Conversations With Jack & Diane
Call Waiting
The humidity felt as if it were a hundred percent. Jack
sat in the steamroom all by himself, smiling generously. This was
the life he thought. And it was all thanks to the lovely Diane. She
had put him on her list of “guests” allowed to avail themselves of
the club’s many amenities. The steamroom being only the first of
those amenities Jack planned on exploiting before the day came to
an end. Of course, he reminded himself, there was always
tomorrow. He laughed heartily as he rolled the clipped end of the
cuban cigar back and forth across his tongue. He didn’t even
smoke cigars, but it had been a complimentary offer upon entering
the club, and Jack had never been one to passup a freebie. This
particular stoogie however, would never feel the heat of fire. He
closed his eyes and enjoyed the dangerous taste of tobacco on his
palate.
“Hi Jackieboy,” echoed a soft familiar tone.
Jack slowly opened his eyes, the smile still on his
handsome, sweating face. “Diane!” he gasped, his eyes finally
focussing. He quickly wrapped the soft white cotton towel about
his exposed loins. “What the hell are you doing in here?” he
queried anxiously, his hands folded on his suddenly covered lap.
Diane giggled with naughty satisfaction as she sat up on the
wooden bench next to Jack. “Hey big boy,” she winked playfully.
“You ain’t got anything I haven’t seen before.” She settled-in,
undoing her own towel and enjoying the clinging heat on her
naked body.
“Oh my...” Jack groaned, turning his gaze away from her.
“Oh stop with the prudish act Jack,” she scowled, leaning
her head back against the hard redwood wall and closing her eyes.
“I’d feel a lot more comfortable if you would cover
yourself back up,” he assured her, his eyes still averted.
“Look at me Jack,” she instructed.
“Uh uh,” he shook his head.
“Just look at me silly,” she demanded smoothly, almost
hypnotically.
Jack’s gaze turned slowly. “Is this why you put me on your
guest list Di? So you could trap me here in the steamroom?”
Diane chuckled softly. “You got it loverboy,” she nodded,
her long golden hair done up in a loose bun on the top of her head.
“Isn’t this a, man’s only, steamroom?” Jack asked
specifically.
“On slow days,” Diane winked. “We go co-ed.” Her eyes
closed again, a smug little smirk on her perfect shinning face.
“That’s a boy Jack,” she cooed. “Take a good long look. Get it all
out of your system, then perhaps we can have a little chat without
further gawking.” Her eyes remained closed.
“I ain’t looking at nothing,” Jack protested, his eyes
quickly turning away from the incredible sight.
Diane chuckled merrily. “God Jack,” she alerted him.
“You really are a closet prude, aren’t you?”
He cleared his throat nervously. “Well...” he offered
slowly, his voice catching slightly. “I’m just a little wary of a
naked woman with a smile on her face.” He was beginning to
relax. “Seems to me, she wants something I may not be able to
provide.”
“Oh Jack,” Diane grinned. “You give yourself way too
much credit love...”
“Shut up...” he whined playfully.
“You make me smile Jack,” she assured him, her green
eyes opening slowly as she sat forward. “Would you really prefer
me covered up?”
He nodded his head. “It’s hard enough for me to be around
you when you’re fully clothed,” he answered. “Let alone
completely, magnificently, naked...”
“Magnificent huh?” she smiled coyly, wrapping the
generous towel around herself, covering everything Jack longed
for.
“Indeed,” Jack reinterated, winking at her as he finally took
a breath. “Thanks...” he smiled.
“Welcome...” Diane laughed, tucking one corner of the
towel snuggly over it’s upper left edge, just above her breast.
“There,” she frowned. ‘All covered up and presentable.”
Jack adjusted himself so he was now facing Diane. “So,”
he asked, in happy relief. “Now that you’re not making me crazy
any longer.’ He winked again. “Perhaps you’ll tell me exactly
what you’re doing here?”
“A lump...” she answered, trying to hold her smile.
“A what?” Jack squinted, a light shroud of steam casting
Diane’s face in a soft fog.
“A lump in my breast Jack,” she elaborated. “I had a
mammogram yesterday and a lump was found.”
“Oh shit!” Jack exclaimed, standing as his heart sank, his
loin towel falling away from his....Well you know.
“Oooooo Jack,” Diane chuckled appreciatively. “Is it you
or is it memorex...?”
“A lump?!” he probed, ignoring her attempt at humor. “Oh
god damn shit!”
“Relax Jack,” she tried to calm. “Sit down and cover
yourself up,” she instructed. “You big tease...” It was her turn to
wink now. “Sit down love,” she expressed tenderly. “Please...”
Jack sat heavily, his expression slack with shock. Diane
retrieved his towel and draped it over his lap.
“There now,” she secured. “All nice and comfy.”
“Oh Diane,” he groaned, the remorse dragging his words to
the ground.
“What Jack?” she inquired, his expression numbing her.
“What will I do without you?” he posed, unable to control
the tears that flowed from his empty eyes.
“It’s not as if I’m gonna die tomorrow you know,” she
assured him, suddenly a bit put off. “And why am I comforting
you?” she chastised. “I’m the one with the lump!”
In between the tears Jack had to chuckle. “You surely have
a way with words love.” He smiled at her, slowly pulling her
close. “It’s just that I couldn’t imagine life without you.”
“Nor I without you Jack,” she assured him, enjoying the
genuine show of love.
