Crescent City Connection

clock. Just get the job done, goddammit. Listen, I’m going to give you some pills.” He rummaged in his drawer until he found them. “These’ll do it for you.”
    Daniel took one and made as if to go, testing the waters to see if his father had forgotten what he wanted. But Jacomine didn’t even see him. He was staring at the wall, fingers steepled. “I want you to put together a dossier.”
    He pulled a People magazine article out from under his desk blotter. “I want you to find out everything you can about this woman.” He handed Daniel the article, which included a picture of a woman—Rosemarie Owens, according to the caption. She was a blonde who wasn’t quite pretty and who looked hard as nails, more or less in the Ivana Trump mold—or maybe Daniel just thought that because of the article.
    It said she was at the center of some nasty Texas scandal, the scorned woman in a divorce involving giant bucks and a younger woman. She was suing.
    Of course she was suing. That was the way she was made. Daniel said, “Ball-busting bitch,” and his dad backhanded him. Smacked his right cheek as if it had a mosquito on it. No warning, no nothing.
    “Get the fuck out of here.”
    Daniel didn’t even bother to analyze this one. He turned his left side toward his dad. “I’m turning the other cheek.”
    His dad smacked that one, not quite as hard. “You know what Jesus said about his tormentors? ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do’? Remember that, son? That’s what I’m praying for right now. You know not what you do, Daniel. You know not, boy.” He was standing up, roaring.
    * * *
    Dorise had gotten her sister to take care of Shavonne—her sister and her sister’s television set—and here she was at a movie with Troy. Holding hands.
    She wondered if he was going to ask her to get something to eat afterward. Or maybe have a drink. She hadn’t dated in so long she didn’t know what people did after a movie.
    One thing, if he didn’t take her somewhere, she wasn’t going to bed with him.
    She bit her lip.
Going to bed with him.
    Was that really what she was thinking of?
Am I going to bed with this man?
    She found the thought gave her a funny feeling in her pussy, a good kind of funny feeling, one she remembered as if she had it every day. The truth was, she’d had a good sex life with Delavon. Real good, if you didn’t count the way he made her feel bad about herself, and he hadn’t done that until after she gained weight.
    And there was something else—even as he said those things, all those nasty things about her body, he used to act like he couldn’t get enough. He’d take her great pendulous breasts in his hands and then in his mouth and he’d squeeze and bite and suck. Sometimes he’d do the same thing with them she’d do with his cock when she sucked it—he’d kind of go up and down and all around, as if he were expecting her to spout white stuff. Then he’d put one hand on each breast and just squeeze and squeeze.
    He’d do the same thing to her butt. Grab great hunks of brown flesh and hold them tight and shake them; then he’d grab more hunks and do it some more. He’d grab the extra flesh around her midriff and around her thighs and feel it good. He’d do it like he loved it.
    That was how it was when they were in bed. Now when they were out of bed, he’d say mean things, but she didn’t care that much, long as he kept on grabbing her.
    She wanted that again.
    The lights came on. “So what you think?” Troy said.
    “I don’t know. Didn’t see what they saw in each other, ’cept they both movie stars.”
    “Well, ain’t that enough?”
    He meant her to laugh, but she chose to answer him seriously.
    “No. No, that ain’t enough, Troy Chauvin. You need to have somethin’ in common.”
    “You think you and me have somethin’ in common?”
    “I don’t know.” Her nose was out of joint and she didn’t know why.
    “Well, I think we do. I think we both like to have fun. That’s true, ain’t it?”
    “I don’t know.” Having fun had been hard for her ever since Delavon died.
    “Let’s go hear some music. I’ll show you.”
    They danced, eyes locked, and then they danced slow, and he kissed her.
    He’d kissed her good night before, but this time she had a few drinks in her, and he really kissed her.
    She wanted him bad. She must have all the time, because she’d gotten her sister to take Shavonne for the night.
    She took him home and