Chapter 10

I don't want to go into all the gory details of what happened when I lowered the boom on Jo and Annie. Let me just say that after a big scene they came through, kicking in twelve-fifty each and sending it in the mail.

So now I was up to a hundred a week, counting the fifteen I was saving of my own money.

It felt great, seeing the bank book get fatter and fatter. Already I could see myself set up in a plush office with a fleet of trucks, each one with a CB radio in it and me giving orders from a mike at my desk.

Carl continued to ride my ass and I guess I couldn't blame him. I was so busy keeping track of my new sideline that I fucked up on the job more than once. As for Tony, he gave up all hope of ever taking any more pictures. All he ever heard from me was no and when he asked why, I told him I was tired of having all these broads calling me and I needed a rest.

The first snow came the weekend before Thanksgiving. That Monday, with a couple of inches on the ground, I went into Ed's for lunch after finishing up a snake job for this broad. I took off my coat and stomped my boots on the floor, then took a stool. The place was empty except for me and Ed, who had a beer set up before I even hit the seat.

"How goes it?" he asked.

"Damn snow's been slowing me up some--went into a skid coming down offa Cherry Hill. Some shit, huh?"

"Yeah," Ed agreed. "Had to get salt for the front this morning. This is the first year I can recall spreading it before December."

"Yeah," I said. "Listen, what's good today?"

"Well, I got a roast beef just out of the oven."

"Sounds good," I said. "Lemme have it on a wedge. And a side of macaroni salad."

"Right." He pushed through the door to the kitchen.

Halfway through the wedge Tony came in, blowing and snorting and beating his arms against his chest.

"It's colder than a witch's tit out there," he said. He hung his coat and sat down next to me. After putting in his order with Ed, he turned to me.

"I got a message for you," he said. "This broad just called the old man and asked him to send you out on a job at her place."

"Oh, yeah?" I said, wiping my mouth and looking at him. "Who was it?" I didn't like the sound of this; Carl didn't go for women calling up and asking for me by name.

"I don't know," he said. "A Mrs. Greer. Ever heard of her? I never did."

He gave me this shit-eating grin like he figured I had a new one lined up. But I didn't have any idea who the hell she was.

"Carl pissed?" I asked.

"Yeah, a little," Tony said. "But he says for you to get out there after lunch. Here's the slip." He pulled it out of his hip pocket and handed it to me.

So, right after lunch I headed out to see Mrs. Greer, whoever she was. She lived down in the southernmost part of the township, an area of woods and narrow, winding roads and few houses. If there was any part of town that was exclusive, this was it.

When I turned onto Quaker Church Road and passed the old gray building and graveyard, I could see that the town hadn't been up here yet with the plows. Two inches of crusty snow covered the winding road. So I took it slow and thought about just who this mystery woman could be.

She was obviously somebody I didn't know. But she knew me, or of me. Maybe she heard of me from some other broad. That was possible. I have a pretty big name with a lot of broads in Northridge and one of them might have put this Greer woman onto a good thing. But most of the women were now on my list, so it wasn't likely they'd let a friend fall into the same trap.

By the time I pulled into the broad's driveway, I had given up; I'd know in just a few minutes, so there was no point driving myself nuts.

Whoever she was, she lived in some fancy house. The drive curved through pine trees for a quarter of a mile before I saw the big, long building off to the left. It was two or three stories high, with plenty of windows and doors, and seemed to stretch at least fifty yards. And there were chimneys up the ass, sending up smoke into the gray sky. The place looked like a big ship on a sea of white, surrounded as it was by acres of snow-covered lawn.

I pulled up in front of the main door, a big thing seven feet high that looked like it was made for holding off Indians, and banged the heavy brass knocker. I waited for a minute in the cold, my breath making clouds in the air. Then the door opened and I almost dropped when I saw what was standing there.

"Pete Novak? Come ins please."

I stepped into the place, unable to unglue my eyes from her. This was the most beautiful doll I'd ever seen. One look and you could tell she musta been an actress or model or something. She was so out of place in a town like Northridge. I mean, sure, there's a lot of Grade A stuff around here--I oughta know since I've banged a lot of it. But the broads I know are beautiful in an average, housewife way, if you know what I mean. They're attractive, but not perfect.

That's what this Mrs. Greer was like. My balls ached just looking at her. She stood about five-eight and had long, straight blond hair, very blond. Her face was beautiful, with every feature like something out of a beauty school. Perfect eyebrows, full, sexy mouth, high cheekbones, a strong chin with a bit of a cleft, a long, slender neck, and two of the biggest, bluest eyes I've ever seen.

From the neck down, she was even better, if that's possible. What a body! Big, firm tits, a narrow waist, big hips and two golden legs, long and smooth and plump in the right places. She was wearing a plaid miniskirt, a cream colored heavy sweater, and a pair of brown pointy shoes. And around her neck was this chain with a shiny black stone resting between her big tits.

"Pete. Pete?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I guess I was staring, but you must be used to that."

She flashed me this big smile and led the way into a huge room, filled with plush furniture and fancy paintings, the works. We took a seat on a big sofa in front of the fire.

"Would you like something to drink?" she asked, still smiling at me.

This was the damnedest thing. Here I was, a plumber to fix the pipes, and she was offering me a drink! I was too bowled over to do anything but go along with her. She had some reason for all this and would get to it in time.

"Sure," I said. "Scotch if you got it. On the rocks."

She got up and went over to the fireplace. She pressed this button on the wall and my eyes almost popped out of my head. The bricks above the mantle started sliding up into the ceiling. It was a fake. As they went up into the ceiling, this shelf of booze and glasses and a small sink and freezer came down and out, resting on the mantle.

"Geez!" I said. "What movie'd you get that from?"

She laughed and began mixing the drinks. "My husband goes in for things like this."

"Oh, yeah?" I wondered what line her husband was in.

She came back and handed me my Scotch. When we were both sitting and sipping and looking at the fire, she stretched an arm along the top of the sofa and turned to me.

"Well, I guess you're wondering how I got your name and why I called you."

"I guess you might say that." My cock was throbbing as I looked at her. What tits! What a face!

"I'll come right to the point, then," she said. "Now, I know this is going to sound strange to you, a bit unbelievable, but hear me out. You see, in the world I'm part of, things happen that you might think of as rather unusual, even shocking, but they happen nevertheless."