Overheard at Booth 5: Tuesdays

TUESDAYS

DEVON

So here we are.  Therapy.  I never wanted to be here.  Never wanted it to get this far.  But we have to do something.  Something to get us back on track.  So I guess this is better than just snapping at each other all the time.

I knew we’d have to talk about our stuff and open up an all that, but it’s already been about a month of weekly sessions and we’re just going around the same old stuff, and the shrink is giving us the same old lang syne…

“Communication” 

Jesus, it’s always about communication.  I don’t know how to communicate with Cait, not any more.

I mean, we used to, in the beginning, before the kids and even when they were young, but things happen and then you just, I don’t know, build up layers.  

Let Cait answer some of these questions…

CAIT

“He never tells me what he needs,” I say to Grace, and she just sits there, like a cat, staring at us both with those eyes, like we’re the mice, and she’s deciding which one to pounce on first.

“By ‘needs’ are you talking about emotional support … or intimate needs?”

What the hell did she just say?

Well, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.  I figured she was going to get to that sooner or later.   I don’t really want to go there, but

yeah, I just sighed.

A big sigh.

Devon just gave me a look.

This is always about me.  Dammit.  Isn’t it?  Doesn’t Grace know that we women ALWAYS have to be held accountable for the man’s needs?  Why didn’t she ask HIM that question?   

“I suppose we’re not as intimate as we used to be, but he’s always cold.”

GRACE

And there it is.  Cold.  Usually it’s the man who tells me that his female partner is the cold one.  Didn’t expect that.   But yes, the moment these two came into my office, I knew instantly that this was their issue.  Which is good.  We can work with that.  Sex is actually the easiest problem to overCUM, even if married couples like to pretend that it’s the hardest.  

Thank GOD their problem isn’t the kids or spending.  This is going to make this SO MUCH EASIER.

DEVON

“I want to give her … oral.”

There, I said it.  No more beating around the bush.  If we’re going to do this, let’s get it out in the open.

“And I don’t want oral,” Cait says.  And the way she sounds – so cold, so HARD, so committed.

“What is it about oral sexual stimulation that you don’t like?” Grace asks.  Really softly.  I like the way

she’s asked that to Ciat.  A lot better than I normally say things.

“Do you know how many germs there are in the human mouth?” Yup.  THAT’s what she always says.  At least she’s saying it to the doctor.  SOMEone else is hearing this.

“You can always ask him to brush his teeth first.  Gargle, whatever.”

“Still, though … it’s just… ew!”

GRACE

Poor Cait.  She really has an aversion to head, and she’s not going to get over it easily.   “Devon, what about oral lovemaking satisfies you?  I take it you haven’t in awhile, so you CAN live without it.”

“Yes,” he says.  He’s so nervous about this.  Men usually are.  “It just … when I do it, it gets me harder.”

“You haven’t had a REALLY good erection in years!” Cait says.

“And it’s been YEARS since you let me go down on you!” 

“You know,” I find myself saying, “It IS a natural act.  In fact, there are some women who are just the opposite, who only want oral and ZERO interest in penetration intercourse.”  Oh my God I find myself getting wet at just the thought of it.

Cait says, “Well then maybe Devon should just give some woman oral sex and THEN come home to me.”

“Perhaps he should.”

“Maybe it’s you,” Cait says to me.  Smart woman.  I like her.  I like them both actually.

CAIT

Good.  I trust her.  Fuck, I can actually see her almost panting already, although she’s doing a damn good job at keeping it in control.   I think this will work.

“Next Tuesday’s session then,” I tell her.  “Devon comes alone.”

DEVON

What the fuck is going on?

….

DEVON

OK, Tuesday afternoon, usual 3:30 appointment.  The receptionist, normally cold, is she … smirking?

Does she know?  Seems like she knows.

I knock on the door.  Grace tells me to come in.  

