Bawdybodies.com - Barry Rachin (ebook reader ink txt) 📗

High School.


Around seven Ernie called Jillian's apartment. "She doesn't want to talk to you." Abigail was sounding particularly self-righteous.

"If nothing else, would you at tell her I read the story… the right one."

"I'll do no such thing." She slammed the phone shut.

An hour later, Ernie showed up at the apartment. "Punin and Baburin… I finished the story earlier this afternoon."

"And what did you learn?"

"Baburin was a republican."

"Which tells me nothing."

Ernie began to cry, making crude snuffling sounds and blotting the wetness away with the back of a hand. Abigail was sitting on the sofa, looked back and forth between her sister and the uninvited guest. Only when he began blubbering did she rise to her feet, yawn languidly and disappear down the hallway into the bedroom. "For Baburin being 'republican' meant respecting the freedom of other people… he took care of Punin even though he did no work, spouted sappy poetry and acted like a halfwit."

"Turgenev's nothing like Tolstoy." Jillian wet her lips with her tongue. "He doesn't bludgeon you half to death with all that mystical malarkey."

"I don't give a crap about Tolstoy," Ernie protested. "I don't even like to read. I only did it to get to know you."

"And the young girl?" Jillian pressed.

Ernie paused to catch his breath. "Baburin takes Musa Pavlovna under his wing. She elopes with the college student, but Baburin doesn't rush after her. He simply lets her go."

"He doesn't force his will her."

"Baburin… he's a nihilistic, a republican." Only now did he cover his moist eyes with his calloused hands. "This is all new to me. It's all getting mixed up in my brain."

"It's a package deal," Jillian replied dryly.
"Yes, I figured as much.” Ernie understood intuitively that they were no longer talking about the Turgenev tale. “It makes no difference to me."

His tormentor moved closer and, wrapping her arms around his waist, rested her head up against his chest. "It's package deal," she whispered what she said a moment earlier but so softly her words were barely audible.

"I need to speak with your sister before I go."

"Okay."

The door to Abigail's bedroom was open. Ernie entered, closed the door behind him and flopped down on a straight back chair in the far corner. Abigail was resting in a full lotus position on the top of the covers thumbing through a copy of People magazine. "What are you doing?" Ernie continued to sit staring morosely at his penny loafers. Five minutes passed in total silence. "I want to go to sleep. How much longer are you going to sit there like a retard?"

"Bawdybodies.com… I don't think it's such a great idea, but everybody's got to make their way in life. God knows I've done some dumb-ass things that I regret even to this day."

"You're freaking me out!" Abigail muttered, throwing the magazine on the floor.

"If your entrepreneurial, startup venture doesn't pan out, my brother-in-law works in human services over at Walmart. I could get you an interview. Pay isn't the greatest and you would have to work your way up."

She shut the light and the room went totally dark. "Anything else?"

"No, that's about it." Ernie rose to his feet. "Goodbye, Abigail."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Loyalty… that was a big thing.” Back out in the foyer, Ernie picked up where he had left off. “Turgenev kept yammering on and on about how, even after Baburin went into political exile, the man stood by his friends… his friends and his principles." He fished about in his pocket for the car keys.

"Baburin was loyal in ways that most people couldn't even begin to imagine," Jillian confirmed. "I thought you said you didn't like books."

"And the ending worked out rather nicely, don't you think?" The mechanic and the reference librarian seemed to be communicating at cross purposes.

“Yes, it did.” Jillian kissed him on the side of the mouth. "Come over for supper tomorrow night. I'll cook a small pot roast with baked potatoes, glazed carrots and string beans. What would you like for dessert?"
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Publication Date: 02-14-2011

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