Reunion
The air was filled with the smell of stale beer, old cigarettes and sadness. The light was low. You could barely see from one side of the old tavern to the other. There were about twenty mostly empty tables surrounding an old bar with ten stools. The walls were also dark – probably stained from the years when smoking inside was still a thing. Like everything else, the bar was made of dark wood backed with mirrored glass behind bottles of medium quality liquor. There was no top shelf stuff here.
A pleasant-looking man with sandy coloured hair, a slim build and who looked like he was in his early thirties, was trying to peer around the three or four patrons in the way because he thought he saw a woman he hadn’t seen in over ten years.
She wore a purple blouse unbuttoned a bit too far down for most women’s comfort. She was, by any measure, quite attractive with a bright infectious smile, tawny blond hair and a well-maintained neatly curved body. Her slacks were made of tweed, and she sat on a matching coat covering the stool.
Although she gave off a strong vibe of -- 'leave me alone’. The man waltzed over and sat down on the stool beside her.
“Hello Mary”
“David?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Wow you look amazing. You haven’t aged a day. Botox?”
Mary laughs. “No, I sold my soul to the Devil and now I have a painting that ages for me.”
“Well, that’s cool. But it’s only been, what, ten years?”
“Twelve but who’s counting. You don’t look any different at all,” Mary observed.
“I guess I haven’t changed much. Except my penis is much larger now.”
Mary laughs. “Well, it would have to be, wouldn’t it? You were hung like a small baby with gender confusion issues before.
“Ouch”
“No when I said you hadn’t changed, I meant in the minutes it took you to come over to say hello. As time goes, it was agonizingly long.”
“Sorry, I didn’t know what to say or do. I didn’t know for sure if it was you and I didn’t think you recognized me.”
“Wow what kind of slut do you think I am? We were together for three years.”
“Well, you were pretty slutty.”
“Maybe, is it slutty to have sex with any man that asks? Not to mention a few women...which as I recall you didn’t mind at all.”
“No not at all. If the descriptions were half as good as the actual events, it must have been amazing.”
The bartender interrupted them, “Can I get you folks something to drink?”
Mary answered for them both, “Two double Southern Comforts on the rocks please.” David smiled as she remembered his preferred drink.
The heavy set balding man was back in seconds with the drinks. David was shocked but Mary just said thank you and without missing a beat she continued.
“It was but as much as I loved my dalliances with women, I loved being with you more.”
“Thanks for saying that. If it wasn’t the sex or my incredibly small penis, why did you leave? I looked for you for months. Your roommate said you moved out without a word. Your brother said he hadn’t heard from you and your mom and dad had passed on. Believe it or not I think I was somewhat fond of you.”
“Do you really want to know?”
David looked confused but he finally answered, “Yes, I think so.”
“The night of the party at Marcella’s house, I was a bit tipsy, and I knew you were at your parent’s place in Nova Scotia, so I decided to walk home. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but three teenage boys were across the street looking me over and then followed me. When I got to the cemetery at the foot of the hill, they grabbed me, ripped my clothes off, raped and sodomized me over and over again. When they were done, they bashed my head against a gravestone and left me for dead.”
“Wow that was way worse than I imagined. I thought you were a love slave in a harem somewhere. I am so sorry. Why didn’t you call me?”
“I couldn’t remember who you were or even who I was. Other than saying the boys were young, thin and angry, I had no description of my assailants for the police. An off-duty nurse found me that night and took me back to her place. She was a lovely person, inside and out. She had an absolute killer....um well...anyway, I ended up staying there for three years and we had a relationship. I had no memory of who I was or any of my life before. One night she got a bit frisky and handcuffed me to the bed. They weren’t real handcuffs, and I wasn’t in any danger, but the horrors of that night came flooding back and with it my memories of you, family and so on. Other than the fear and the sense of violation, I couldn’t remember much from that night. But I guess I lucked out because one of the boys came forward and confessed. The trial just wrapped up, which is why I am here drinking.
“What did they get for stealing years out of your life?”
“Oh, the usual, crushed testicles and daily sodomization and eventual execution by woodchipper.”
“So, they’re still taking it easy on rapists?” David joked.
“Yes, damned liberal courts.” They both smiled and laughed. “The boy who confessed and testified against the others got a year and the other two got three for rape and attempted murder. They got so little because I couldn’t remember much from that night. But I’m glad it’s over and that chapter of my life has passed.” The tears were flowing but Mary kept trying to smile. “All they had to do was ask and I would have...”
“Mary it’s ok,” David interrupted. He grabbed and held her for what seemed like an hour as she cried for the lost years and the lost love. Eventually she bit him on the collar bone which he found surprisingly pleasant, and he laughed and released her.
