WHITE-CHAPTER 4

I was unsurprised as usual to find that myself lounging on the sofa in the apartment or hanging around the Benbow inn was about as welcome as a festering sore in the armpit. Mom was as supportive and encouraging as any overworked and under-appreciated single mother could be, especially considering her twenty-five year old son still lived with her with no present indication of moving out. Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm kind of a sucker, but what can I say? I've had kind of a rough past, and it was not making it easy to make ties in my present.

I was scum to the upright crowd due to my pirate-ridden treasure-hunting adventures, and I was weak to the pirates and adventurers because I had quit. I had a chance to have a brotherhood in the military when I signed up at the Interstellar Academy, but let's face it –my quick temper plus the superfluous insults of the Drill Sergeants set me right up for a terrible time, and after being discharged before even leaving basic training at age 18, I entered again at age 20 and barely made it through. I was a reservist still, but it didn't pay the bills.

Hell, even my second job as an entrepreneur lawyer did not pay the bills. I had the workings of it, but my reputation was shoddy since I was usually defending the crud and arguing with the upright. Despite the fact that I was good at my job, I got little work, and what work I got did not fill up my pockets. Criminals are cheap bastards, and that's the truth.

In fact, the only decently paying gig I had gotten in a long while was Snow White's case. That woman had paid generously, and I had not stopped her or even argued. Call me a cad, but I needed the dough. For all the crap I got on my reputation for being a treasure hunter, it really did not give me much in return. I mean, the whole planet on which the treasure was hidden exploded into a fiery inferno before I could stuff a single coin into my pants! Talk about rotten luck.

On the other hand, my late friend John Silver had given me a handful of the treasure he had made away with before he made away with his life before Captain Amelia would undoubtedly have sent him on a direct trip to the gallows. It was enough to rebuild the Benbow inn, which, at the time, was a heaping pile of ash because he and his crew had previously turned it into a fiery inferno. Once the inn was rebuilt though, Mom and I had to start again from scratch, and it was an uphill battle. We were cut out for it, though. Ever since my dad… well, we were used to making things work regardless of circumstances.

The Benbow inn was at a stable place now, and I watched it from my seat in a corner booth. Dirty sailors and shady characters still scuffled in from both the seaport and the spaceport, but it was not overrun with them now. A large family checked in at the desk, and I overheard them asking loudly about renting several rooms for a family reunion and whether they could bring in their own alcohol. A honeymooning couple was nestled into a booth across the aisle from me, sharing a cup of coffee and a slice of pie. Our patrons had tight budgets, but the Benbow suited their needs just fine as they suited ours.

Esmeralda, one of Benbow's only three hired help, served a table of noisy men another round of shots then sidled over to me. She did not inquire my order –I was expected to get anything I wanted myself. She did, however, lean her curvy hip against the table and touch my arm with her red fingernails. "My shift ends in ten minutes. Are you coming tonight?"

I steepled my fingers and thought about it for a moment. It wasn't like I did not occasionally enjoy a night out on the town –even when that meant ducking slugs in a rambunctious nightclub full of brawlers and drunkards. In fact, I usually was the first to get involved in any kind of fistfight I could conjure out of my fellow bar mates as soon as I had imbibed enough rum. I was never kicked out since I never forgot to pay my tab. Thrown out on my ass by the winners of some of those fights… yeah, that happened sometimes. Those slobs were always the ones slathering on the most butter when it became apparent I was the only one around willing to represent them in court.

"Well?" Esmeralda raised her eyebrow, impatient as was her nature. She began to ease her weight off the table and pick up her tray.

I rubbed the back of my neck and shrugged. "I guess."

"Alright." She said, back to work now as if she had never given me the invitation. "See you in a few minutes out back."

I caught my mom's glance where she hunched over the accounting books behind the counter. She sighed dejectedly, and I looked elsewhere. She never had approved of my extracurricular exploits. As a teenager, it was air-surfing, which she considered dangerous. Then of course she was out of her mind with anxiety over my trip across the galaxy in search of Treasure Planet. Now as an adult… well, what was a single entrepreneurial mom in this day and age supposed to think of the hoards of women I went through in a month? Guilt pricked the back of my head, and I rubbed at it feebly. It was not like I held contempt for women… I just held contempt for everybody, I guess. Everyone, that is, except my ever disapproving mom. She was too good to be true, and too good for me.

I stood up from my booth and carried my dishes into the back where I washed them and put them away. It was a habit I had formed in my youth when I was working alone here with my mother, and I did not drop it now even though some other kid now slaved over the sink –this time for pay. He thought I was considerate, but honestly, I just did not like anybody doting on me, especially some punk kid who wore his socks up to his knees.

