Chapter 7

Shirley Kiner knew how to brew good coffee, and I made an additional imaginary mark on the left side of her imaginary personal ledger, the all-important "plus" side. Maybe, in evaluating a woman, her being able to brew good coffee would be an incidental matter for some people. Not me. For Chad Prince, it was right up there with good personal hygiene and -- and being capable of explaining the Infield Fly Rule.

We didn't have much to say to each other while the coffee was perking, and I noticed that Shirley's attitude had cooled considerably. It was like a dark cloud was just overhead, following her around my kitchen. She was, evidently, making some internal decisions about how she felt about me and my "research," and what she intended to tell me by way of augmentation.

I kept my mouth shut. Saying nothing may not always be a great strategy, but it's certainly preferable to anything else, when one doesn't know what else to do.

It was my kitchen, but Shirley had taken charge of the coffee preparations. Without asking me anything, she found all the necessary paraphernalia, set us up at the kitchen table, and poured.

"Good coffee," I said.

I figured that comment couldn't hurt.

"Those two movies," Shirley said.

"Yeah?"

"Those were my first. Well. The two little TV things you saw, on the IMDB listings, those were my first professional jobs. Those were legitimate. Dinky little parts in dinky little shows. One of them a pilot for a series that didn't happen, the other a series that lived and died in its one season."

"Those two movies weren't... your only movies?"

"No. They were the first of four. Actually, all four were the same movie, over and over, with different titles. They all involved me, and several other girls, getting naked as quickly as possible and staying that way as long as possible. The reason those two are in the IMDB and the others aren't is that, in the other two, I didn't use my real name."

"Were you "Tasha Divine?" I asked.

I probably shouldn't have asked.

"Tasha Divine?" Shirley said. "God, you really have done your research, haven't you? How did you connect me to that name?"

"I didn't, actually. It was Reggie. I don't know how he got the name -- except that "Tasha" was the name on those photos from the Internet, too."

"So Reggie has been participating in this investigation, too? Who else? Any congressional committees? The Pentagon? The CIA, maybe?"

"I've already apologized to you for invading your privacy, Shirley -- if that's what we've done. But, damn it, I wanted to know about you. I was hoping you and I might --"

"You wanted to know just exactly how far into the gutter little Shirley had fallen," she said angrily. "You wanted to maybe hire me for a private strip show -- just you and your friends -- maybe invite the wives, if you were feeling really frisky that day!"

"You know that's just bullshit, Shirley."

"What I know is, everyone I know in the State of Missouri has a tough time looking me in the eye, because when they see me, all they can think of is those spread shots of my shaved pussy, and those skin movies."

That was too close to accurate for me to protest it very vigorously. I had done a lot of thinking about Shirley Kiner that was focused on a hoped-for future relationship with her -- a healthy relationship that might, eventually, involve all the best things a man and woman could do, and be, together.

But she was right, all the same. All mixed up in my thoughts -- constantly -- were the kinds of images Shirley was describing. Even at that moment, being confronted by Shirley and finding myself on the defensive, those same images were right there, in my head.

Shirley's shaven, lush, almost-shiny vaginal lips -- beckoning.

"I do think of those things, sometimes," I admitted. "I don't deny it. Can't. Maybe you don't fully comprehend, how a man's mind works. Sexuality is always, kinda, well, close to the surface, ready to emerge."

"Shit, you don't have to tell me how a man's mind works," Shirley said, bitterly. "Don't forget, I made my living for several years, helping guys like you to get it up."

I knew she was becoming progressively more hostile, but I kept trying. "When I think about you, though, I don't think about just that kind of stuff," I said. "Sure, that's all mixed up in it, but I have other thoughts, too. Better ones. Healthier ones."

"Like what?"

"Like wishing we'd been closer, all the way back to our school days. Like hoping that now, when we're both grown up and unattached, we can get to know each other much better."

"No thoughts of getting to fuck Tasha Divine?"

"Please, Shirley! Let's don't have a confrontation, here. I'll answer any question you have, and I'll try to be honest. But you're coming over so harsh -- so angry. I don't think I've done anything that merits that."

"You've investigated me! You've discussed me with your buddies, and passed around my naked photographs."

"That's not fair, Shirley! None of us, not Herm, not even Reggie, has said anything salacious about you. All three of us have been focused on the same thing -- finding out more about you, finding out who you are, really."

"For what purpose? What are you looking for?"

"It's like I said, I wanted to know more about -- who you were -- now. The others, they knew I was interested in you, they were just trying to help me."

"You don't care so much about who I am now," Shirley said, her face red with anger. "You're more interested in who I've been."

"It's true I wanted to -- know more. About your past," I said.

"You wanted to know if I was a porn actress, right? Did I suck cock on the silver screen? Did I take it up the ass? That's where your research was going -- right?"

"Shirley, if you'll calm down and discuss this, I swear to God I'll answer any question you have as honestly as I know how. But this -- rage. It's not going to get us anywhere."

"Fine. We'll discuss it all, calmly and honestly. What do you want to know?"

"Well. Were you Tasha Divine?"

"Yes. In one movie. That was after the two you found. Stupid name, huh? I didn't choose it myself, in case you want to know. But if you know about Tasha Divine, why are you asking me?"

"I haven't actually seen the movie," I said. "I just -- heard about it, and wondered if you were that same Tasha, like on the photographs."

"Yep, that's me. I was also 'Monique Martine" in another skin flick. My fourth. And last. The character I played in that one was 'Moana.' Not M-O-N-A Mona, but 'Moana.' That was the producer's idea of high comedy. He was hot for my body, too, Chad, just like you are. When we were on the set, he'd look at my naked body, and make a pumping motion with his fist, and say 'Moana gives me a bone-ah.' The guy was all class!"