| “Damn, TV!” Whack! Willie slapped the side of the plastic box again, and the snowy picture flickered into a comprehensible image for a fleeting moment before again being lost in a jumble of interference. The combination of his old television set and the storm raging outside were conspiring to produce yet another evening spent with nothing to do. Disgusted, Willie flicked off the set and returned to his easy chair. The compartmentalized cardboard tray holding his dinner sat where he had left it on the side table, the salisbury steak and sauce now unappetizingly tepid. He sighed as he slumped into this chair and began to eat. Some days, he could barely stand the boredom of his life. Twenty years ago when he took over operation of the motel, business was slow but steady. There was an odd collection of folks who had traveled too long on unfamiliar roads late at night and just needed a place to rest. Any place. Even a seedy-looking dive sitting on water’s edge in the middle of acres of swampland. It was usually the swamp that had brought them, a desire to see an example of nature’s undisturbed beauty from the safety of their cars as they drove down a hundred miles of lonesome hardtop built by the state to transect the marshland and connect two places where people actually lived. Unsurprisingly, it was also the swamp that now kept people away, as portions of the road had been reclaimed by nature making it almost impassable. The “Swamp Lodge” had long ago ceased to be a money-making venture. Willie had tried to supplement his income, leasing a portion of his land to an oil company for the drilling rights, operating an airboat swamp tour, and guiding hunting parties, but he barely made enough money to eat and pay his expenses. Now, he was stuck. Setting aside his half-eaten food, Willie stood and stared out the window into the darkness. He loved it here. Loved the solitude, loved the beauty, but he hated being stuck! If he barely made enough money to stay, he knew he didn’t make enough to leave. As he stood forlornly staring into the darkness before him, movement in the periphery of his vision caught Willie by surprise. After a few moments, he realized it was a figure hunched against the storm moving slowly along the road. Like a moth drawn by the neon glow of the motel sign cutting through the darkness, the now recognizably human figure came closer until he heard the bell signaling the opening of the front door to the office. Willie felt a tightening in his heart as he wondered what kind of fool would be walking through the swamp on a night like tonight. With some trepidation, he opened the door from his room leading to the front desk. To his surprise, a young woman turned to look at him, the water dripping off her onto the floor and pooling into small puddles. Her wide eyes, and the rise and fall of her chest underneath her water-soaked shirt, demonstrated her own concern at the circumstances surrounding her arrival at his motel, and Willie relaxed. With the notable exception of the well-defined breasts beneath her clinging t-shirt, she was a small girl. Short. Perhaps, 5'2" tall, at most. Her drenched state made her seem even smaller, like a wet puppy, but he could see she was no waif. Her arms and legs displayed toned muscles and she easily carried the weight of the small backpack on her shoulders. Willie paused in his appraisal to let his gaze again linger on her chest before meeting her dark eyes with a nod. “How can I help you, Miss?” The woman’s eyes flitted around the office, taking it in. “I guess I need a room.” “I imagine you do! What happened?” As Willie asked the question, he already knew the likely answer and his speculation proved correct. “Bad road! It washed out a few miles back and my car got stuck. I saw the light from your sign and figured I’d take my chances walking here instead of staying with the car.” The hard rain meant there was a good chance her automobile would be buried in swamp before morning, and her with it if she had stayed. The decision to walk the hardtop and brave possibly coming upon a dangerous critter or two was almost certainly the better choice. Willie reached under the front desk and grabbed a key, placing it on the counter. “Room’s $49 a night. Cash or charge?” The woman slung off her backpack and pulled her pocketbook from within, flipping through it for a second before pulling a card from its plastic sleeve and handing it over to him. “Charge.” Willie glanced at the card. “Well, Ms. Alina Aguilar, you got a picture ID?” The woman handed him her drivers license. “Sure.” Willie took the Illinois drivers license over to his old copying machine. “I’ll run a slip for your card, but I won’t be able to put it through until the morning. Phone lines are out.” The light moved under the glass