Chapter 8

“I, I love you so much,” Alana whispered then turned and ran from the suite.

“I love you too,” Cindy smiled and turned her attention to the oversized dolls that sprawled on Michelle’s bed. The Raggedy Ann looked almost comical in her slutty schoolgirl outfit. Cindy had found two oversized buttons in Michelle’s basket; she assumed these were for a coat or heavy jacket. The buttons were just visible through the gauzy white blouse, two manufactured nipples. Looking at the button eyes and button nose and red felt lips, Cindy could almost imagine the doll with a knowing smirk on her lips.

Raggedy Andy had a long zipper hidden in a crease of the bib overalls. His button eyes and nose and red felt lips gave the doll a slightly surprised look. Ann and Andy both had hair of yellow yard; blonde twins.

Cindy tested the weight of each doll with her hands. Hefting the black bear, Cindy resolved she would have to weigh the animal with some bags of sand, or perhaps ball bearings.

After another night of dancing, Theresa agreed to join Cindy and Alana for a late night treat at the Newhart’s across the street. Thankfully, Robert had scheduled six girls for the Monday night shift. But competing against the four sixty inch televisions, each broadcasting a different sports channel, the pickings were slim and two girls threatened to quit if their tips didn’t show significant improvements on their next shifts.

“Kasey? Good, go ahead and quit, bitch,” Theresa said to Cindy as they entered the nearly empty restaurant.

“Her? Yeah,” Cindy agreed and smiled as Alana waved from what they had come to consider their booth.

“I swear, if I had known…?” Theresa said, then smiled and shrugged.

Amanda greeted the three women and smiled as a mild argument over whom would pay ensued between the three women. Alana won by simply sliding her credit card across the counter.

“Next time,” Theresa said.

“By the way, what you making in the garage? It stinks,” Alana asked as Cindy dissected their cinnamon bun.

“It’s for your bear and Raggedy Andy,” Cindy said. “But yeah, that glue does stink, doesn’t it?”

“Her, you making her a big teddy bear?” Theresa smiled as she tore a chunk of her cinnamon bun with the plastic fork.

“Mm hmm,” Cindy agreed.

Watching Cindy clean Alana’s sticky hands and face, Theresa again shook her head. She finished her own cinnamon bun and debated with herself; she wanted another large, hot, gooey cinnamon bun, but also knew the calories would be hard to get rid of.

“So, these bears you’re making; they like the ones you use?” Theresa asked, deciding against a second bun.

“Hmm? Oh, oh yes, exactly,” Cindy agreed.

“You know, I bet there’s a lot of grown men and women that would love big, giant teddy bears,” Theresa mused.

“Well, they can’t have mine,” Alana declared.

“Sweetheart? No one’s ever going take them away from you,” Cindy said softly, peering into Alana’s hard eyes. “I promise. No one’s ever going take anything away from you ever again. Okay?”

Theresa and Cindy saw the tears filling Alana’s eyes. Theresa watched as Cindy enveloped the blonde girl in a motherly hug.

“Well, I want to see this bear; who knows? I might want one for myself,” Theresa smiled when Cindy relaxed her hold on Alana.

“Be finished in ’bout thirty minutes; that’s the last piece to them,” Cindy smiled.

“What time you go in? We should have you over for supper,” Alana declared. “Can we? Can we have her over?”

“Sweetheart, it’s your house,” Cindy smiled. “You want her come over? Just ask her.”

“But you’re the one’s going be cooking,” Alana said.

“What time you go in?” Cindy smiled to Theresa.

“Don’t. Robert’s being an ass hole,” Theresa declared. “He’s trying give me a really shitty schedule. Soon as I can? I’m telling him shove this job up his fat ass.”

“Well, I’m going in at six; you want come over for lunch?” Cindy asked. “Give me your number.”

Home again, Cindy and Alana trooped up the stairs and fell into their bed. With the backdrop of pornography playing on the television, Cindy and Alana touched and kissed and stroked one another until they both crested in pleasure.

At ten o’clock, Cindy woke up. The morning sunlight showed the peaceful face of Alana, the small Raggedy Ann and Teddy clutched in her arms. Cindy was surprised the woman did not suck her thumb as she slept.