“So, are you with someone now?” Mary asked.
“No not really. I have a couple of friends with benefits but nothing serious. I used to be a bit enamoured with this one girl, but she hasn’t spoken to me for twelve years.”
“What a bitch and how remarkably similar to the time we were together.” Mary laughed and teased.
“I get the three years, but what about the other nine?”
“You were gone. I couldn’t find you on-line and none of your friends and family would tell me anything. One of the parents of the monsters that raped me offered me hush money which I took with glee since I couldn’t remember much anyway. So, I hired an investigator to track you down. This may seem like serendipity, but I knew you were here. I also know you live on a boat. You have a cat. You make pretty good money as an economist and your life is kind of empty.”
“You forgot my kiddie-porn addiction and my unnatural love of animals.”
“Thanks to a poop-load of money I spent on investigation, I know that’s not true.”
“Actually, I don’t get either of those things. Although in the Instagram and TicTok short movies, children are mimicking adult dancing without knowing the sexual aspect. It’s disturbing.”
“Yes, I often wonder how parents could let their kids do that stuff. But I have heard mothers say, ‘Oh, Isn’t she cute?’ I mean how naïve do you have to be to think a ten-year-old gyrating like a porn star is cute?” Mary threw up her hands in disgust.
David jumped in, “Oh, look honey our ten-year-old twerking is being seen by thousands of sexual predators. (Mimicking a woman’s voice.) ‘Yes, but she is getting a lot of views.’”
After a quick laugh Mary put her head on David’s shoulder. He kissed her gently on her head and then the two fell into a deep long passionate kiss. For a moment all the years of separation, pain and loss disappeared. They were as they were twelve years before.
After the kiss, David laughed and asked, “Do you want to play rock the boat?”
“Wow you’re still as bad at seduction as you were twelve years ago. But yes, if you’re asking if I would like to see your boat, I would love to. So sure, I’ll come.”
“Yes, you will. Over and over again.”
“Well, you do have that new massive penis, so who knows.”
“Mary I...”
“Oh, relax David, I know it was just a joke.”
After Mary paid the bill, the two held each other’s hand and started to leave the bar. Just then the door of the bar opened, and two men dressed all in black with black balaclavas walked in. They had automatic pistols in their hands. David pushed Mary to the floor and got on top of her.
“Geez I thought you’d at least wait till we got to the boat,” Mary joked to break the tension.
The gunmen shot indiscriminately. The first to fall was the bartender. A man and his wife were next, and blood and brain matter sprayed everywhere.
David said as he shielded Mary from the bullets, “I love you, Mary. I never stopped. That’s why I stayed alone all these years. I just couldn’t see myself with anyone but you.”
“David, I love...” at that moment eight bullets went into David’s neck and back. A couple of them went through him right into Mary but not deeply. Then one of the shooters, went around making sure people were dead. As he got to David, he pulled his limp lifeless body off Mary. She was so frightened, she couldn’t move. Luckily, she was so covered in blood and tissue, the gunman thought she was dead and rolled David’s body back on top of her.
The other shooter went over to the bar and got the money from the till. A few minutes later, they both left. In the carnage, ten people were dead and one left injured, heartbroken but alive thanks to the quick-thinking of a man she hadn’t seen in years.
Three of the eight bullets had gone through David and into her skin. Luckily, they were not deep and after one night in the hospital, she released herself and took an Uber to the marina. After asking where the boat was, she made her way down the dock. The sailboat was a thirty-eight footer with a very large cabin, a good sized galley and big head with a full size shower.
On top of the galley stove there was an envelope. In it was a note that read, “Hi Mary, the cat’s name is also Mary. The boat is paid for, and the slip fees are paid up for three years. I left my bank card in the envelope, and it should have enough money to last you and the cat for a while. Please don’t throw the cat overboard or take her to the SPCA. I know it’s tempting.
If you’re wondering how I knew it would be you, well to be truthful I didn’t know. My lawyer got instructions on which note to leave in the event of my demise and to whom to leave it to. For what it’s worth I am so glad it’s you.”
Mary started to cry for David, David’s life, the years they lost and now the years they will never have together and how he shielded her from the bullets knowing he might die. Depressed and sad, she laid down in the forward cabin and as she started to drift off, a small black and white cat jumped up and snuggled with her. It’s almost like the cat knew David was gone. They laid there for hours until darkness covered the boat. The cat got up and went and rubbed her face on the plate of a touch lamp bolted to the floor near the bed and the boat was covered in a soft warm light.
“Wow you’re very independent, aren’t you?... Hmm I can’t really call you Mary, can I? It would be weird. Do you have any suggestions?”
The cat quickly responded, “maire”.
Ok, Maire then.
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