Page 48 of Repentance and Absolution
“You’re more’n welcome, Oscar Yates. We just need to train Jimmy up.” He grinned and looked o’er at me as Oscar laughed.
I held up my hand. “No, thank you. I’ll stick to whiskey.”
“Oh, hell, I didn’t offer you gentlemen a drink. Excuse my manners,” Clarence mumbled, resting his pipe on a plate and getting up. “I got whiskey and gin and even a bottle of Jamaican rum, if anyone wants some.”
Now that was a better offer than a pipe full of foul grasses. I hadn’t had a tot of gin in ages. Oscar and I’d bought more whiskey to keep at the house—hopefully enough to see us through until spring, and we had a dram now and then.
“I’d love to have a bit of gin, please, if you don’t mind. That would hit the spot real nice.”
“Clarence, are you gettin’ the rum out?” Irene yelled.
Clarence rolled his eyes and smiled, like he’d been expecting it.
“Never you mind. It’s for our guests,” he said, eyeing us and lifting his hand with three fingers raised. As we watched, he folded them in one by one, and as soon as he’d folded the third finger down, Irene came around the corner, wiping her hands and narrowing her eyes at her husband.
“Clarence Trelawney, if I gotta stand over this hot stove making food for you men, you’re gonna pour me a tot of that fine Jamaican rum. You hear me?”
Oscar and I raised our eyebrows at each other and tried not to laugh at how serious Irene was in her outrage.
“Calm yourself, woman. I’ll get you some. Geez, I was only joking.”
Irene pushed a bit of hair out of her face and blushed, glancing at Oscar and me.
“I do apologize. I really thought he was bein’ stingy with it. I only like a little, now and then. I know it’s not really proper, but…” She shrugged. “I don’t really give a good goddamn.”
Her gaze went back and forth between us to see what we’d make of her words and her desire for the drink.
Oscar’s face broke into a broad smile. “Come on, Irene. Sit with us. You can take a break from cooking, can’t you?”
She smiled, relief showing on her kind face. I didn’t reckon Irene was more than a few years older than Oscar, and she was mighty fine looking—plump and pretty and full of contentment. I liked the fight in her, too. If my needs had lain in another direction, I might feel more than a passing appreciation for the way she looked. But seemed like women—even nice-looking ones like her—didn’t affect me much at all anymore.
Because now I knew the delights that a man could provide… I wondered if I’d find my cock hardening for fellas besides Oscar. So far, it hadn’t happened, but it might. Just because I had a home with Oscar didn’t mean I was blind. I figured at some point I might start feeling something physical for another man, but I wouldn’t act on it, especially since t’would be dangerous to admit who I was to anyone but Oscar, but also because he had my heart and I’d never betray him in any way.
But I liked Irene a lot and that was a hard fact. Even Clarence was getting to be more appealing.
“I reckon I can. Just let me settle things in the kitchen. Clarence, get me a drink, please.”
“Of course, my darling.” He winked at us. “I just like to give her a hard time. But she enjoys a dram as much as anyone, and there ain’t no reason to deny her.” He glanced back and forth between us. “Irene and I don’t have a whole lot of respect for the expectations of wider society, when it comes down to it. We do what we want in our home.”
I nodded. Now that was an attitude I could get behind. “I reckon that makes sense. We ain’t got no problem with it, do we, Oscar?”
“No, sir. No problem a t’all.” Oscar’s eyes widened. “Oh! I almost forgot. I brought a little something for you.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the paper bag of candy he’d separated from his stash. Now he seemed proud as he offered it to Irene.
“T’isn’t much.” He shrugged.
Irene took the bag with a smile and peered inside. Her eyebrows flew up and she grinned wider, gazing at Oscar. “Oh, thank you! I haven’t had candy in ages.”
“Oscar got some that day we saw you in town, and he saved a bit for you. T’was very difficult for him, I reckon, so you should feel honored,” I said, winking at Oscar, who nodded.
“Well, t’was hard not to eat it all, that’s true. But I wanted to have something to bring today.”
The four of us sat down then, in the Trelawneys’ cozy sitting room, drinks in hand, and chatted about all sorts of things. Turned out Clarence and Irene had come west from Saskatchewan, figuring to set up in some small town on the coast, and finally found themselves here in Port Essington. They liked it, for the most part.
My mind wandered, and I found myself thinking it a bit peculiar that they had no children, after being married so long and seemingly happy together. I didn’t want to ask, in case Irene was barren or Clarence had had some sort of accident to make him unable to reproduce. Those were personal things, and I figured, if they wanted to tell us, they would. But for now, we needed to take them the way they were and not question things.
To be honest, I was relieved there were no little ones running about, and we could enjoy the peace of a winter’s day with the smoke from Clarence’s pipe making a pleasant smell, along with the oranges Irene had sliced and placed in a bowl for snacking. The taste of the gin on my tongue and the sight of Oscar and Irene relaxing with glasses of rum as the sun shone on the snow outside the window was giving me all kinds of feelings of satisfaction that I didn’t know hardly what to do with. Once in a while, I’d catch Oscar’s gaze, and we’d share a small moment of connection before looking away to the crackling fire in the fireplace or the table with the dinnerware all laid out for the much-anticipated meal.