as the machine hummed. Alina cocked her head, “The phones are out?” “Yeah, water must have gotten in the lines.” Willie returned with his copy and handed her back her drivers license. He grinned at her, “Here you go, Alina! Pretty name!” Alina’s mouth curled up at one corner in a half-smile. “Thank you.” “So, what brings you all the way down to Louisiana from Chicago, Alina?” “Oh,” she looked at him with a hint of sadness, “It’s really a long story. Ultimately, you could say I’m just passing through.” His mild flirtation having received a polite response, Willie began fumbling under the desk. “It’s been awhile since I had to do this the old-fashioned way,” he announced as he drew out the manual card swiper and placed her credit card and a blank credit slip onto it. The sound of metal sliding over metal was heard and when he finished he placed her credit card on the counter with the room key. “Room 113. It’s around back, facing the water. Just go out here and to the right. Follow the walkway around and it will be the first door.” Willie watched her studiously as she gathered up the credit card and replaced it in her pocketbook which she returned to her backpack. As she slung her backpack over a shoulder and grabbed the key off the counter, she looked at him apologetically. “I’m afraid I’ve gotten your floor all wet.” Willie leaned over the counter and looked down at the linoleum tile covered in a pool of water. “Don’t worry about it. It won’t take but a second to mop it up.” She stood in the front door for a second and watched the rain pouring down, then, after a long exhale, Willie heard her mutter, “First room on the right,” before she dashed around out of sight. Willie grabbed a mop and cleaned the water up from the floor before returning to his living quarters. He looked at the poor reception on the television and his now cold dinner sitting by his chair, and he smiled. The evening had just gotten a whole lot more interesting. It wasn’t often a lone traveler showed up out of the blue needing a room. Even less often was that traveler a pretty young girl. He opened his closet and pushed some clothes aside. He could feel his heart start to beat faster. His fingers noiselessly slid a panel to the side and he stepped through the closet into a dark hallway that comprised the plumbing access for each room of the motel. The access split the motel in two, separating the back walls of the rooms. Of course, no one else knew it existed. He moved silently through the darkness five steps and turned to his right. There it was, a shard of light piercing the blackness through a crack in the rear wall of one of the rooms. A very small crack, where the plaster had been chipped away, in the rear wall of Room 113! Willie quietly approached the light filtering into the accessway. As he drew closer, he could hear Alina moving around on the far side of the room. Once he was in position, he leaned forward and peered through the hole. There, looking out the open window at the watery expanse of marshland beyond, Alina stood in the process of removing her soaked t-shirt. Willie licked his lips as she pulled the cotton fabric up over her head and laid it over the window sill. Without air conditioning, and Willie had not replaced the broken unit in Room 113 for years, the humidity on a rainy summer night in the bayou could be almost unbearable. Her skin glistened from perspiration, framed in an ethereal glow from the light pouring in from the neon motel sign sitting atop its perch in the swampy water, as the white lace of her bra reflected tiny hot pink crystals from the moisture trapped in the fabric. The beads of sweat forming on her skin and running down the curves of her shoulders and back were mesmerizing. She sat down on the edge of the bed and untied her muddy boots, kicking them off onto the floor. As she disgustedly slid off her soggy socks, he watched her in profile and marveled at the size of her breasts in proportion to the rest of her body. Her bra could scarcely contain her flesh which threatened to pour out into view. Willie inhaled sharply as she stood, stretching her tired limbs and rolling her head around her aching neck. When she sucked in her stomach and began to unbutton her shorts, he silently thanked the rain that had deposited her at his door. Her shimmy just before her pants hit the floor caused his heart to skip a beat. As she stood with her back to him in her underwear, soaking in the relief of a small breeze wafting in from off the water, Willie could find no fault with her form. Her short dark hair and olive skin stood in stark contrast to the white lace of her bra and panties, every defined curve of her musculature the physical realization of a sculptor’s vision. He had thought her cute when he looked at her at the