Chapter 23. Jessica Adds Things Up

Wednesday September 24, 2008

Later that day Jessica raised another subject with me.

These emails were taking up far too much of my office time so my last message to the girls was to signal a ‘time out’ for real lawyer work, “or else I will have to call a pair of service girls to help me discharge the ideas you two are giving me.” Jessica and Amy both knew what the service girls did. Jessica had even done some statistical work for the firm on the issue.

Later in the day Jessica emailed me again. The subject line was “Another subject,” and the text said that she had heard something that tied to her newest writing job, and if it was true she had a pitch for me where I might be able to do her and some “men of mine” a big favor. “Pitch” meant it was show business.

I wondered, what men could she be talking about? This sounded like something from Abril’s slip-up, but I could not see the connection. That made me curious.

I suggested a phone call after 6, I really had some law firm work I had to get done for Samantha and I knew Barnes would be gone by then. I called her about 6:30.

During the call Jessica said she wanted to “pitch me” in confidence about something my wife had mentioned while they were delightfully “kissing heads to tails.” Rose was mixing drinks at the time. She was trying to spark me again with the description, and it worked. Plus, that told me it was about my troops. I assumed Jessica had inferred a connection.

During the phone call Jessica suggested that she would prefer a naked conversation, she indirectly suggested she might present her pitch in bed, her office had a real casting couch and a red light outside the door for special “do not disturb” events. We flirted a bit, things like “it could be my first naked pitch,” etc. It occurred to me that she might be angling for another sex date with me or Do Wong or both after the last booty call. She was always open to us, but given a choice about timing she was in a greater hurry to pitch this idea. Since scheduling sex quickly was impractical - it would take too long - she made it clear that for this item, the timely private presentation was the priority. In the end the studio commissary at her job was the best location for a quick pitch that would save us both valuable time. She would add my name to the list at the gate “for tomorrow.” That would be Thursday.

The words “studio commissary” have a strange, almost mythical power over mere mortal LA residents, this is where we imagined real Hollywood Stars crafting next summer’s big movie could be dinning in full makeup and costume at the same table. It was where future stars were discovered dining on carrots and celery - the lunch of the stars! Meanwhile the odious scaled money creatures tore into their “hasenpfeffer on the hoof.” The power of the image was such that I could hardly refuse.

She would list me as driving a Porsche.

Zar’s Day

When I got home Wednesday night Zar was in a happy, maybe even jovial mood. Li, Abril and Nia were all going to be around all day and that usually leads to Zar needing to expend some extra effort. But not today.

The special concern was Abril’s road test tomorrow for her license, the DMV held so much power over every LA resident’s very identity and the results could not be influenced by love or money or any facsimile thereof, so our local confidence queen was feeling very unconfident, and in such a mood she could be a spectacular pain in the ass all day. Zar expected that today.

Zar started her day crawling into bed with Nia. Nia was especially blissed out, the things Li did to her body in my bed Tuesday night were wonderfully exhausting, but in an especially good reaffirming way that left Nia with very restful dreams. She was in a great mood after nine hours of sleep. Nia was not allowed to get out of bed, Zar brought her a meal of her favorite things, then soothed her delightfully ravaged pussy. When that was done the two snugged in bed for a few hours, watching DVR recordings of shows they both liked.

At about 12:30 Li called on the intercom, asking if Nia and Zar were interested in going out for lunch, it was a nice day outside and after 5 more hours of sleep after I left very happy Li was in a perky good mood. Zar figured Li had more good feelings to share with Nia so she encouraged her to go. Zar would stay home and feed herself, she did not need to complicate the meal selection process. However, she did suggest that they take a blanket and make it a picnic. Li agreed. Nia said she would be ready in 15 minutes.

Zar said she meant 20 minutes, Nia was taking more time getting dressed these days. Li understood, “Okay, 20 minutes in the garage, the 4-door Chevy truck okay?”

Nia did meet Li in the garage on time. She was surprised to see that Abril was already behind the wheel and Li was in the back seat where she signaled for Nia to join her. They belted in and were off to a combination Tex-Mex and Pizza place they all liked. It was a short drive, they all knew what they wanted, and when it was ready Li gave Abril her card and said. “My treat.”

That was not the way they usually did things together. However, Li had ordered a lot more food than an 80 pound girl could possibly eat. Something was up but Abril didn’t ask questions when somebody else was paying for good food.