Esmeralda was waiting in the back just as she had said, wearing a revealing red dress in place of her work clothes. A daring slit up the side revealed some of the dark skin of her aforementioned hip, and her shameless cleavage threatened to spill out of the top. I stopped myself before I offered her my arm the way my mother had taught me –Esmeralda would merely laugh and trot to the club alone in those strappy black heels she wore.

I grunted, and we made our way down the dirt road away from the inn. The night was warm and brightly lit under a full moon, but I shoved my hands in my jacket pockets anyway as Esmeralda grumbled on about how her ex was not paying adequate child support, that the club which was our destination had not found her missing gold earring, and that her shoes were making her feet hurt. We arrived at last, and I held open the door –something at which she scoffed and took quick advantage.

As per batum, I ordered a rum-in-coke to start the night, and she bought herself Herself (let me explain –she frequented the place, and they named a drink 'The Esmeralda' in honor of the one she had invented and ordered every time she was here. I am a little unsure of the exact contents, but it involved a lot of vodka, some tequila, a variety of heavy liquors, and I think even some dry wine. It was served in a Margarita glass and garnished with strawberries, tomatoes and olives, and not a drop of anything nonalcoholic ever touched it. I can handle my alcohol, but I have NEVER been remotely interested in testing my limit on one of those. I think it may be deadly…). She chugged down half of her drink as I drained mine, and before I knew it she had tugged me to the dance floor. I could not make out any distinct music, but a bass rhythmic thrumming pounding in the walls and floor was enough of a guide to the people who grinded and convulsed in the center of the room.

The feel of my dance partner's lithe body wiggling against mine was electrifying, and my hands explored freely. I could feel my mind numbing to everything else, and the burden of my strenuous life fell silent at least for a while. I think I began to relax. Even if I didn't, it was better to be here than moping at home.

"I'm gonna GO finishhh my DRINK!" Esmeralda slurred, throwing her hands in the air like she had scored a soccer goal. I followed her back to the bar, and she brought her glass to her lips and closed her eyes, savoring the buzz as if it was its own flavor.

I had a shot of rum without the coke, and I took my time drinking it. As the last of it slid down my throat, an apple rolled across the counter before the bar tender retrieved it and chopped it up for a martini. The innocent object had grabbed my attention, however, and thrusted it in the direction of my most recent client. I wondered if she would end up using booze to drown her very public shame the way I had mine.

"Another one, please." I asked of the man behind the bar, and it was given to me without comment. I sipped it a little faster this time, prodding my mind to wander elsewhere; like to Esmeralda's supple breasts. Now there was a pair of playthings just screaming to be released from their chokehold of that tight dress, so much different from…

An image of Snow White's much gentler curves and the slight swells underneath her shirt came to mind, and I shook my head to rid myself of the thought. "One more." I demanded, and another shot was placed wordlessly in front of me. I gulped it down.

Esmeralda was licking the strawberry clean after having dropped it into her glass, holding the red fruit above her head with her ruby nails. Funny… I thought, how such long nails can be found on all different types of women… partiers like Esmeralda, for example, and also on such a slight, tender thing like…

"Another." I begged of the bar tender, and he gave me the shot with a slow hand. I snatched it from him and sucked it down.

I was breathing heavily, almost panting, but the picture of that fair beauty would not leave my head. What was WRONG with me? Surely I was losing my mind. Maybe another shot… a disapproving grimace from the guy manning the bar slowed me, and I nodded in hesitant agreement. No, no, the drinking was probably the entire problem. I just needed to slow down on the rum. I needed a better distraction…

Esmeralda flung her glass to the side and got up from her stool, readjusting her dress to the point that I honestly thought she might pop right out of it. She was bobbing her head to the beat and looked about ready to rejoin the dancers, but I had other ideas. It was a simple matter of maneuvering as I kissed her greedily on the face and neck and led her towards the back of the place. I'm not sure which restroom we ended up in, but we made use of the place for quite a while.

By the time we reemerged, her dress was all kinds of discombobulated, and our faces were flushed. Not a single thought of what had tormented me before remained. We danced for a little while more, but I was beginning to fantasize about my bed and pillow. I offered to walk Esmeralda home, but she declined as usual, and I took off alone, leaving her to dance and tease to her heart's content. Some other guy would see her to her place, more or less safely but at least invited.

I made it back up the dirt road and stumbled into the inn, catching myself on the doorframe. I looked sheepishly around the room, wondering if my mother was still up, and stopped right it my tracks.

A cluster of rowdy thugs surrounded the counter, and standing on top of it next to the cash register, a man dominated the attention of his cohorts and the unfortunate patrons still in the restaurant portion of the inn. His gravelly voice rolled out over the room, and the men and women around him gestured wildly in assent, but this, while alarming, was not what sent such a shock through my heart that my blood ran cold.

Standing bravely on her own two feet although she was clutched tightly against the leader's chest with a gun pressed against her head, was my mother.