Chapter 28: Wednesday (Toni)

Summer was well begun, and on that Wednesday morning, I went off to the office, swinging along the shaded walks of western Pearl Street, past other buildings of condos like my own. I was wearing a new dress I'd just finished. It was a little shorter than usual, showed my legs, but tastefully I think. I was loving the feel of my breasts moving under the front, and now and then I'd look down to watch them sway. I thought about how I'm brown all over, though not many people know it.

I was humming to myself when I overtook another woman headed in the same direction. I recognized her. "Fran! How are you? Haven't seen you in ages, where have you been?"

Fran started and turned to see who had called her. I was surprised to see her face changing strangely from recognition to pleasure to a semi-sour mien. "Oh. Hello, Toni. I'm fine." She looked me over. "You're certainly looking well. Quite a change, I'd say." The change did not appear to please her.

"Thank you. I am well, Fran. I feel wonderful. How come we don't see you at Wednesday any more? It's been quite a while."

Fran's face turned genuinely sour. "You're not going to see me again, either. I had quite enough of that bunch."

I was taken aback. "Why Fran, I thought you enjoyed the group. What happened?"

She drew back, almost as though she was going to take a swing at me. "What happened? You couldn't see? No, you don't care, and I can see..." she waved her hand at me, "you've gone down the same track. You used to be the only one. The only one with any sense of... of decency. The rest of them, the rest of them..." she was gathering steam, "My God, they are so disgusting — sitting there in public, rubbing up against each other. They thought they wouldn't be noticed, but I could see them, touching each other. Men and women!" Fran's voice began to rise. "Women and women!" Fran's face was red and the veins in her neck stood out. "You, you were the only one who..."

I was amazed. But, as she really began to warm up, I said, "Fran, I'm sorry you feel that way, but those people are my friends. And let me tell you something else. You said I've changed, and I have. I'm in there rubbing up against them, too. Men and woman, and I'm not sure which I like better. But I don't like what you're saying, and if you feel the way you do, you'd best stay a long way away from us." By that time, I was fuming, too, and I walked away down the street, leaving her visibly steaming with self-righteous rage and nowhere to vent it.

On the mall, I hurried past the office and went down the block to Melanie's shop. I called out "Hi, it's Toni," and, hearing a muffled answer from the back, helped myself to a mug of coffee and opened the office door where Melanie was sitting at her desk, entering accounting data in the computer.

"Hi, kid," Melanie said, "plant yourself. What's up?" She turned and picked up her coffee mug, settling her elbows on the desk.

"You won't believe this..." I began, and told Mel about the encounter with Fran.

"Well, I'd say 'good riddance, '" Melanie concluded. "I never felt she was one of us, anyway."

"She sure isn't, but how could you tell I was?"

"I didn't know. Just had to wait to see how it turned out. You're good-looking, dress well, smart. It was just a question of waiting 'til you decided how you felt about how the rest of us are."

I was a little unsettled by that. "I didn't realize there was a plan."

"Wasn't. Isn't." Melanie sat back in her chair. "I just mean, we all sort of came together. The ones who wanted the same things found them, the rest left. Remember Tim? He only stayed a week or two." She leaned forward, grinning. "Did you really tell Fran you rub up against women? Is this a change I should know about?"

I put my legs up on the chair near the desk, watching my dress fall away from my legs — just the way I'd planned. "Mainly, I wanted to shock her. I'm simply not sure about sex with women — one way or another — right now. And what is it we all want, after all? You've been thinking about this, I haven't."

"Not a lot, really. It's just that Dana and Jenny and I all like to snuggle up together, you too, and don't deny it. I'm pretty sure Dana and Jenny are lovers, though I've never gotten more than a few gropes at Wednesday from either of them." Melanie smiled. "Gropes and a lot of loose talk about getting it on together. They certainly aren't prudish about it, anyway."

"Well, no. And I can tell you Dana's not bashful. When we were fitting the clothes we showed you, she gave me a kiss and a genuine invitation."

"You got to fuck her?"

"No, Mel. I wasn't ready for that."

Melanie smiled. "But that sure explains them coming out bare-ass and talking business with us. By the time we were through, I was ready to jump both of them."

"I know. I could smell you." I grinned at her. "But so what if some of us are bi? How's that got anything to do with us as a group?"