registration desk, now he realized she was extraordinary. When she began to unhook the back of her bra, he felt faint at the promise of a sight to behold. Whether he had unknowingly made a sound, or she simply sensed something amiss, he saw her cock her head to listen and he knew that something had alarmed her to his presence. Quickly stepping away from his peephole before she could swing her head around, he listened as she cautiously approached the rear wall of the room. His heart began to race at the prospect of discovery, though he knew she could not see him in his current position. When the light filtering into the accessway disappeared, he realized she was looking through the peephole herself. He concentrated on controlling his breathing so that he would not be heard, confident from having checked many times himself that all she could see was darkness. Finally, his heart pounding so loud that he feared it might betray him, he heard her move away toward the bathroom, although he noted that light no longer filtered into the accessway from her room. Quietly, he slipped back down the hall and through his closet, closing the panel behind him. His heart still racing from the thrill of the peepshow, he gathered some bath towels, grabbed his umbrella and quickly headed out the door. He climbed the three rickety steps onto the covered porch in front of Room 113 and knocked on the door. “Ms. Aguilar, It’s Willie from the front desk. I realized that I hadn’t replaced the bath towels in your room. I thought you might need some!” From deep inside the room, he could hear movement. “Um, yeah, I just figured that out. Could you just leave them on the bed?” Willie got out his master key and unlocked the room door, opening it just a crack and peering inside. Alina peered out at him from around the almost closed bathroom door. “I’m real sorry, ma’am, I wasn’t expecting any guests tonight and I just forgot that I hadn’t re-stocked the towels in this room.” She was looking at him with a wariness that reflected her compromised position. Trying not to cause her further consternation, he slowly walked into the room and placed the bath towels on the foot of the bed. As he turned to go, he saw her bra stuck into the crack in the rear wall but he pretended not to notice and returned to the office, re-locking her room door on the way out. Once he was back in his living quarters, Willie reflected on what he had learned about his guest. He had to admit she was one cool customer. She clearly realized that she was in a vulnerable position, but she never acted out of fear. He wondered how often she’d been in danger before that she could react so rationally. Willie warmed up some frozen fried chicken and tater tots, and poured a glass of lemonade. Satisfied that enough time had passed, he ventured outside again with the food and drink packed in styrofoam containers. The rain had finally stopped. This time, when he knocked on the door and announced himself, Alina answered it wearing clean, dry clothes. “Sorry to bother you again, I thought you might be hungry, so I made you something to eat. It’s not much, but it’s not like there’s any restaurants around for you to grab some supper. This is edible, at least.” Alina eyed him through the cracked open door to the room. After some consideration, she opened the door and let him inside. “Thank you. That’s very thoughtful of you. I’m famished.” “Uh, yeah, that means hungry, right? I figured you might be.” Willie set the food down on the table inside the room. “I’m guessing you’ve had a long day.” Alina sat down and opened up the container of food. “Mmm, fried chicken! You have no idea!” Willie watched as she began munching on the food. “If you don’t mind my asking, miss, what are you doing traveling around these parts alone? It’s kinda remote, out here.” Alina looked up at him as she continued to chew her food. When she had finished chewing, she smiled. “Thanks for the food.” “That means ‘none of your business,’ right? I get it. It’s just...Nobody is just passing through here. Ain’t but a couple of reasons to be on this road, and none of ‘em make any sense in your case.” Willie sighed. “I guess you’re right. I don’t really need to know, just curious. Heh. Curiosity killed the cat, I reckon. Glad you’re enjoying your dinner.” Willie turned to go, but stopped at the door. “When the phones come up, I’m figurin’ on callin’ a wrecker for your car. Is there anybody you need me to call to let ‘em know where you are and that you’re okay?” “No, a wrecker for the car will be fine.” Willie exited the room, closing the door behind him, and grinned. Yes, this night was getting more and more interesting. He lit up a cigarette and had a smoke. Dawn was about eight hours away, the time would go quickly. To Be Continued! |