I shut the door behind me and there she is: sitting in her office chair, legs crossed, long hair flowing down her chest.  Wearing nothing but a white bra. 

Oh shit I can’t breathe.  Her eyes, sharp brown and piercing.

She tells me to sit in front of her.  She tells me that everything is going to be fine, and Grace, such a tiny, slim slip of a woman, suddenly seems so … full.

I take her foot, toes painted black, in my hand, slowly spread her legs apart, and I hesitate for a second.

Then, she reaches over and pulls me into her.

GRACE

Just get to it, Devon, this is why you are here.  This is what I have been waiting for all week!  

Poor Devon, it HAS been a long time since he’s done this!   I almost want to giggle, but that wouldn’t be professional, would it?  No … help him.  Guide him.  He’ll get better.   

There you are, the rhythm, make a rhythm…  go deeper, move deeper, there you go, you dear man, use the tongue, around the labia, in and out, feel around, yes, you are exploring, explore, find, seek …

DEVON

I love this I love this I love everything about this, oh lord the taste, that beautifully tart DEEP RICH flavor, my tongue bringing out HER wetness, and the smell of deep ocean, of lush jungle, the smell and the taste and oh god I know I’m probably licking like a fucking untrained puppy dog but it’s here and it’s now and dammit just enjoy this and 

there she is! Moving her hips, under my chin, pressing against my upper teeth, her hands on my head, my hands on her hips her legs over my shoulders, don’t stop now, don’t stop now, keep rocking those hips keep

GRACE 

that rhythm yes, there you are, like the ocean, like the ocean waves, beating beating beating against the waves, just like Corsica that one summer, and oh my GOD!

DEVON

WOW!  Those thighs are crushing my skull!  Did my ear just pop?  Pretty strong for such a tiny woman!  Holy hell…. 

well, I guess that’s my cue that we’re done.

GRACE

Didn’t expect that orgasm to be so strong.  Whoa.  Catch a breath here, Grace.

Maybe it’s been longer for me than I thought.  Maybe this … arrangement is worth repeating.

Devon seems much more relaxed now as well, and there is a gleam in his eye.  Poor man!  Instinctively unzipping his pants.  

“No,” I tell him.  “You take that home to your wife.”

He smiles.  He leaves, bulging.   Devon is a man who understands boundaries.  He’s one of the good ones.  I think Cait knows that.

DEVON

Texting my wife on the way out the door to the car… “come home ASAP”

…

CAIT

Walking in the door and Devon is already there waiting for me.  He kisses me with more passion than he has kissed me in years, with an urgency that I haven’t felt … so long!  Fuck, he’s not even waiting to get to the bedroom, he’s ripping down my underwear!  WOW!  Glad I decided to wear a skirt today…

“What if the Amazon guy comes to the door?” I ask, “He’ll see our shapes through the glass.”

“If he does, let him,” Devon says, and the turns me around, and I put my hands on the alcove shelf and Devon is inside me already and he is fuller than I have felt him in so long, Oh my God how I love this man how I love every part of him and how I love his urgency and how I love his need for me and his hand that reaches around to cup my breast and his other hand with my skirt hiked up around my hip and take me, Dev, fucking yes just take me

DEVON

I love this woman, fuck, do I love this woman, her huge hips, I just want to smack ‘em, just grab them and hold on, I need her, I do need you Cait, god I love you, she is so perfect inside, she has the perfect pussy and it’s mine and my dick is hers and this is for

“Come,” Cait says and I do.  And I do.

CAIT

I love the thrust and the flow and I love this man, and yes, THIS is a FLOW!  I can tell he is coming a river.  

Then, he releases me and I need a moment to catch my breath …  hello!  Steady there.

“Are you … OK?” Devon asks.

“Better than OK,” I say.  I turn around and I kiss him … HARD.   “I love you!”

“I love you too,” he says.

“No, I mean I REALLY love YOU.”

“And I do really love YOU!”

Then, I say, “Let’s go get some tacos!”