The glue had dried and Cindy loosened the vise grips until the dongs fell free. Marching up the stairs again, Cindy went into the second suite. She unzipped Mr. Bear’s crotch and pulled the center flange down, locking it into place with a ‘click.’ Then she lined the threaded flange with the threaded brass sleeve and laboriously screwed the dong into place. With a kiss to the tip of Mr. Bear’s heavily veined cock, Cindy flipped the lever’s post down, unlocking the flange. She then tucked the cock into Mr. Bear’s crotch and zipped him closed.

Unzipping Raggedy Andy’s bib overalls, Cindy repeated the process. Then she wondered if she could somehow give Raggedy Ann a working pussy.

Those tasks completed, Cindy went down and prepared a large omelet. Alana was thrilled with another breakfast in bed. After their meal, Alana and Cindy made love, then napped again. “Shit!” Cindy exclaimed, waking and seeing that it was already quarter after eleven.

“Really? This, you live here?” Theresa asked as she entered the foyer of 619 Caledonia Way.

“”Mm hmm,” Cindy smiled, ushering Theresa into the house.

“What, what are we having?” Theresa asked, sniffing the air.

“One of Alana’s favorites,” Cindy smiled as they entered the large kitchen. “Steak fajitas.”

“She makes her own salsa; you believe that?” Alana asked as she mashed the avocados for guacamole.

“And guacamole,” Cindy agreed.

“Lunch. Some assembly required,” Cindy announced after she and Alana finished making the guacamole.

“Cindy, I, I go to Acapulco Grande all the time and I don’t think I’ve ever had fajitas that good,” Theresa said after eating her third fajita.

“Isn’t she awesome?” Alana praised, staring at Cindy with adulation.

“Okay, and the cheesecake’s almost cooled,” Cindy declared. “Why don’t we go look at Alana’s toys while we wait?”

“You, they finished?” Alana whooped.

“I can see why you love her,” Theresa confided to Cindy as they followed Alana up the stairs.

“She, she is so, she’s just so beautiful,” Cindy agreed.

“I love him!” Alana squealed, cuddling her oversized Raggedy Andy.

“You are kidding me,” Theresa gawked at the three dolls on the king sized bed.

“And…” Cindy said and demonstrated Mr. Bear’s cock.

“I, oh my God,” Theresa goggled.

“And…” Cindy demonstrated that Raggedy Andy also had an eight inch cock ready for action.

“I, this, you are kidding me; how much? I want a, damn, I, which one I want?” Theresa asked, reaching out and gripping Raggedy Andy’s cock.

“On line? I saw there were some bears like this? No, no, not with a cock, but you know, big,” Cindy said.

“Uh huh,” Theresa said, still mesmerized by the two dolls.

A jack off sleeve!? Cindy blurted out, looking at Raggedy Ann’s neglected form.

“A what?” Theresa asked and giggled as Alana kissed Raggedy Andy’s dick.

“One of the toys at that bookstore was a jack off sleeve,” Cindy said, flipping up the hem of Raggedy Ann’s plaid skirt.

“And, I’ll bet this; Cindy, I need, can I do up a presentation of these?” Theresa begged.

“Up to Alana; they’re her toys,” Cindy said, now looking at her cell phone.

Unable to decide, Theresa ordered a Mr. Bear and a Raggedy Andy. Cindy agreed to a payment plan for the six hundred dollars; three hundred apiece. After coffee and cheesecake, Theresa kissed both Alana and Cindy on their cheeks, then left the home.

“You really got go in tonight?” Alana quietly asked as Cindy cleaned the kitchen.

“Mm hmm,” Cindy smiled. “Hey, I don’t like it either, but I am so close to my goal.”

“What is your goal?” Alana asked.

“Alana, Sweetheart, I told you. I need enough money to go back to school and still pay my bills,” Cindy said, putting the heavy plastic cutting board into the dishwasher.

“You got enough for your tuition?” Alana asked.

“Mm? Yeah, but…” Cindy agreed, now wiping the table.

“Then go,” Alana said.

“It’s not as easy as all that,” Cindy said, looking around to make sure she’d missed nothing.

“Yeah it is,” Alana said. “You stay here? That’s rent and food and electricity all taken care of right there.”

“I, you mean, move in?” Cindy asked, putting the dishtowel onto the counter.

“Uh huh, then you don’t got work at that nasty place and you can be here and we can…” Alana prattled happily.

John left for another fourteen day shift early Tuesday morning. On Wednesday afternoon, Cindy and Alana, along with the two college students Cindy had hired moved Cindy’s furniture and plates and glasses and pots and pans out of the apartment. Much of it went into a storage unit; Cindy and Alana had no need for much of the furniture, but Cindy had a half-brother and half-sister, as well as some cousins that might have need of the contents of the storage unit. The clothing and her precious sewing machine, Cindy had brought to Alana’s home.

