Moose and Goose

Chapter Fifty-one

Judith, Mary, and David are sitting in the large waiting room with eight more people and a fish tank in a broken television.

Mary's sleeping on his shoulder, and his arm is cast around her, hugging her to his side in a controlling embrace that Judith knows too well.

She watches him flipping through a Jet magazine with one hand, the ticking of the overhead clock and garbling of the treasure chest in the tank providing ambient noise.

"You can talk to me if you want, Judy," he says without looking up from the pages, and she draws in a breath as it straightens her posture. He flashes her a smile, which sends a chill down her spine. "I know I'm a cool-looking cat, but don't be so starstruck."

"Would Mary approve of you talking to me?" He makes a confused expression, so she elaborates, "I ask because she seems like she treats you more of a - plaything than a person."

With a soft chuckle, he says, "Maybe I like being played with."

David reaches his hand over Mary's right breast, and Judith switches her weight onto her other leg, glancing at the archway in anticipation of a doctor.

"Are you jealous, Judy," he asks, but his tone makes it sound like a statement, one he finds humorous. Judith shoots him a look without turning her head, and his smile doesn't creep off his face.

"Yeah, I'm jealous of a girl who frequents bad choices more than a drunkard in a bar," she sarcastically says, then drops her chin. She shakes her head and scoffs. "You know why I almost beat her in the quad?"

"Elizabeth Idaho?" David veers his neck to look behind him, and he and Judith watch a dark-haired white man walk to the dainty nurse with his fedora in hand.

Returning his gaze forward, he opens his mouth to speak but Mary groans. She slowly lifts her head off his shoulder and opens her eyes, immediately looking at Judith across from them.

"We're still here," she asks before darting her face toward his. He looks at the ceiling as he shakes his head in annoyance. "David, I wanna go home."

"Listen, babe," he begins, and Judith draws her lower lip between her teeth then looks toward the fish tank by the exit. "There's a pay phone outside, and I'm sure one of the ladies in the lobby will let you use their rotary phone if you ask nicely. I'm not driving you home until she gets called back there with her cousin, so if you wanna leave, be my guest."

Mary glances at her, then him, and scoffs as she rises from her seat.

"I'm calling my Dad." David shrugs with his lips pursed, and Judith catches her eyes. Without another word, she walks out of the room with only Judy watching her.

"Did you call your - I mean, her Dad," he asks, and Judith stares at him in silence, pondering whether his mistake was genuine. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that."

"I called my sister, and she said she'll send my Uncle Otis over here." He nods in response, and she glances at the knees of his bell-bottom jeans. Her eyes wander up his legs before stopping at his belt.

She hears his buckle jingling as he would wrestle the belt loose with her under him, and her heart begins to beat faster.

"Hello?" She darts her gaze onto his face, jolting slightly.

"Yeah, what," she asks, and he looks from left to right then at her with confusion.

"So why'd you two almost brawl in front of the student lounge," he asks, reminding her of her question.

"Oh, yeah," she mumbles, then takes a deep, shaky breath. She chuckles dryly without looking at him. "She used the N-word; Hard -er."

"What'd she say?" They look at each other, and the corner of his mouth twists into a smile as her lips fall agape. She scans the room of people, not a black person in sight. David sits the magazine on the coffee table, and he leans forward, propping his elbows on his knees. "Come on, you can say it."