“Taco Tuesday?” he says.  Then, he smirks, “Now THAT’s some kind of double entendre.”

And now we’re both laughing.  Laughing more than we’ve laughed in a long time, and it’s good.  

It’s very good.

Overheard at Booth 5: Eyedrops

It wasn't that Beatrice didn't love Dante; it was just that she couldn't stand him anymore.

Especially his nightly routine, just before bed.  GOD! it was insufferable.  Year after year, the same routine!  9:15pm, sharp, and Dante was at his sink: floss first, then gargle with hydrogen peroxide, then brush - each tooth, exactly 30 seconds, then the water-pick, exactly 2 minutes (she used to time these things until she realized that the time frame never changed - ever!), and finally, after the second rinse with a mouthwash, the eyedrops.

It was the eyedrops that really got under her skin.  He would hold open one eye and then hold the dropper over his eye, at least 4 inches, and let the drop hang in the bottle for ten full seconds, before finally dropping into the eye.

Why did he do that?  Why hold it so high?  Why wait exactly TEN seconds?  Was he imagining the eyedrops to be some champion high diver? Did he think it was more effective that way?   Was he simply giving in to some sort of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?  It was infuriating!

So, Beatrice smiled to herself the night she decided - finally! - to shake things up.   As Dante stood there, eyedrop suspended in time - the droplet exactly four inches above his waiting eyeball - she almost ALMOST called out to him to stop, not to do it ... but she didn't.

The droplet fell, and it was a gleeful, suspenseful eternity, watching that droplet fall, a droplet of pure hydrochloric acid.

  

Overheard at Booth 5: Cryptoquote of the Day

 "The brightest crowns that are worn in heaven have been tried, and smelted, and polished, and glorified through the furnace of tribulation."

— Edward Chapin

Overheard at Booth 5: What is Hard to Believe

"I always knew that God exists ... I just had a hard time believing that He actually gives a shit."

Overheard at Booth 5: Baba Woof

... and that my little ones is why you should never be afraid of the Baba Woof, because the Baba Woof gonna getcha and they ain't no way around it, but when the Baba Woof getcha, you know you got, and you know you gonna love it, the way you done get got.

Overheard at Booth 5: Why should I even try?

Why should I even try to continue writing?  Making songs?  Stories?  Poems?

I keep having to work "real" jobs ... and yes, I'm degreed, with a good paying job, and I am thankful for that, but I had two days between jobs - TWO FULL DAYS - and I could have used them to catch up on my music - songs that I'd been meaning to get to - poems that I had ideas for - stories.

But then on those days - my wife decides to work from home, so she not only uses the computer in the office, but I can't even write stories in peace in the other room because every 20 minutes (no exaggeration, I started counting), she called me in to check her spelling for emails to high management.

Then, today, when she goes off to a site visit (to be back by 11), I am trying to record a song, then my son comes down before 10 and needs me to help move the cars so he can get to work, and then when he's done, I'm thinking, "OK, they are both out of the house, daughter's still asleep, I can do this!"

And so I start recording a song and then what do I hear from the next room?  The washing machine!  Then she's knocking on the door, saying, "Dad I moved all your clothes to the basket hope you don't mind."

There are forces at work that prevent me from writing.

I think it's called, "Having a family"

Overheard at Booth 5: Easter Argument

Wife: You left me standing there, looking like an idiot.

Husband: The Praise Team just wanted one picture.  One picture.  Took like - 30 seconds!

Wife: I'd been following you around all over the sanctuary, looking like some stupid groupie. Do you know how EMBARRASSING that is!

Husband: Honey, I'm sorry, OK I'm sorry!  Won't happen again,.

Wife: This always happens when you get on a Praise Team.  It's always about the music and never about me.

Husband: It's not about either of us ... it's about HIM.

Wife: Oh don't bring Jesus into this!  You know very well you just like shining like a star!

