourbon, "you really are so terrible about times and things! I thanked God all the years we were married that I had a mind like a calendar!"
He grinned.
"Yeah. That's right! Shit, I'd forget my own name!"
He clapped his hand over his mouth. "Ohh! I'm sorry!"
"What, for saying 'shit'? Please don't let you think that words like that upset me any longer. I guess we really took a long time to grow up, Shelby. You see, I was the perpetual little housewife, and you were the perpetual Eagle Scout!"
"What?" he asked, sitting down beside her with his own drink.
"Eagle Scout," Connie repeated. "I think you have always been the little boy who keeps learning how to tie new knots. Cut new shapes with his Scout knife. Find new ways to fix the car, so that you wouldn't have to have it serviced."
She realized that the talk was getting a bit serious. She took another sip on her drink. "Sorry. Let's keep it light."
Shelby took a long drink. He glanced over at her. She was looking down at the floor, and her face was a perfect profile, complete with pony tail. He wanted to preserve the sight for a cameo.
The man suddenly felt a great rush of emotion, and he averted his face. Connie noticed right away. Shelby was not the emotional type. She reached over and turned his face until he looked at her. He had tears in his eyes.
"What is it, Shelby?"
His light eyes stared straight into hers, and his emotions came under better control.
"I just want to know, Connie," he said, steadily, "what the fuck we did wrong?"
Connie dropped her hand away from him and closed her eyes for a moment.
"I suppose it boils down," she said, slowly, "how people end up depending on one another. I suppose I ended up spending five lonely days out of every seven because I depended on you to think for me so much I never realized I didn't need marriage that much."
Shelby felt mixed emotions about her comments.
"I guess that was very honest of you to say that, Connie, but I think we've had a lot more together than that. I mean, I didn't play fair with you all the time, but we still spent a lot of the days of our years together. And you're the only person I've spent those days with, outside off the guys on the jobs I've done. I mean, I don't think I've ever tried to deprive you of your own life. I mean, naturally, the way we've lived, I know you haven't been able to do more than stick around the house--"
Connie put a hand over his mouth.
"Shhhhh--" she said. "We don't want any harsh words at all tonight, do we, Shelby? I don't have a mean bone in my body for you."
He turned sideways on the sofa and curled his knees up. They were facing each other now like bookends.
"Connie--" he began, then his voice faltered.
"Darling, darling, I know it's difficult for you to talk about certain things. It's just as difficult for me, so if you'd rather not--"
"NO!" he almost shouted. "No! Goddamn it, I think I've just finally come to my senses! Jesus Christ, baby, holy shit, sugar, we never promised each other rose gardens, did we?"
His words were coming through loud and clear, and Connie was not carrying a chip on her shoulder.
"I think, considering everything, we've always been very honest with each other, Shelby."
"Connie!" he said, suddenly grasping her hand and pulling it hard, hurting her a little, "what the fuck happened? I don't know! I don't want to know anymore! I just don't want to spend the rest of my life alone when I still love you!"
"Baby, baby," she whispered, pulling his head into her breasts, "there's no doubt in my mind about the way I feel for you. But the only thing I couldn't bear, couldn't live with, is knowing that you never really forgave me!"
"Forgive, shit!" he mumbled gruffly, "I guess you're the one who should be trying to forgive me!"
"Oh, no, baby--" she said, stroking his hair, "you were always my man--whatever you wanted--"
He sank his arms around her.
"I fucked your life up, sugar--" he said, "I thought we were pretty happy together, but you had problems I didn't even try to understand, and I was such a fucking ass-hole, I thought I could go on the rest of my life without facing--I agree, sugar, it's taken us a long time to grow up!"
Connie began to hug him tightly to her. They were having the most important talk they'd ever had together.
"Baby," Shelby said, pulling his face away from her perfect breasts, "I don't even want to talk about it! All I know, really, is that it doesn't seem very important to me anymore! I think that both of us admit we've made mistakes and ask each other to try to understand!"
Connie couldn't believe her ears!
"And I guess, baby," Shelby continued, "that we're going to have to settle down in some town, and I'll just have to be a contractor, and we're going to have to have that beautiful little house we always talked about, and a little extra room for a nursery--"
"Plants or babies?" she asked.
"Babies first, plants later--" he whispered, nuzzling his face into her breasts again.
She only had time to call the cab company and tell them that her order for transportation was cancelled when Shelby had her in the bedroom, stripping her a bit hastily.
He had his own clothes off and in moments they were in a sixty-nine position.
"Shelby," she said, "we never did this together before!"
"Didn't we?" he asked. "I thought we had. Anyway, just get right into it, I intend to."
They began to experiment with things they had never tried in all of their married years. They spent a long time licking each other's genitals, and even went so far as to indulge in a bit of ass-hole-rimming. They stuck their fingers up each other's anuses, and excited each other that way for a while.
Shelby took a long time eating her out, something he had only done in fleeting little gestures, once or twice before. Then she took a long time in playing with his cock and balls, massaging every intimate spot she could find. Her mouth gloried in the taste of his genitals, something he had always denied her.
She looked up at him, massaging his big, hairy balls.
"Shelby," she whispered, "can I take a big load of your juice right into my mouth and down my throat?"
He smiled at her.
"Sure thing, sugar," he said, "but I have a big one coming, and I promise that that first one is gonna get planted right down there in that little rose garden."
She nuzzled her mouth against his nuts again.
"Did I hear you right? Did you say you were going to plant one right down there where the climate makes things grow?"
"Right, baby," he said, licking deeply up into her cunt.
Connie grasped his head tightly in her thighs, returned her mouth to his cock, and began to count the days of the years that they would spend in bliss together.
Audrey was furious when she found out that Connie and Shelby had gotten back together. She had dreams of Connie leaving, Shelby settling down in the little trailer all by himself, and the delightful encounters she could cook up.
Jerry was on another fishing trip. As much as she liked sex, she didn't turn on to mosquito bites, and any evening without Jerry gave her an opportunity to do a little mild cruising.
She fixed a martini and sat down by the telephone, hesitating.
Connie and Shelby were back together again, like Romeo and Juliet. Well, well, she thought, sitting on the living-room sofa and running her hands down between her thighs.
At least she'd gotten the horse-dicked moron up there once!
Where were the Minors moving to?
The details escaped her. Some town, some very lucrative job for Shelby. A new life, another environment, maybe more suburban.
Audrey began to pinch the petals of her flower.
She thought for a long moment, and came to a conclusion.
That Connie Minor is too fucking moral!
Then she reached for the telephone and dialed Daggio's Repair Service.