As Li and Nia waited in the truck Li explained that the afternoon was to build up Abril’s confidence. They were in the long wide truck. In contrast, Abril’s road test tomorrow in the maneuverable Xterra would feel very easy to drive. Li had a route planned for after the meal, doing a little shopping at different stores, each with a driving and parking situation that should build Abril’s confidence. It would help if Nia mentioned during the meal that when she was not driving her and her small passenger were better in the back seat. Then, during the afternoon drive, they would both compliment Abril on her driving.

Since Nia was Abril’s main driving instructor, her words would carry a lot of weight.

The scheme worked. The good meal in the sunny park was very pleasant and they were not disturbed, Li got Irene to put a few troops on overwatch to insure their privacy. That way the girls were spared any contact with the two grunge comedians who would have imposed themselves to no good purpose. Also, a trio of two-legged petri dishes woke up that night tied to a tree.

The easy drive with compliments, the park without the usual disruptive wildlife and the shopping together had all three in a good mood when they got back home before rush hour. Nia’s energy limits kept the trip from dragging out. One of the things they bought was a hat that was “just perfect” for Zar, they all agreed on it so she modeled it when they got home. They also had to model the clothing items they each purchased on the excursion.

One item they could not leave in the store was a baby stroller that had a built-in car seat, collapsed for storage, and converted for a sleeping infant or to a stroller the child could walk in. It was not needed yet, but they were all pleased to make it a gift for Nia. When she did need it she would be in Detroit, in the winter which can run long. That did not sound like fun.

When they returned to the mansion and shared their purchases they sounded so happy that my aunts had to investigate. Both were in the first trimester of their pregnancy, and they faced some trials (most self-imposed), but they were fascinated with Nia’s amazing stroller, especially the way it collapsed so completely with one button into something very like a thin wheeled suitcase. Soon all six of the women were sitting at the pool, chatting merrily away about the benefits of retail therapy, the topic they all found interesting. In time Martin and Corum joined them.

When the aunts discovered they were pregnant they had a little skirmish with Zar about food. They wanted particular meals cooked their way. Zar refused, they were too picky, would complain no matter what, and she was the mistress and cook of the house for HER CHIEF (me), cooking the meals I and my mother and my grandfathers (both) liked. To settle the issue Zar pointed out that they had their own kitchen, which they were going to have to use. Because of that she refused to cook larger meals than MY household needed.

To neutralize my uncle in this issue Zar started to leave a “rescue tray” of food for Martin in the fridge each night, and pack a spare lunch each time she packed one for me. Martin was a loser in this fight no matter what, but he didn’t have to starve while his wives learned how to cook by trial and error. To them, peeling an onion was a trial, and they refused to work under Zar’s direction.

Zar also pointed out that every mother in America could whip up a PB&J for their child, no matter how rich or poor they were, so they might as well start with simple before they tried a Lima casserole or Spanish meatloaf.

The two had no idea what a PB&J was. Martin explained and made one for them, and they were amazed at the genius of the tasty and nourishing preparation. For the next week they made variations for two meals a day, with different bread and jelly/jam combinations. The combination of chunky peanut butter on hot toast with cold peach jam left them speechless with wonder. That happened on Wednesday afternoon and when they brought their latest discovery (toasted wheat bread, chunky Skippy with plum jam) to Zar she found it was quite good for a mid-afternoon snack.

Later Wednesday afternoon, when I texted Li about Amy and Jessica, Li’s reply included her plan for supper. I approved, so Zar did not have to cook supper for anyone.

Driving home, when I was about 5 minutes from my house I stopped at a new high-end takeout center that opened. There were 6 shops, all upscale local fast food chains, that had banded together to deal with the spiraling economy. A customer phoned in an order with any mix of the brands and the order was ready at the time requested - hot with no wait and no standing in different lines to order the variety of foods. The quality and service combination charged a premium, but it was not too high for something that saved time and pleased everybody.

Li called in the supper order, including the aunts, based on what she knew were foods they liked. I picked up the order as planned at 9:03 and walked into my own kitchen from the garage 5 minutes later. The smells of fresh hot foods made me a hero, I could have any of the women for my own that night.

The food was quickly spread out on the table for a “family style” meal serving the group where everybody had what they liked and could sample what other folks liked.

The result was the most convivial meal in the house in some time. Everybody had such a good time it even looked like Martin would get lucky that night. I noticed that Corum and Nia made plans to spend all night together, he had just completed an extended set of shifts including the safe house, the factory used for our armored vehicles, and the prison. All of his shifts were without female company, and as usual Nia was glad to help him with that. He was good to give her a double-header at least.