After the line was scrubbed clean Bill went down to the meat room to help Henry Lee cut meat. He had handed the steam table inserts over to the pot washer and told him to lay them out on the cutting board shelf for him like always. He had stopped in the back and made sure Mary had everything set the way she needed it.
Mary was coming back to herself more and more. With everything working on the stoves as it was supposed to be, she had time to sip a beer and lean herself against her counter to collect her thoughts. This was how Bill found her.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Getting better and better with every minute. My head’s getting straight and I’m tired but okay. How about you?”
“Same as always.”
“Don’t pay Bea no mind. She’s a little older. You know? Things was different for her.”
“She got something to say, she should say it.”
“I think she did. I think what she was meaning was that it ain’t personal to you. You a little bit different than the whites she talking about.”
“Maybe.”
“Better to let it slide anyway.”
“Maybe.”
“What you mean maybe? I’m telling you it’s better. We all entitled to our feelings. We all entitled to our likes and dislikes. Be better if we all understood each other and accepted each other even if we have hard feelings. Those bad feelings ain’t no good no matter which way they run.”
“They teach you that in church?”
“Yes. They do. And they teach us treat others as you want to be treated. Or, at the very least, treat them like they treat you, which means someone not good to you, you stay away from them.”
“Should I stay away from Bea?”
“Why? Cause she spoke her mind?”
“Guess you’re right,” Bill said.
“Damn right I’m right,” Mary said. “Now, you wanna come over after work? You can sneak in quietly while the kids are sleeping.”
“Naw. Thanks for the offer. I can wait for The Upper Room tomorrow night. I ain’t much for sneaking in around kids.”
“Well then take me downstairs in a little while.”
“Really?”
“Still got a little itch. And I know you want me to tell you my feelings.”
“I’ll be in the meat room,” Bill said.
“I like you,” Mary said. “I much more than like you.”
“I much more than like you too,” Bill said.
“You could show me. Actions speak louder than words.” Mary leaned in close to Bill and whispered in his ear. What she said shocked him so that he blushed. It also turned him on.
“That gonna scratch your itch?” he asked.
“Till tomorrow maybe.”
He was cutting Bostons, Tops and Supers when she came into the meat room. She didn’t hop up on the counter as she usually did. Instead she asked Bill if he would help her carry up a sack of potatoes and a few other things she needed from the storeroom. Bill said okay, of course, but he finished working on the Top Sirloin Butt he was in the middle of.
“Be right back,” he said to Henry Lee.
“Take your time, man. I know where you going. I’m gonna have you cover for me when Marie comes in.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Bill said.
They went into the party room and locked both the entry doors from the inside. When they were safely locked in Mary took hold of Bill and kissed him, hard and deep, almost desperately, Bill thought as it was happening. Then, when she’d kissed him all she wanted, she sat herself up on the bar. She’d never done that before and Bill found it interesting to say the least. Never taking her eyes from his, she began unbuttoning the buttons of her dress from the bottom up. As the dress peeled away, she spread her legs further apart.
“Come to mama,” she said.