At the beginning of her shift Wednesday evening, Cindy told Robert Brown she was giving him a two weeks’ notice that she would be quitting her employment at The Sugar Shack.

“What? Uh, you an independent contractor?” Robert sneered. “I don’t need no two weeks’ notice out of you.”

“Oh. Okay then. This is my last night,” Cindy smiled sweetly.

“Shit. See this? This? This is all the little bitches be more than happy take your place here,” Robert sneered, showing Cindy a stack of applications he had in his desk drawer.

“Better start calling them then,” Cindy laughed as she left his office.

“You, you really quitting?” Theresa asked as Cindy pulled on her schoolgirl uniform.

Cindy let out an elated giggle as she nodded her head. Then as she heard the DJ announce ‘Pixie,’ she skipped out onto the stage.

Three of the seven girls that had worked the Wednesday evening shift with Cindy followed Cindy to the Newhart’s across the street. Alana was cowed, intimidated by the loud, squealing dancers and clung frantically to Cindy as they crowded into a round booth in the opposite corner.

“Sweetheart, it’s okay. You know me and you know Theresa,” Cindy whispered into Alana’s ear as she divided the cinnamon bun. “That’s Delilah…”

“It’s really Dallas,” the leggy blonde cheerfully admitted.

In the harsh fluorescent lighting of the restaurant, Dallas’s age showed through the caked on makeup. She admitted she’d been a waitress at The Dead End bar in DeGarde, but had suffered a falling out with one of the managers and a few of the dancers at that bar. She’d done a short stint at Desire Factory, but had come to blows with a short Asian dancer when the other girl accused Dallas of stealing her tips. Cindy suspected the loud, brash woman wasn’t long for The Sugar Shack either.

The other dancer was a stunningly beautiful redhead named Hope Decker. She danced under the name ‘Cinnamon’ even though she saw no reason for anonymity. Hope danced under the name Cinnamon because she didn’t feel that the name Hope was sexy enough.

Hope admitted that her mother, Angela Decker, was a full-time dancer and part-time prostitute. At present, Hope’s mother was a dancer at The Dead End; had been dancing at that bar for nine years.

“Yeah, Mom’s a stripper and part-time hooker, Dad’s back in Mumphrey, again, doing twelve to twenty, again, but because it’s like his fourth or fifth or fiftieth time, they’re talking lifetime offender status,” Hope cheerfully said. “So, given that kind of home life? I’m surprised I’m as normal as I am.”

“We’re surprised you think you’re normal,” Theresa quipped.

“Well I love you too,” Hope laughed easily. “But, seriously, Pixie, what you going do?”

“It’s Cindy,” Cindy said. “I, I’ve got a chance to go back to school so I’m going take it.”

“Damn it, I knew that. Sorry,” Hope smiled. “It’s just, all this time, all I ever heard them call you is Pixie.”

Hope fell silent as she watched Cindy clean Alana’s hands and face. Hope looked over at Dallas and saw the look of contempt and underneath the haughty contempt, a thread of jealousy in the aging woman’s hard face. Hope looked at Theresa and saw a softness and acceptance and even empathy on the beautiful Asian-American’s face.

“Well, Pix…damn it, Cindy, I’m going miss you,” Hope admitted as she finished the last of her coffee.

“Yeah,” Dallas falsely declared. “Just won’t be the same without you there.”

“Not me. More money for me,” Theresa cheerfully lied.

“Know what? I’m going miss y’all too. But I sure as hell won’t miss Robert,” Cindy laughed.

The four dancers all groaned aloud then squealed at each other’s reactions. Still squealing and chattering, the quintet left the restaurant. At the door, Alana turned and gave Amanda a parting wave.

“You going miss them?” Alana asked as she got into the passenger seat of Cindy’s car.

“Honestly? No,” Cindy said quietly. “You have any idea what it’s like back there? Those bitches would just as soon kill you if they could.”

“Huh,” Alana said, looking over her shoulder as Dallas got into a nondescript sedan.

“And sure as hell won’t miss those disgusting old mother fuckers putting their fucking nasty old God damned hands all over me,” Cindy spat, voice rising in volume.

Alana didn’t say anything as Cindy vented. She huddled against the car door as Cindy’s voice rose in volume and force.