Chapter 5

At about the same time that Kyle was confronted by the bully Phil and his gang, mayor Franklin was playing a round of golf. The foursome included one man from New York, another from Arkansas, and Franklin's good friend Gary who served as city attorney for a small city 130 miles from Frank's town. The golf course itself, an expensive private one, was located near Gary's home, and that had been Frank's stated reason for inviting Gary, but the truth was that Frank felt a bit out of his league when dealing with the development people. Gary's presence reassured Frank and gave him a bit of confidence.

Stan, the Arkansan, teed off and drove the ball straight and true. Frank approached the tee, and Stan commented, "Frank ... You know I'm kind of disappointed. We thought you were a proactive guy." Stan silenced himself as Frank teed off and sliced the ball into the woods. "Damn that cocksucker," thought Frank. He could have waited until after I'd hit to start in on me. Stan continued to speak as Hedrick, the New Yorker, approached the tee, " We hear that progress is stalled on the project and some of your people are getting cold feet." Frank cringed at Stan's choice of words. Stan seemed to act as if Frank were the town dictator rather than the town's mayor. Frank could not force the townspeople to do anything and Stan had to know this.

After Hedrick drove his ball down the fairway nearly as far as Stan, Frank finally responded, "Everything will be OK Stan. There are a few property owners that don't want to sell, but I'll bet you get that with all of these projects. These people will come around."

Stan responded, "That's not good enough Frank. My ass is on the line with this one. We had a project go south on us a couple of years back. The locals changed the taxes on us after we built the whole damn thing. I thought I'd worked out a deal and everything was cool, but the local morons threw it all away. We'd sunk twenty mil into the fucking thing and the locals fucked us. We closed the store less than two years after we opened it rather than let them screw us on that deal. My superiors are still inclined to hold me responsible for that fuck up."

Frank thought to himself, "So ... that's what you think we are? Locals, morons, bumpkins perhaps?" Frank kept the thought to himself as Gary teed off and shot a great one on his home course.

Frank finally said, "Our community really needs this project Stan. There are not going to be any misunderstandings about taxes or anything else." Stan didn't respond and the foursome proceeded to walk along in silence. Frank surmised that Stan would start talking again when he was trying to make his next shot, and this was exactly what Stan did.

Frank had placed his ball near where the first had entered the woods and was taking a practice swing when Stan said, "I guess what I need from you Frank is assurances. I need to know that you are committed to this thing and are willing to do what it takes to make it happen. I thought you were the kind of stand up guy we needed—a guy who could apply a little pressure, but now I'm not so sure."

Frank drove his ball a short distance along with a rather large divot of sod. Frank responded, "We'll get the project going Stan. The vast majority of our town is fully behind the idea. Most of the folks I talk to are exited about new shopping opportunities, and we sure need the jobs." Hedrick finally spoke as he lined up to address his golf ball and said, "I don't think you are hearing us Frank. We need you to be our go to guy on this thing. We can't fly out here every week to push this thing through. I hear you've got a few bad eggs holding up this deal—well, If you want to make an omelet you're going to break a few eggs. We need you to apply some pressure."

Frank got the message, but chose not to respond. He contemplated a few things that might get the project moving. He also contemplated punching Stan in the guts. The real problem was that damn storybook motel. Jessica had retained an attorney and seemed unwilling to compromise on any reasonable offer for her place. Frank needed to find a way to convince her to sell, and he knew that gentle coaxing was unlikely to be effective.

The four men finished their game with no more talk about the real estate deal. They discussed football instead and went to a fancy restaurant for dinner after the golf game. The liquor flowed freely with Stan and Hedrick picking up the tab, and Frank felt himself relax. The evening would have ended pleasantly for Frank except for Stan's final words as he left the restaurant, "Listen Frank, the thing we hear is that this deal is being held up because of a motel owner. That doesn't concern us as much as the other thing we hear which is that you go to this motel every few days and get yourself a piece of ass. Now I don't care what you do with your dick, but I need your reassurance that you are going to help get this motel bulldozed for us." Frank was too shocked to respond, but Stan continued, "Don't look so surprised Frank. Rumors are always flying around. I'm surprised your wife hasn't heard a few of them. If I were you I'd help us get that motel plowed under before a little bird leaks a few words to your wife."