Husband: Yeah, baby .. in a church band.  Cuz we KNOOOWWWW that's where all the fame and fortune is!

 

Overheard at Booth 5: Some Lyrics

 from a notebook, undated, but other entries around it indicate January 2014

dream is a story, dream is a car
you use to travel beyond the farthest star

the poetry you spray today
will become all tomorrow's cliches

Overheard at Booth 5: Two by Polani

11/10/2013 

Today I can think of no greater loss,

than to never again feel the rain.

                    - Polani

12/19/2013

God allows us trials and tribulations

to sharpen our awareness

of our finite understanding

                    - Polani

Overheard at Booth 5: Christmas at 50

Christmas at 50

The kids, gone to the movies,
to see WW84.

The wife, in Washington state,
watching the slow, anguished passing
of her mother.

Me, watching, "It's a Wonderful Life,"
for free on Amazon Prime.


MR
2020-1225

Overheard at Booth 5: Serf and Terf

Cy Berk Riminal: TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN!

Ching O'Madre: That's not what their Y chromosome says.

Overheard at Booth 5: A Christian Husband

And he was saying, "anybody who believes you can 'just be yourself' and 'it's OK if you're not perfect' has never been married to a Christian woman, I mean one who prays daily and reads her Bible.  Trust me, she is all 'You are the head of the household' but by God you better be perfect, I mean do EVERYTHING perfectly, SAY everything perfectly, make sure the kids LOOOOVE Jesus, because by God if you don't she is right there to tell you that you screwed up and you don't love God enough and you don't pray enough and you never led Bible studies enough and it's all your fault because YOU were the 'head of the house'."

Overheard at Booth 5: Imagism

 Imagism

"Let your life be like poetry," she said.

"Confusing and unclear?" I said.

"No, silly!" she said.  "Full of rhythm and energy!"

"You just took a class on the Romantics, didn't you?"

"Actually, the 20th Century Imagists."

"Ah!" I said.  

The faces of those in the subway.

MR

2021-0105

Overheard at Booth 5: When Your Mother Dies

 

When your mother dies

You slide into a half-world

No-one else can reach.

MR

2021-0103

Overheard at Booth 5: Mitch McConnell Meets the Grim Reaper - A Christmas Story

Mitch McConnell Meets the Grim Reaper - A Christmas Story

Mitch McConnell walks into his house after a long Christmas day spent ensuring that many American citizens will have no relief as this year ends.

He walks into his study, pulls the stopper out of the decanter and poured himself two fingers of Old Rip Van Winkle Kentucky Bourbon.  Then, as he takes a sip, he hears a sound, a shift, a slight movement in the chair by the window.

Turning on the overhead light, he sees the figure in the chair, one leg crossed over the other, the black robe shifting from the movement.  The scythe is propped against the chair by his side.

In his famous Kentucky drawl, McConnell says, "Well, well, well, I was wondering when you'd arrive."

Death leans slightly forward in the seat.  "You've been using my name."

McConnell chuckles.  "Didn't think you had a copyright on it."

Death shrugs.  "It's OK.  There have been others with such pretenses across the millennia.  I just wanted you to know that you undershot the term.  Something with such gravitas ... used to deny a few pieces of useless paper?  Quite ... pitiable, actually."

McConnell says, "Is there a point to this?  Are we gone dicker about names here or are we gonna get down to business?'

"Have it your way."  Death stands, picks up the scythe, and says, "Time to go, Bitch."

"The name's Mitch."

Death laughs.  "Not where you're going."

Overheard at Booth 5: 300 One-Word Writing Prompts

Here are some writing prompts that I am going to try.

One word, each.

Wish me luck

https://freelance-writing.lovetoknow.com/writing-prompts/300-one-word-writing-prompts

Overheard at Booth 5: Fences (2016)

FENCES

One of their finest performances.

Obviously a play, I truly wish I could see this on stage.  But the movie version was stellar.

