No sweat.No sweat." "Oh, I couldn't ask you to do all of that, but it would be nice if you have an empty can. I'll take some and get the truck up here this afternoon. I don't want you to have to put me up for the night. No, no." "I insist. The mules won't care one way or the other." She ended with her tinkly laugh and said, "Now take off your clothes and I'll throw them in the wash tub and give them a good swishin' to get the sweat out." "Take off my clothes? In front of you? Or are you going to be doing the laundry and keep your eyes shut?" "No, but ya' needn't be bashful. I ain't. Sides, I seen men with no clothes on before. Why ya' worried. Ya' got somethin' ya' don't want me to see? [Another cute tinkly laugh] Now get outta them things and go on down to the horse trough and jump in. I'll bring ya' some soap down inna minute." Jesus, what an offer. I didn't know whether to shit or go blind at this. But I said, bravely, "Well if I'm going to be parading around naked in front of you, the least we can do is introduce ourselves. Hi, I'm Ed and you're?" "Kathi. Kathi Turner" "Ed Morriston. Glad to make your acquaintance." "Go on down and get washin' and I'll bring ya'some soap. I'll even scrub yore back iffen ya want me to." Tinkly giggle. "Well, Kathi, your offer is terrific and I'll probably kick myself for saying, no thanks, but I keep thinking about what would happen if, while you were scrubbing away at my back, your husband should decide to visit his old plantation and takes exception to what you're doing to a stranger." "Uh! No problem. He wouldn't care at all. He knows I get lonesome down here; he knows I want someone to kind of make over; to talk to, to be near, to do things for; to sit and eat together, but it so seldom happens he doesn't give it a second thought. So, Ed, there would be no scene; no shouting or getting jealous or anything like that. We have an open marriage; I think that's what they call them now a days. As a matter of fact we used to live in a hippie commune north of San Francisco; lived there for years and he slept with who he wanted and I did too. |