Frank was livid. He turned red and swallowed hard. The urge to punch Stan was almost overpowering, but Frank turned his back on Stan and left without another word. Frank slammed the door of his car and drove slowly back to his town. He reflected that the insinuation that he wanted to keep the motel for his trysts was becoming a moot point. Nichole had been putting him off lately. He called her and she was still sweet on the phone, but she always said she was busy. Frank was certain that she had found a new boyfriend and the knowledge made him feel lonely, miserable, and immensely horny. He really just wanted to go back and do things over. He found himself wishing that he could start over with Liz, and make things like they were before all the politics, stress, and ambition had nearly destroyed their marriage.

As Frank drove slowly down the road in the right hand lane he formulated a plan. He would make an effort with Liz by fixing her dinner at home. Perhaps he could get her to talk a bit without starting an argument. Perhaps he could give her a massage or at least a little back rub. Part of him knew that his motivation for saving his marriage was driven in large part by his frustrated libido, but another part of him remembered better times with Liz. He wanted those good times back, and he really wanted these evil bastards out of his life. As long as focused his mind on making things right with Liz he could keep his mind off the things he needed to do to make Stan happy.

Frank arrived back at his house to find Liz sitting on the couch with a glass of wine in her hand, but she was not smiling. As soon as he sat down she held up a small package and asked in a cold hard voice, "What is this Frank? It seems you're turning into even more of a pervert!" Frank knew better than to argue with her, but he also knew that his plans for a little romance with her had gone up in smoke as soon as he saw the DVD package that said Backdoor Dolls on the cover. Liz had found another one of his porno DVDs.

Liz did not throw a fit this time like she had before. Her demeanor was cold and distant rather than irate. After staring fiercely at Frank for a few moments she finally said, "I don't know what we have left Frank, but I can't call it a marriage. I don't know what to call it. I don't know what kind of a man watches these things and won't touch his wife. I'm going out, and I don't know when I'll be back.

Elizabeth strode to her car still carrying the DVD package in her hand. She tossed it on the passenger seat, drove four blocks, and then pulled to the curb. She turned off the ignition, placed her face in her hands, and wept. She wept for the loss of her marriage and for all of the memories that had turned to bitterness. She allowed herself several minutes of self-pity. Elizabeth knew that her marriage was over, and yet she had nowhere else to go. She hated the idea of living alone, and she could not believe that her relationship with Steven had any chance of working out long term. She was destined to be alone, and blamed herself a little as well as Frank a lot. Finally she finished her sobbing, sat back, and sighed deeply as mascara ran down her cheeks.

After taking a few deep breaths Elizabeth looked around as if she were in a strange city and found herself disoriented even though she had been down this street many times. Where would she go now? She could not go home right away, and yet she had nowhere else to go. She noticed the DVD package sitting on the seat, and she looked at it closely for the first time. The film seemed to be about anal sex with young girls--a crude and vulgar practice in Elizabeth's opinion. She remembered Frank's trying to talk her into trying it some years back, but she had absolutely refused. She also noticed that a label on the DVD had the name of the store from which the movie had been purchased. The store was only thirty miles away. On a strange impulse Elizabeth started driving to the adult bookstore where her husband had apparently purchased the movie. She was curious and felt suddenly carefree as if she had nothing to loose.

She arrived to find a dingy storefront with blacked out windows, but the sign out front said open. Liz opened the door triggering a buzzer as she did so. A fat balding tattooed man with green teeth sat up from behind a counter and demanded to see ID. The place stank of cigarette smoke and gave Elizabeth the creeps. She was tempted to leave right then, but she showed her license to the man and proceeded into the store. The store had a bewildering array of movies, magazines, and books. She could tell from the pictures on the front of the packages that most of them showed women in very degrading roles. She noticed that the movies were categorized by topic. She sought out the section of movies dealing with anal sex and did not have much difficulty finding it. Almost a quarter of the movies in the store seemed to deal with anal sex, and that did not count the ones that featured gay men. Elizabeth was surprised to see such apparent interest in a topic that she had always considered disgusting. Was this something that a lot of men fantasized about? She noticed that a couple of men leered furtively at her, but each of them would look away if the glanced in his direction. Elizabeth suddenly felt self conscious and dirty so she walked briskly out of the store.

She only drove a couple of blocks before she entered a fast food restaurant. She entered the bathroom, washed her hands thoroughly, continued washing all the up to her elbows as if she were preparing for surgery, and then she returned to her car. Once more she noticed the DVD on the seat, but this time she picked it up and threw it across the parking lot in the direction on the dumpster where the plastic case shattered. Now I'll get arrested for littering she thought.