This is the interplay between dreams, possibilities, missed opportunities, and what we do with what we have and how we live with the loss of what we could have been.

Overread at Booth 5: An Email to the Pastor

[typed on the laptop in the back of Booth 5] 

Hello, Pastor, 

I hope you are having great fun on your trip!

Wanted to let you know that I said something incorrectly at the Bible Study last night.

We went through the four aspects of Salvation: Regeneration, Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification

Roque asked if Justification were a one time event or a process like Sanctification.  

The text as written had not prepared me for that question, and I had not done extraneous research, and so, drawing from Paul's Romans 5:1 "we have PEACE with God" and then contrasting that with his confession that he still wars with his fleshly nature, I said that Justification is like a blend of the immediacy of Regeneration and the process of Sanctification.

Cristina told me after the study that I should have been better prepared, so I did more research and found that while the Catholic Church believes that Justification is a process like Sanctification, many Protestant churches, and the Baptist Church in particular, believes that Justification is a one time event, en punto.  End of story.  So, I send the group an article regarding the difference between Justification and Sanctification from The Gospel Coalition and I asked their forgiveness for my giving an incorrect answer in the class.

I do that because I do take this very seriously.  We as followers of Christ must be prepared at all times to offer our best "apologetics"

That said, Rochi brought up a question that, while, I stated my belief, I cannot state if this is what the Church's doctrine is.

Her question: A person says they follow Christ, but they fall into Apostasy.  Do they then lose their salvation?

There was much discussion, some of which I couldn't follow well, but at then end, I offered this:  Paul wrote that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and that He will never leave us.  Never means Never.  So we are "once saved, always saved."

That said, we are in the process of sanctification to be a Holy Priesthood, fit for service to promote His holy name.

That means our only real job on this planet is to proclaim Christ.

The devil wants to stop us from doing that.

Ergo, the devil will work on our weaknesses.  Sometimes, that may lead us into apostasy, which weakens or prevents our ability to proclaim Christ.

That does not mean they lose their salvation, just that they are not fulfilling their purpose.

Also, it is possible that a person was never saved to begin with.

However, we cannot know.  That is only between the person and God.

I also warned that it is VERRRRY dangerous for us ever to question the salvation of another, because that is a tool that the devil will use to sow doubt in our minds for our brothers.

I referred to the verse of "iron sharpens iron" and the verses that state that followers of Christ must always hold each other accountable and help each other and lift each other up in the faith.

So, if we ever see a brother or sister sliding into apostasy, it would be best to take a pastor and/or extremely learned mature people of the Faith to speak with that person.

Whew!

That was quite a lot.

All said, I am glad that everyone was asking questions and really digging into the points, even though everyone was virtual, it does seem that they were all engaged.

However, I just wanted you and Pastor Mike to know that I take this seriously, and when I falter I will always try to rectify my doctrinal mistakes, and please keep praying that in these studies, that the LORD will impart what He needs to impart and that I will never be a stumbling block to the brethren.

Sorry for the long email... please let me know your thoughts when you get a moment.

Overheard at Booth 5: Insane Asylum

October spent her formative years at the Caldwell Insane Asylum, upstate New York.

She says it was a good preparatory school:

She keeps hair samples in clear plastic bags, liquified skin samples in corked beakers.

All meticulously recorded.

[originally posted as Horrorprompt 382 "Insane Asylum"]

Overheard at Booth 5: October

 He spoke in hushed tones, as though he was afraid that someone would hear him, there, sunk in the booth with an eye on the door.  He told me her name, "October" and he said it with such fear, an unnatural, bone-chilled fear.  He spoke it as though just saying her name would cause her to appear out of thin air.

I tried to assure him that he was safe.  It was mid-afternoon, and there were plenty of people in the café.  Nothing was going to happen to him here.

He just said, "You don't know.  You just have no idea!"

He just muttered "October" until I, too, felt the chill.