WT Banter unknown chapter three plus two (complete 1328 words)
Banter unknown chapter number fourteen
[Immediately after uc03 01]
Robert knocked on the door of cabin twenty-eight. He looked down at his feet. Why did you bring me here? The light coming from under the cabin’s door dimmed.
The woman from the bar opened the door.
“Dove?”
“What?”
“Oh it’s you,” she said. “Come in.”
Robert stepped into the cabin. Through the window the dark shire was blurring past.
“Pull the blind down if you like, if you think that’s what Linda would like.”
“Linda?”
“Drink?”
The woman handed him an empty glass. Robert held it while she poured some thin brown liquid form her glass into his.
“Would Linda get drunk and do things you want her to? Might be things she’s always wanted to do but never done…”
“I thought you wanted to get drunk and have sex, not do rôle-play and mind games.”
“Bottoms up, then.” The woman took a swig of her drink.
Robert took a mouthful. The drink was bitter, smooth, and very, very alcoholic. Don’t cough, he told himself. Don’t spoil the moment.
“Interesting,” he said when he felt safe to talk.
“Vintage rum with lime.”
“Lime?”
“I like lime. Are you drunk yet?”
Robert swallowed the rest of his drink.
“Not quite.”
“More?”
“Sure.” This is amazing. Here I am about to have casual extramarital sex and I’m drinking a drink I’ve never had before. Maybe I’ll imprint limes?
The woman pulled an overnight bag down from the luggage rack. She held it open and Robert saw a dark bottle nestling in a bed of limes.
“Pour me one too,” she said and put her glass down on the tiny table flap by the window.
The bottle was labelled in French that was almost all too faint to read. Somewhere in there Robert read that this was J.M Rhum from Martinique.
He poured.
“Where’s the lime?” he said.
The woman had taken off her shirt. She took a lime from the bag, bit into it with an incisor then dragged her tooth through the skin.
A transparent green drop ran down her chin and landed in her sagging cleavage. Robert reached out and touched the drop. With his fingertip he wiped it from the woman’s dry skin. He licked his finger and tasted lime and sugar.
He took the lime from the woman’s hand. He squeezed it over her glass. Lime juice ran over his fingers and dripped into the rhum. He passed the glass to her.
The woman had removed her skirt. He looked at her legs and gulped. Her skin was like the label on the rhum. She’s vintage alright, he told himself.
“Would you rather have the light off?” she said.
“What for?”
“So you don’t have to look at this old flesh.”
I expect it feels just as old as it looks, thought Robert, so what’s the difference? No need to say that though. She’s doing you a service too.
“It doesn’t look that old,” he said.
“You’re sweet,” said the woman. “Well. You’re drunk.”
Robert dropped his trousers and they had sex.
Afterwards they had more to drink.
“Where’d you get this stuff?” Robert asked, looking at the dimmed light through the floating bits of lime.
“I have a secret source,” the woman said. “A pirate that I trade with.”
Robert laughed and tucked in his shirt.
“What happened to your friend?” said the woman.
“Last time I saw him, he was having dinner with a man with no arms or legs.”
“Classical jam jar,” said the woman.
“What?” said Robert. “It sounded like you said classical jam jar.”
“I say that sometimes. A man, did you say.” The woman pulled on her knickers.
“Yes.”
“Not two men?”
“No, a man, singular. And I mean singular.”
“And he had no arms and no legs.” She shrugged herself into her bra.
“Right, that’s what made him singular. That and his attitude.”
“He didn’t have one arm and no legs.”
“No, why?”
The woman leaned on Robert while she pulled her skirt up.
“I thought there was a man with one arm and no legs on the train.”
“You want to get him drunk and have sex with him?”
“It’d be interesting to see what he could do for me.” The woman’s shirt flapped and gathered around her.
Robert thought about it.
“No hugging, I suppose, with only one arm,” he said. “And you’d have to go on top.”
“He’d only be able to tease one of my nipples at a time.”
“He could use his mouth on the other,” said Robert.
“Not the same,” said the woman, stepping into her shoes. “Oh well, I guess I’ll leave it. I’m happy with my two-armed man.”
She kissed him.
Robert kissed back then stopped.
“What’s wrong,” said the woman.
“One arm,” said Robert. “I think I’ve got his luggage.”
“Pens and pestles.”
“There you go again. Are you alright?”
“Better than alright,” she said. “What’s it like, his luggage?”
“A case of clothes, all handmade by the looks, but all with one long arm and one short arm.”
“A short arm?”
“Yeah, like a T-shirt arm. On one sleeve and then a normal length arm on the other.”
“Show me.”
“Hm?”
“Show me. I’d like to see.”
“It’s in his, rather my, well, our cabin.”
“So let’s go to that cabin and look. There can’t be anything else you want from this cabin, can there? You’ve had rum, you’ve had sex, you’ve had lime. Let’s go to yours.”
“Okay.”
They swayed down the train’s corridor.
“There’s that drunk again,” said Robert.
“He’s not drunk,” said the woman.
“A bridge is like leaping,” said the man on the floor as Robert trod on his hair.
“Sorry.”
“Well here we are,” said Robert when they reached the cabin door. “Hmm. Door seems to be locked.”
“Hang on,” said a voice from inside.
“Go,” said Robert to the woman. He shooed at her with his hands.
“But-”
“Go.”
The door was opened by Chris.
“Robert, come in.”
Robert entered straight away, almost walking into Chris in his haste. He slammed and bolted the door behind him.
“Hi Chris. How was dinner?”
“It got interesting,” said Chris.
“I just … you know … I just … didn’t do anything … interesting.”
“Look at this.” Chris held up a large metal number three. “What do you think?”
“Part of a giant-sized calculator? Deluxe teach baby to count? Fell off the wall by a lift?”
“It was in this luggage.”
“Okay. And are there any other numbers in there?”
“No but there are a couple of these.” Chris held up a small doll with no arms or legs.
“Ick. Is there anything ordinary in this guy’s case?”
“Laptop, password protected, and a phone.”
“And some well-appointed, one-armed clothes. Do we care?”
“I care,” muttered Chris.
“Actually, you’re not alone. I was just talking to somebody who seemed to know all about the one-armed man.”
“Really? He’s with Jamie, the guy I had dinner with.”
“Are they in a club of some kind?”
“A club,” said Chris. “I wonder.”
“Do you want to stop staring into the eyes of those limbless dolls, Chris?”
“I’ve got to stick with that guy Jamie, the one with no arms and legs.”
“Doesn’t sound too hard. It’s not like he can run away after all.”
Chris said nothing.
“What is it with the dolls?” said Robert. “Are you in love?”
“They’re like this one.” Chris pulled a similar doll from his pocket.
“So, you’re a collector?”
“I’m adopted. This is the only thing I have from my birth parents. Something my dad made sure I got. I never knew why. Still don’t.”
“Okay mate,” said Robert. “I’m sorry. I can see this is serious. Unless you think it’s a coincidence?”
“Jamie had a doll like this in his pocket. I asked him about it and he was evasive.”
“I … I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’ll help me.”
“I’ll help you.”
Chris gave him a big hug.
