Amorous Goods: Black Pearls

It’s early October in a small village, the buckle of the snowbelt the residents called their village, and with every puff of wind the sound of crisp dried leaves dancing through the streets fills the air. Days ended noticeably sooner now, the sun was gone before 7:00 PM, and by Halloween, it will be gone by 6:00 PM. On Main Street traffic was light, people dressed against the chill hurried along, it’s not cold now, but it will be cold soon. A few pedestrians ducked into their favorite restaurants, grilles, or taverns for their evening meal.

Inside Worzil’s Bar and Grille a small group of the regulars sat on the far side of the squared U-shaped bar, Unkle Stash as Stan is called, holds court. King of the barflies, their evening meal known as the “Barley Sandwich” is served in 12-ounce bottles. A May/December couple sat in a booth at the front window holding hands across the table and talking as his beer gets warm and her tea gets cold. And on the other side of the bar a morose looking young man of 28 years sat staring at his beer. Black hair, grey eyes, tortoise shell framed glasses sat atop a small, pointed nose, black electrical tape held the glasses together in two spots.

“What’s the matter Kenny? Does the world got you down?” asked Ayato Tanaka, bartender and owner of Worzil’s Bar and Grille. Ayato is the youngest son of Japanese Americans that were locked up in internment camps during World War II, he was born years later after his dad returned from Italy where he served in the US Army and went ashore at Anzio.

Ayato is a retired Air Force officer, and he tried to marry the retired officer’s dream girl, a rich, young, nymphomaniac with huge tits and a bar. However, love steered him to his present wife, Julissa. She is only a few years younger than Ayato and she was a sergeant under him in the chain command, her savings account never held more than $1,574.50, and the bar she owns is a little local dive in a little village south of Buffalo NY that they purchased together. But she does have nice tits and can fuck him three ways to Sunday. Love is awesome, and after 15 years they still love each other madly although from their chatter in the bar you’d never know it. Ayato wears glasses thick enough to be bullet proof and he still needs a magnifying glass to read the ingredients on any label, but his hearing is incredible. It’s said that if a bum takes a piss against the side of the feed store up on Main Street, Ayato can hear how well hydrated the bum is.

Speaking of the feed store up on Main Street, that feed store is owned by Davis Johnson, Kenny Johnson’s dad, and now Kenny is sitting forlornly at the bar in Worzil’s Bar and Grille, second stool from the end of the bar. Instead of answering Ayato’s question Kenny simply drained his beer, sat the empty pint glass on the bar and quietly pointed at it. “Ok,” grinned Ayato, “be that way.” He took the glass and started to draw Kenny a beer, “but I’m here if you need someone to talk to.”

“Oh, leave him alone,” called Audrey from her booth where she sat awaiting dinner with Mike von Köster. She hopped up from the booth and walked up to Kenny and patted his arm just as his fresh beer arrived. “Sometimes it’s not easy,” she said softly so that only Kenny could hear forgetting how good Ayato’s hearing was. “If it’s meant to be, she’ll come around.” Audrey is short, curvaceous and Mike’s “Nurse” … as far as anybody knows. Mike and Audrey like to come to Worzil’s on occasion to get out of the house which is only a few blocks away.

Kenny shrugged sadly and sipped his beer. “She was pretty firm about it,” he said quietly. “She said that it can’t be like this anymore.” He took another sip and stared off into the distance.

“That’s not a breakup,” whispered Audrey as she climbed up in the stool next to him, “that’s frustration, she’s not happy about something, but she’s giving you the opportunity to fix it.”

“Like what?” Kenny was desperate, he’s crazy over Yi-jin Carlson, the governess of Doctor Paul Jarecki’s kids and the executive chef for Doc Jarecki and his wife who is also a doctor, Andi. Tall, slim, athletic, smart, Yi can pamper a child, create a souffle blindfolded, or rebuild an engine. She is the walking embodiment of every wet dream that Kenny has ever had. Her long black hair with blond highlights and dark almond shaped eyes are the hallmarks of her Korean heritage, but she grew up on the beaches of South Florida and is a true beach bunny, the smaller the bikini the better. She would be happy with a G-string and a pair of pasties, and he’s spent hours dreaming of her dressed like that. “She says she wants me to be more assertive, I try, and she gets mad and says I should be more sympathetic to her feelings… but she won’t tell me her feelings.”

Audrey was Yi-jin’s confidant, Audrey would stroll over to Jarecki’s house when Yi wasn’t busy, and they’d chat. That’s the reason why Audrey brought Mike to Worzil’s for dinner tonight. Earlier today Yi-jin confessed her frustration to Audrey, her complaint about her boyfriend Kenny was “He’s too nice,” which confused Audrey. The reason why Audrey fled into Mike’s arms is because he is so nice, how could a woman not like nice? Audrey was tired of being used as a punching bag and fuck toy by both men and women, but Yi-jin wanted some excitement in her life. She loved the children and Paul and Andi, but she misses the party life.

Audrey knew that Mike always came to Worzil’s after a disagreement with Yi, and he always sat on the second stool from the end of the bar, his back to the door. He would have four cold beers then head back to the feed store to stack sacks of dog food or whatever needed his attention until he was so exhausted that the problem no longer existed. While Audrey was trying to settle Kenny down, Ayato’s wife, Julissa delivered dinner to Audrey’s table. “Where’s your princess Mikey?” she asked.

“It’s Kenny again,” said Mike with a sigh. He hated to see Kenny in such pain over Yi. Mike’s first wife emotionally tortured him the same way for years until she left without a word leaving him with two young daughters to raise. “Yi told him he was too nice and it’s over.”

“I am so tired of that woman,” growled Julissa inwardly. “She comes into this town, messes with our men, and leaves the mess for me to clean up…” She somehow painted a smile on her face and turned to Mike. “You go ahead and eat up sweety, I’ll send Audie back to ya,” and she headed to the end of the bar.

“I don’t know if I can do this anymore,” Kenny groaned as Julissa stepped up behind him.

“What happened now,” demanded Julissa.

“She says he’s too nice to her,” said Audrey as she sadly stroked his back.

Julissa shook her head sadly. “That girl, I swear…” She sat down on the other side of Kenny and said, “Ok, I got something I think will work, but the fewer people that hear it the better, we need it to be a surprise for Yi-jin, got it?” said Julissa. When Audrey nodded Julissa said, “Ok, thanks sugar, you go eat before your fries get cold and your man gets lonely.”

Audrey learned months ago that it did you no good to argue with Julissa, she was a block wall when it came to changing her mind about something. The only person on earth that can get Julissa to change her mind once it was made up is her husband, and if you went to him and asked him to help you change her mind he will say “No, sorry, that is my one superpower, it is only to be used for good.”

Julissa took a pen out of her pocket and looked up an address she had stored in her phone and wrote it on a cocktail napkin. “This place has what you need. Talk only to Vikki, no one else, if she’s not there come back another day, tell her Julissa sent you. DO NOT LOSE THIS ADDRESS! Put it on your phone right now and give me the napkin back.”

“Why not just send it to me?” asked Kenny without looking up from his beer.

“It won’t send.” Kenny gave Julissa a confused look. “Believe me, it won’t send!” she insisted and handed the napkin to Kenny.

He looked at the napkin, he wasn’t happy with the address, it was in one of the seediest sections of Lackawanna NY, Buffalo’s twin sister in urban decay. The name of the business was Amorous Goods.