A/N: Hello again, everybody. Here I am with the latest chapter of A Sweet Evening With Sweetback. I know it has been a while since I started this story. However, life got in the way in a big, major way. Thus, I was unable to get back to this one until just now. But here I am with my latest submission. Lots of fun BMAG and Pinger material here to be had. I will look to wrap this one up within the next week. And now, on to Chapter 3. Enjoy! :)
The seven rescued castaways and Maria-Odilia each took the back row of the main auditorium, which Mr. Howell had converted into a special VIP for this occasion, so that Ginger could have a vantage point for all the food she was ready to eat. She had developed a voracious appetite from carrying the twins inside of her. And considering the seating arrangements, this was going to work out just fine.
From left-to-right, against the screen, it was Mr. and Mrs. Howell, Skipper and Maria-Odilia, Professor Roy and Ginger, and William and Mary Ann. Even after being long off the island, Ginger always insisted that she sit between William and Roy, no matter what, which would have Mary Ann on the other side, sitting next to William.
The concessioners brought in popcorn, hot dogs, candy, and sodas for the VIP party…with Ginger to receive a special stream of food every ten minutes. Between her and William, there would be plenty of food to be had which guaranteed consumption. Between the pregnant lady and her boyfriend with a high metabolism, there would never be a drop of food wasted.
Following a pre-filmed presentation by the Howells, thanking everyone for coming out to watch the feature presentation, after which a Deputy Dawg cartoon short, followed by one of Mr. Magoo, proceeded.
Then came…Sweetback.
The movie began with a young, malnutritional Black boy, which was played by Mr. Melvin's son, Mario, very hungry and being fed by a litany of Black women inside of a sex house. Then, as the young boy was delivering towels to the various rooms inside of the building, one of the women gestured the young boy to come into her room. There, the boy, and woman each got undressed and then began to have intercourse with one another. The audience gasped, and then applauded as the film began rolling the opening credits over the sex scene and various other snippets with music, running from soul to jazz to gospel, played on.
As this happened, the Howells, who had not bothered to screen the film beforehand, were slack jawed. Skipper, Maria-Odilia, and Roy were each amazed. Ginger was enjoying both the sequence and the food she was eating simultaneously. William, who ate along with Ginger, and Mary Ann, both had sheepish grins on their faces.
After the title flashed across the screen, the primary featured notables were The Black Community and Brer Soul.
When William asked who that was, his wife reminded him about the spoken word LP Mr. Melvin had released back in 1968. Ginger, in between popcorn munches, concurred. As William glanced towards Ginger, his girlfriend fed him some popcorn from her hand.
The film was also dedicated to "all the Black brothers and sisters who have had enough of The Man." The opening sequence ends with Mr. Melvin, now taking over the role, putting on his cap and walking away. His character is anointed Sweetback because of his sexual prowess and large member.
Sweetback works in the sex show as presented at that same house many years later. As a sex show is taking place, two white LAPD detectives have a word with Beetle, Sweetback's boss. They mention that a Black man has been killed and the community, at large, is looking for LAPD to make an arrest. Beetle acquiesces and offers up Sweetback. Sweetback agrees to go along with the detectives, who look to release him, eventually, due to lack of evidence. However, on the way there, the detectives also pick up a young Black Panther named, Mu-Mu, due to a call they receive, on the police band, about some issues in the area. Both Mu-Mu and Sweetback are both in the back seat of the detective's car, handcuffed together. However, when Mu-Mu says something disparaging towards the detectives, they then pull over off the road, take their cuffed passengers out of the back seat, unlock the cuffs linking the two Black men, and proceed to give Mu-Mu a harsh beating. After groans emanate throughout the theater, following a brief pause assessing the situation at hand, Sweetback then looks at the cuff still on his wrist, then fashions it into makeshift brass knuckles of sorts, and begins fighting back, beating the detectives down so severely that there is nothing but blood covering the cuffs. As the beating started, the predominantly Black audience applauds the action.
As this happened, the Howells silently grasped, Skipper and Maria-Odilia had half-smiles on their faces, Roy looked bewildered, Ginger was smiling while eating…while William and Mary Ann were happily cheering the beating on…along with many of the theater's patrons.