“How long do you have?” he asked haltingly, refusing to
break the embrace.
“I think,” she replied, her voice muttled slightly as she
gently but definitely wiggled from Jack’s grip. “I think you’ve put
the proverbial cart before the horse Jack...”
“What?” he frowned.
“I won’t know until sometime this morning if the lump is
malignant or benign,” she enlightened him.
“You mean...?” He collected himself quickly. “You mean
you may not really have cancer?”
“That’s right Jack. I’ve instructed my doctor’s office to
call me here when the results come in. I told them I didn’t want
any long explanations. To just let the front desk know to tell me
one of two words. Negative, or the dreaded...Positive.”
Jack nodded slowly, his gaze filled with apprehension. “So
we wait,” he echoed, his thoughts scattered as he tried to push
away the gloom with some of the newly found hope Diane had just
provided. He draped his arm over her shoulders and pulled her
close.
“Whatever the results,” he promised. “I’ll not let you face
this one without me...” He kissed the sweet of her forehead, the
taste of her filling him with precious memories. She held him
tightly within herself. “Do you remember the first time we set eyes
on each other?” he asked softly, wiping tears from his eyes.
“How could I forget,” Diane chuckled. “Twenty-two years
old and fresh off the boat from Louisiana. A southern belle in
paradise.”
“Indeed,” Jack agreed, gently stroking her glistening face.
“And there I was,” he added. “In all my islandboy glory.” He
shook his head with remembrance. “When I saw you standing
there. With your blond hair and blue eyes.” He smiled. “God
Diane, you took my breath away.” He lifted her chin gently, her
eyes slowly rising to his. “And you still do, you know...” Diane
smiled up at him.
“But then,” he offered with a pout. “Out of no where
strode this handsome haole guy. Hair as blond as yours, eyes as blue
as the tropical sky.” He shook his head thoughtfully. “Fred,” he
huffed. “And the two of you looked magnificent together. So I
knew,” he concluded.
“Knew what Jack?” Diane asked, setting aside her troubled
thoughts momentarily.
He shrugged. “That a guy like me had no right coveting a
woman like you.”
“A woman like me?” she probed. “Wanna splain that
Jack?”
“Well,” he offered tentatively. “You’re the kind of woman
a man dreams of when he drifts within himself. You know,” he
tried to resolve. “When he sees himself as he’d like others to see
him. But not exactly as he actually looks.” He chuckled without
mirth. “At those times he can have any woman he wants, because
in his own mind he is the physical equivalent of Adonis.”
“Ooooo, I like Adonis,” Diane giggled. “Please go on you
greek god you...”
Jack laughed softly. “Yeah,” he elaborated. “But you must
remember that this Adonis lives only in each man’s dreams. The
personification of his most basic drive.” He shook his head.
“Anyway, when a man is in this state, he dreams of communion
with a woman like you Diane. The real personification of physical
perfection.” Diane moved to respond. “Shhhh,” Jack hushed
gently. “Let me finish love,” he smiled. Diane settled back down
against his warm, solid chest, nestling her face comfortably.
“There within myself,” Jack continued. “I can rise to
where I feel I must be to equal a woman of your nature. A woman
soft and beautiful. Like the touch of a mountain breeze as dusk
whispers her sweetest kiss across the gentle slopes of the coming
night.”
Diane would not be denied a second time. “So Jack,” she
stated, her blue eyes coming to bare upon his. “You feel yourself
inferior to me?” she questioned. Jack nodded. “That is such a
load of crap Jack! And you know it.”
“I can’t help the way I feel,” he replied, leaning back
against the redwood wall.
Diane decided against a full frontal attack. “I may not be
so physically perfect anymore if...” She couldn’t finish the
statement. The possibility was just too hard to accept.
“Perfection is a state of mind,” Jack offered. “And in my
mind Diane, you will always be perfect.”
She smiled, unable to say anything. Just then the
steamroom door swung open. A young man, no more then
seventeen, peered across the threshold, spotting Diane at once.
“I got a phone message for you,” he said in a hurry,
obviously anxious to be somewhere else. The swimming pool no
doubt.
“And...” Diane queried.
“They said to tell you...”
Diane held her breath as the boy began to mouth the word.
“Positive...” he uttered, disappearing back through the door
from which he appeared.
“Oh god...” Diane whispered, her words drifting into a
painful silence. She looked at Jack. He couldn’t hold her gaze.
The pain was terrifying. It threatened to rip them apart.
Then the heavy door swung open again. “Ooops,” the
young man smiled. “I meant to say negative...” He disappeared
again, blissfully ignorant of the turmoil he had just caused.
Jack blinked heavily, a shiver of relief skipping up his
spine.
“I’ll kill em!” he finally blurted, leaping from his seat, the
“loin” towel falling away from his disappearing lap.
“No Naked! I mean Jack!” Diane halted. She couldn’t help
laughing as he turned a dark shade of red. “No Jack,” she
repeated, her eyes drifting south, her palms flat on his bare chest as
she sought to hinder his forward momentum.
Jack snatched up the towel, covering his ample lower
trunk.
“Oh don’t be bashful,” Diane smiled, the glory of relief
casting a glow onto her face. “I’m not going to die,” she
whispered, the tears raining down the beautiful curve of her face.
Jack pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her, the
future suddenly a worthy place again.
The End
Unpublished Works © 1997 GJB
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