After the beating ended, Sweetback and Mu-Mu (temporarily) parted company.
As Sweetback's odyssey really got going, the party of eight, along with the rest of the theater patrons, were treated to Sweetback running through the community, back to the sex house he worked at (only to be turned away); and a church, functioning as a drug-rehab center, amongst the many stops he makes (only to be turned away here, as well). Between these stops, the cops catch him and, on orders from the police chief, beat him down, and take him into custody…only to be later freed from the car by a Molotov cocktail thrown by a Black revolutionary. Two young teens (also played by Mr. Melvin's son, Mario, along with his daughter, Ms. Megan, Mario's twin sister) distracted the cops by offering a window wash, allowing not only time for the Molotov, but also for Sweetback to escape, as well.
Another part of Sweetback's odyssey was running into a white motorcycle gang whose turf he had inadvertently traipsed onto while on the run. The gang challenged him to a duel. The leader threw a knife towards a wall target, making a perfect bullseye. Sweetback retorted with the one skill he was great at and known for: "fucking." Well, turns out, the biker gang leader happened to be…a woman…who was quite good-looking, releasing a long head of hair upon removing her helmet. Sweetback ended up winning the duel and continued his journey.
The older part of the party was intrigued by this scene as it played out on the screen. Roy, Maria-Odilia, Ginger, Mary Ann, and William were turned on—particularly given the interracial component tied to the encounter.
As Sweetback's song played out on the screen—not only with Sweetback on the run, but his theme being played out by a new fusion soul-jazz-rock outfit named, Earth, Wind, & Fire, as well—the party of eight was enjoying themselves and this film. As the Howells, Skipper, Maria-Odilia, and Roy were getting into the film, and the food, Ginger, William, and Mary Ann were each having their own thing going on at their end. A hot dog William was eating was bit on, at each end, by Ginger and Mary Ann. William then shared a hot dog with his wife. Ginger, besides going through all kinds of candy, namely Junior Mints and boxed M&Ms with her boyfriend and husband, also fed the former shared hot dogs and a giant tub of popcorn filled with seasoned salt and melted butter, which was too much for their respective spouses, but perfect for William and Ginger.
"Honey, how can you and Will stand to eat all that popcorn slathered down in all of that butter?" Roy asked his wife.
"After all those years on that island, being denied a pleasure like this, it is nice to munch out on popcorn slathered down in all of this butter," Ginger smiled to her husband, licking her lips and tacitly aware that she was not only eating this popcorn, along with all this other food, just for her enjoyment…but those for the unborn twins she was carrying for her and Roy, as well. Yet while the buttered lips she clearly had were too much for her husband to kiss…such was not so for the man sitting on the other side of her.
"I guess not everyone appreciates our love for seasoned, heavily-buttered popcorn, my dear William," Ginger said.
"I guess not, my loving Gin," William said, as they both shared a kiss on each of their butter-flavored lips. William then motioned to his wife if she wanted some of that extra-buttered popcorn. With an annoyed look, Mary Ann passed on the offer.
Then, while an interrogation scene was playing out on the big screen, Ginger handed William a hot dog to take a bite of. But before he could respond in kind, his wife reached over and took a bite of out hot dog, instead, which was slathered in mustard, a drop of which fell upon her right breast. Ginger saw this right away and having had some more popcorn, took her left index finger, which was still slathered in butter, reached across her boyfriend, who was seated between the two of them, and wiped it right off Mary Ann's breast. Ginger then seductively licked her finger with the butter and mustard, muttering the words, "finger-licking good!"
William then had his head pulled down go his Mary Ann's breast area, where he licked his wife's breast clean. Mary Ann smiled, loving her husband's tongue on her breast, and then quickly kissed her husband on the lips. She then looked over a Ginger, saying back to her, "breast-licking good!'
Ginger and Mary Ann then kissed each other in front of William.
The Howells continued to watch the movie throughout the antics of Ginger, Mary Ann, and William. Skipper watched on also, though Maria-Odilia, while paying attention to the movie itself, looked sideways at the others sitting to her left with a smile.
"Say, honey, are those three always like this?" Maria-Odilia asked her boyfriend, Skipper.
"Always," Skipper smiled, adding, "ever since they came together on the island and bonded as boyfriend and girlfriends, they have been inseparable."
"And you seem so fine with this, too, Roy," Maria-Odilia turned and said to Ginger's husband.
"Because I love my wife," he said, smiling, "as well as Will and Mary Ann."
Roy sighed quietly, albeit equally amused, and smiled. To him, this was part of why he loved and enjoyed being with The Gilligans and was looking forward to his and Ginger's twins bonding with Jonas and Leilani Gilligan.
During a potential getaway scene at dark, when Sweetback gave up his seat on a motorcycle in favor of Mu-Mu, who was looked upon as the future for being younger, William whispered a question to his wife.
"Say, honey, that man riding the motorcycle looks very familiar," he said.
"That's the weatherman from the Mary Tyler Moore show," Mary Ann said.
"His name is John Amos," Ginger chimed in, "he used to play football. Now, he is getting into acting."
"Oh, I see," William said.
The eight of them, through it all, got into the movie. As the authorities were walking around the Black community asking about Sweetback's whereabouts, each of the castaways found themselves wondering how they would respond if the authorities were to confront them regarding Sweetback's whereabouts.
* - The Howells were asked from inside of their limousine. Mr. Howell said, "no, I have not seen Sweetback today." Mrs. Howell said, smiling, "sorry, officer, my husband and I have not seen Sweetback today."
* - Aboard the S.S. Minnow II, Skipper and Maria-Odilia are asked. Skipper says, "no, detective, I have not seen Sweetback today." Maria-Odilia, wearing a leopard-colored captain's hat, along with a matching leopard swimsuit, being in remarkable shape for a woman her age, featuring large breasts with rather ample cleavage, beautiful legs with beautiful skin tone, and sunglasses, says, smiling, "neither have I seen Sweetback today. Sorry."
* - Roy, while working inside of his lab at USC, is asked by detectives if he had seen Sweetback. Roy said, "no, detectives, I have not seen Sweetback today. If there is nothing else, may I please get back to my research?" The detectives leave as the Professor thanks them for excusing him to resume his work.
* - William, Mary Ann and Ginger are all at the park with Jonas and Leilani, seated on a park bench, when the detectives approach them. William, massaging Ginger's feet in his lap, says he has not seen Sweetback. Ginger, holding Leilani atop her pregnant belly, says, in unison with Mary Ann, who is holding her son, with Ginger seated with her back to Mary Ann's side, with huge smiles on their faces, giggling, "no, detectives, we have not seen Sweetback." As the detectives left, Ginger and Mary Ann, faces cheek-to-cheek, kissed each other on the lips.
As Sweetback continued with his journey, with his theme song so repeated, as an underlying chorus of sorts, which was easily accessible into anybody's head once it caught on, given how catchy it clearly sounds, the crowd got swept into the action with him. Considering that EWF was trying to get themselves going as a new musical entity, this could only help their exposure. They were also in the process of releasing some of their own original material that year, as well. One of the band's founders was Maurice White, who had been a drummer with The Ramsey Lewis Trio during the 1960s, while having been an old childhood friend, in Memphis, of both noted Stax luminaries, Booker T. Jones and David Porter, and was looking to further branch out into something musically different. The younger ex-castaways took note to the music, indeed.
"I like this music," William said.
Both his wife and girlfriend agreed.
"If they ever find their direction, they could really have a big act on their hands," Ginger said.
"Really?" William said.
"Yes, dear," Ginger said.
"Girlfriend's right, baby," Mary Ann concurred, "they are really good."
As Sweetback kept on running, the audience cheered loudly with him—particularly William, Mary Ann, and Ginger—the latter between popcorn bites and soda sips.
By the time the film ended, the entire audience applauded, giving the film a long ovation as the final credits rolled on the screen.
Before the auditorium emptied out, the party of eight made their way out of the theater, back into the limousine, and then into the night—with William, again, massaging Ginger's feet on his lap.